Study Examines Caffeine Use and Risk of Stimulant Abuse

Posted by admin on October 11th, 2011 | No Comments »

Parents of young caffeine consumers take heed: that high-calorie energy drink or soda might present more than just obesity risk. In fact, according to a double-blind, placebo-controlled study that examined responses to stimulants, an individual’s subjective response to caffeine may predict how he or she will respond to other stimulant drugs, possibly reflecting differences in risk for abuse of other more serious drugs of abuse, such as amphetamine and cocaine.

The new findings are reported in the November issue of the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence by Stacey Sigmon, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, a drug abuse researcher whose previous studies have looked at caffeine withdrawal and interactions between psychomotor stimulants and cigarette smoking.

“People differ dramatically in how they respond to drugs,” says Sigmon. “For example, a single dose of a drug can produce completely opposite effects in two people, with one absolutely loving and the other hating the drug’s effects. It is important to improve our understanding of these differences, as they may reflect key individual differences in vulnerability or resilience for drug abuse,” adds Sigmon, who, with colleagues from Johns Hopkins University, examined how individual differences in response to caffeine might predict a person’s subsequent response to d-amphetamine, a classic psychomotor stimulant with similar effects to other commonly-abused stimulants like cocaine.

Sigmon and coauthor Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, first employed a choice procedure to identify participants as caffeine “Choosers” and “Nonchoosers” for the study. Choosers were those who chose caffeine over placebo in the majority (>/= 7) of 10 choice session and Nonchoosers chose placebo over caffeine in the majority of choice sessions. There were no significant differences regarding pre-study caffeine intake or other characteristics between the two groups. During the second phase of the study, all participants received various doses of d-amphetamine and rated how much they liked or disliked each dose. The researchers found that caffeine Choosers reported significantly more positive subjective effects and fewer negative/unpleasant effects of d-amphetamine compared to Nonchoosers, particularly at the highest doses. On the other hand, caffeine Nonchoosers reporter fewer positive effects and more unpleasant effects of d-amphetamine compared to Choosers.

According to Sigmon and Griffiths, the study is the first to demonstrate that caffeine reinforcement prospectively predicts the positive subjective effects of another drug.

“While these data do not mean that every coffee lover is at risk for proceeding to cocaine abuse,” says Sigmon, “this study does show that individuals vary markedly in their subjective and behavioral response to psychomotor stimulants, and those for whom a modest caffeine dose serves as a reinforcer are the same folks who subsequently report more positive subjective effects of d-amphetamine.  Future research will be important to examine whether caffeine reinforcement predicts vulnerability to reinforcement and abuse of classic psychomotor stimulants such as amphetamine and cocaine.”

A total of 22 participants completed the study, which took place over a 10- to 14-week timeframe and was supported by funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® Now Available In Select SoCal Costco Locations

Posted by admin on October 5th, 2011 | No Comments »

Available now, Costco shoppers can stock up on packaged 2lb coffee from The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf®. Based in Southern California, the specialty coffee and tea retailer that originated from a single Los Angeles café and is responsible for such innovations as The Original Ice Blended®drinks, will offer its signature coffee in select Costco locations around Southern California.

French Roast, one of the most popular blends by The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf®, is available in a 2lb bag of whole beans.

Beginning in mid-October, Southern California Costco locations will also debut the new The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® All Natural Tea Collection in an exclusive gift package. Each gift package contains six unique varieties of premium whole leaf teas developed by David DeCandia, the company’s master tea blender. The All Natural Tea Collection features Watermelon Taiwan Green, Herbal Apricot Peppermint, Breakfast Blend, French Vanilla Chamomile, Acai White Peony, and Caramel Cream Rooibos for a total of thirty six whole leaf tea bags packed in individual sachets per box. The All Natural Tea Collection will be available this holiday season, making it a unique gift or delicious option for at home holiday entertaining.

“As we continue to grow our product offerings, Costco represents a very welcomed avenue for making our products more accessible to our loyal brand followers,” said Mel Elias, President and CEO of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf®. “We are thrilled to see our products on the shelves of one of Southern California’s favorite retailers.”

ABOUT The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf®
Founded in 1963, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® is the largest and oldest privately held specialty coffee and tea retailer in the U.S. Embodying a passion for connecting loyal customers to one another with carefully handcrafted products, the company is known for sourcing and providing the finest ingredients and flavors from around the world, as well as product innovations such as The Original Ice Blended® drink. Since its inception from one café in Los Angeles, California, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® has grown to become an international icon with more than 800 company-owned and franchised cafes in 22 countries

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Bigelow Tea Announces Recipe Contest

Posted by admin on October 5th, 2011 | No Comments »

FAIRFIELD, CT, Oct 05, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — The culinary muses at Bigelow Tea know that everyone loves a good recipe (especially when Bigelow Tea is one of the key ingredients!) and are launching the Bigelow Tea Recipe Contest, offering web based cooks (21 years and over) a chance to win a year’s supply of tea — and a bonus gift! The lucky winner will receive a case of his or her favorite Bigelow Tea each month plus a personalized Bigelow Tea chest filled with tea.

You can submit your original recipe using brewed Bigelow Tea until October 30, 2011. To enter, submit your recipe on Bigelow Tea’s Facebook page or on our contest landing page. Bigelow Tea will choose the top 15 finalists and then from November 7-18, a panel of Bigelow Tea judges — culinary experts Michelle Jaffe (baker and owner of Sweet and Simple), Nicole J. Straight (award-winning chef, author and founder of Time to Eat cooking school) and Jackie Gordon (singing chef who blogs at The Diva That Ate New York) — will vote for the Grand Prize Winner along with you. That’s right, we need your vote to determine the grand prize winner!

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Green tea may slow down weight gain

Posted by admin on October 4th, 2011 | No Comments »

Green tea may slow down weight gain and serve as another tool in the fight against obesity, according to Penn State food scientists.

Obese mice that were fed a compound found in green tea along with a high-fat diet gained weight significantly more slowly than a control group of mice that did not receive the green tea supplement, said Joshua Lambert, assistant professor of food science in agricultural sciences.

“In this experiment, we see the rate of body weight gain slows down,” said Lambert.

The researchers, who released their findings in the current online version of Obesity, fed two groups of mice a high-fat diet. Mice that were fed Epigallocatechin-3-gallate — EGCG — a compound found in most green teas, along with a high-fat diet, gained weight 45 percent more slowly than the control group of mice eating the same diet without EGCG.

“Our results suggest that if you supplement with EGCG or green tea you gain weight more slowly,” said Lambert.

In addition to lower weight gain, the mice fed the green tea supplement showed a nearly 30 percent increase in fecal lipids, suggesting that the EGCG was limiting fat absorption, according to Lambert.

“There seems to be two prongs to this,” said Lambert. “First, EGCG reduces the ability to absorb fat and, second, it enhances the ability to use fat.”

The green tea did not appear to suppress appetite. Both groups of mice were fed the same amount of high-fat food and could eat at any time.

“There’s no difference in the amount of food the mice are eating,” said Lambert. “The mice are essentially eating a milkshake, except one group is eating a milkshake with green tea.”

A person would need to drink ten cups of green tea each day to match the amount of EGCG used in the study, according to Lambert. However, he said recent studies indicate that just drinking a few cups of green tea may help control weight.

“Human data — and there’s not a lot at this point — shows that tea drinkers who only consume one or more cups a day will see effects on body weight compared to nonconsumers,” said Lambert.

Lambert, who worked with Kimberly Grove and Sudathip Sae-tan, both graduate students in food science, and Mary Kennett, professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences, said that other experiments have shown that lean mice did not gain as much weight when green tea is added to a high fat diet. However, he said that studying mice that are already overweight is more relevant to humans because people often consider dietary changes only when they notice problems associated with obesity.

“Most people hit middle age and notice a paunch; then you decide to eat less, exercise and add green tea supplement,” said Lambert.

###

The National Institutes of Health supported this work.

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Increased Caffeinated Coffee Consumption Associated With Decreased Risk of Depression in Women

Posted by admin on October 3rd, 2011 | No Comments »

CHICAGO—The risk of depression appears to decrease for women with increasing consumption of caffeinated coffee, according to a report in the September 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Caffeine is the most frequently used central nervous system stimulant in the world, and approximately 80 percent of consumption is in the form of coffee, according to background information in the article. Previous research, including one prospective study among men, has suggested an association between coffee consumption and depression risk. Because depression is a chronic and recurrent condition that affects twice as many women as men, including approximately one of every five U.S. women during their lifetime, “identification of risk factors for depression among women and the development of new preventive strategies are, therefore, a public health priority,” write the authors. They sought to examine whether, in women, consumption of caffeine or certain caffeinated beverages is associated with the risk of depression.

Michel Lucas, Ph.D., R.D., from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues studied 50,739 U.S. women who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study. Participants, who had a mean (average) age of 63, had no depression at the start of the study in 1996 and were prospectively followed up with through June 2006. Researchers measured caffeine consumption through questionnaires completed from May 1980 through April 2004, including the frequency that caffeinated and noncaffeinated coffee, nonherbal tea, caffeinated soft drinks (sugared or low-calorie colas), caffeine-free soft drinks (sugared or low-calorie caffeine-free colas or other carbonated beverages) and chocolate were usually consumed in the previous 12 months. The authors defined depression as reporting a new diagnosis of clinical depression and beginning regular use of antidepressants in the previous two years.

Analysis of the cumulative mean consumption included a two-year latency period; for example, data on caffeine consumption from 1980 through 1994 were used to predict episodes of clinical depression from 1996 through 1998; consumption from 1980 through 1998 were used for the 1998 through 2000 follow-up period; and so on. During the 10-year follow-up period from 1996 to 2006, researchers identified 2,607 incident (new-onset) cases of depression. When compared with women who consumed one cup of caffeinated coffee or less per week, those who consumed two to three cups per day had a 15 percent decrease in relative risk for depression, and those consuming four cups or more per day had a 20 percent decrease in relative risk. Compared with women in the lowest (less than 100 milligrams [mg] per day) categories of caffeine consumption, those in the highest category (550 mg per day or more) had a 20 percent decrease in relative risk of depression. No association was found between intake of decaffeinated coffee and depression risk.

“In this large prospective cohort of older women free of clinical depression or severe depressive symptoms at baseline, risk of depression decreased in a dose-dependent manner with increasing consumption of caffeinated coffee,” write the authors. They note that this observational study “cannot prove that caffeine or caffeinated coffee reduces the risk of depression but only suggests the possibility of such a protective effect.” The authors call for further investigations to confirm their results and to determine whether usual caffeinated coffee consumption could contribute to prevention or treatment of depression.
Arch Intern Med. 2011;171[17]:1571-1578.

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Study: Saw palmetto doesn’t ease lower urinary tract symptoms in men

Posted by admin on October 3rd, 2011 | No Comments »

Saw palmetto extract, even up to three times the standard daily dose, had no more effect on lower urinary tract symptoms in men than placebo, a new trial has found.

Researchers performed a randomized, double-blind, multicenter, placebo-controlled trial at 11 clinical sites in North America between June 5, 2008 and Oct. 10, 2010 to examine whether increasing doses of saw palmetto extract affected lower urinary tract symptoms attributed to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Participants were male volunteers who were at least 45 years or age with a peak uroflow rate of 4 mL/s or greater and an American Urological Association Symptom Index (AUASI) score of 8 to 24 at two screening visits. The AUASI contains seven items for self-assessed frequency of lower urinary tract symptoms, with a score range of 0 to 35.

The study’s main outcome measure was the change in AUASI score from baseline to 72 weeks. Secondary outcome measures were urinary bother, nocturia, peak uroflow, postvoid residual volume, prostate-specific antigen level, and study participants’ global assessments, along with indices of sexual function, sleep quality, prostatitis symptoms and continence. The study results were published in the Sept. 28 Journal of the American Medical Association.

A total of 357 men were randomly assigned to receive gelcaps containing 320 mg of saw palmetto (n=176) or placebo (n=181) and were included in the modified intention-to-treat analysis. Participants’ mean age was 61 years, and their mean baseline AUASI score was 14.6 points. The initial dose of the study drug was one gelcap per day, increasing to two gelcaps per day at 24 weeks and three gelcaps per day at 48 weeks. Overall, mean AUASI scores decreased by 2.20 points in the saw palmetto group (95% CI, 3.04 to 0.36 points) and by 2.99 points in the placebo group (95% CI, 3.81 to 2.17 points) between baseline and 72 weeks. The mean difference for change in AUASI score from baseline to 72 weeks was 0.79 point in favor of placebo. No secondary outcome measure improved with saw palmetto compared to placebo. No participants reported adverse effects that could be clearly attributed to the study drug.

The authors noted that their study tested only one preparation of saw palmetto extract and that some of the study participants may have had lower urinary tract symptoms for reasons other than BPH. However, they concluded that saw palmetto extract was no better than placebo for any of the outcomes studied, even at amounts up to three times the standard daily dose.

ACP Internist 10-4-11

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New Bigelow Coconut Water and Green Tea Mix

Posted by admin on September 28th, 2011 | No Comments »

Fairfield, CT (September 2011) – Coconut water, one of nature’s most nutritional drinks, is gaining a stronghold in the marketplace. Bigelow has coupled all of the nutritional benefits of Coconut Water with the delicious flavor of Bigelow Green Tea, and we’ve got a winner!

Although a relative newcomer to the mainstream beverage industry, U.S. sales of coconut water have soared, making it the fastest growing new beverage category worldwide.

Coconut water has been enjoyed for thousands of years by people all around the globe. In addition to its qualities of taste and refreshment, coconut water is rich in electrolytes, essential minerals used by the body. The electrolytes in coconut water are balanced in the same ratios as they are in the human body, making coconut water an “isotonic” drink. It is an ideal beverage for rehydrating the body and replenishing our bodies supply of minerals like sodium, potassium and phosphorous.

Who drinks coconut water? Active, health-minded adults, teens, children, and athletes, are all early adopters of this new beverage trend. Responding to consumer demand, Bigelow introduces three innovative Coconut Water entries that have been masterfully blended with green tea and other luscious flavors from the Bigelow Tea Company:

Bigelow Coconut Water and Green Tea Mix
Integrates both the delicate flavor of green tea and the rich bold taste of coconut water harmoniously
Bigelow Coconut Water and Pomegranate Acai Green Tea Mix
Infuses the natural sweetness of pomegranate and acai berry flavors with green tea for powerfully refreshing taste
Bigelow Coconut Water and Mango Green Tea Mix
Adds a tantalizing taste of the tropics with tangy notes of mango

100% Natural and Good For You Benefits!

Each new Bigelow Coconut Water and Green Tea Mix offers healthy antioxidant Vitamin C along with electrolytes (potassium, sodium and phosphorous). They are 100% all natural, gluten free, fat free, free of high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners. At just 50 calories per 16.9 oz serving, it provides the nutritional value of:

  • 400mg potassium, about as much as a small banana
  • 100mg or 10%RDI phosphorous, as much as 2 cups raw cauliflower
  • 20% RDI Vitamin C, as much as 2 cups of cherries

Bigelow Coconut Water and Green Tea Mixes have a balance of potassium and sodium which is best suited for the body to use, making it a delicious drink that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. This balance is often not seen in traditional sports drinks.

Ultra Convenience, Great Value

The Bigelow family of master tea blenders has skillfully used a gentle drying process to make coconut water, green tea and natural flavors into a dried mix which is easy to use, portable and dissolves quickly into water.

“Now people can take any bottled, filtered or tap water, add in a packet of their favorite Bigelow Coconut Water and Green Tea Mix, and transform ordinary water into a uniquely delicious drink that’s good for the whole family,” says Cindi Bigelow, President of Bigelow Tea. “We’ve designed it to be perfectly portable, in convenient packets that fit anywhere – purse, pocket, backpack or gym bag. I even keep a few in the glove compartment of my car.”

Just shake it with water when ready to drink or make ahead and put it in the lunch box or a Sippy cup. It also makes delicious, healthful frozen pops!

The full line launched this June with an SRP of $5.99. Packed 6 to a box in individual portions, each flavor “stick” is just 50 calories per 16.9 oz serving making Bigelow Coconut Water and Green Tea Mix more economical than ready-to-drink waters: only 6¢ per fl. oz. versus 18¢.

When drinking Bigelow’s new line of Coconut Water with Green Tea Mixes, consumers can have it all: a natural source of rehydrating electrolytes, refreshment, ultimate convenience and above all superb flavor. No matter how you shake it up, it’s an all around win-win!

About Bigelow Tea Company

100% family owned Fairfield, Conn.-based Bigelow Tea pioneered the specialty tea category over 65 years ago. Bigelow takes pride in its heritage and successful growth from a one-product, entrepreneurial venture into America’s leading specialty tea company. The Bigelow Tea line includes more than 120 varieties of Flavored, Traditional, Green, Organic, Herbal, Decaffeinated and Iced teas – including flagship specialty tea flavor, “Constant Comment®,” an all-time American favorite.

In 2003, the company purchased and restored the Charleston Tea Plantation. Based on Wadmalaw Island just south of Charleston, South Carolina, America’s original tea plantation cultivates several hundred thousand tea bushes that are descendants of bushes brought from China during the 1700′s. The Charleston Tea Plantation has become a “must see” destination for tens of thousands of tea lovers and tourists from around the world who visit annually and appreciate information and education about tea, in addition to enjoying American Classic Tea and products which are produced from the tea grown on the premises.

from Bevnet.com

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Maker of Compostable Bioplastic Tea Filters get Agricultural Dept Grant

Posted by admin on September 28th, 2011 | No Comments »

The Tea Spot has been selected for a competitive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the cooperative research agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The $460,000 award is for marketing research in support of the commercialization of compostable bioplastic tea filters for making loose leaf tea to-go in mass-foodservice. The Tea Spot will develop a marketing and distribution strategy for the compostable tea filters, trademarked Brewlux™, based on the results of research sponsored by the SBIR grant. Brewlux™ filters are made of U.S. corn resin, and will be manufactured in Colorado. A prototype of this product was awarded “Best Innovation” at the 2010 World Tea Expo in Las Vegas.

The Principal Investigator, Jessica Burtenshaw, will be spearheading the grant research along with other Tea Spot employees as well as collaborators from the Marketing Department at the University of Colorado and an independent consultant. Ms. Burtenshaw’s background in scientific research and overall responsibility as The Tea Spot’s Director of Product Marketing & Development, qualify her uniquely with the skills and perspective necessary to bring the research project to fruition. Burtenshaw commented on The Tea Spot’s impact on the compostable products industry with Brewlux™ “While the total possible market demand for U.S. corn derived from commercializing Brewlux™ is relatively small in the large scope of agriculture, it is a positive step towards making compostable disposable products in mass foodservice more accepted and widely available. We plan to overcome the hurdle of a general lack of composting knowledge, through refining our messaging to be as effective as possible.” As more companies help educate consumers on the value of composting and as businesses and cities provide the infrastructure to make it more convenient, composting can take on larger role in the mainstream U.S. culture, similar to that of recycling. The Tea Spot is also pioneering new injection molding techniques while using a state-of-the-art compostable resin, which is an important contribution in the larger scope of promoting the successful domestic manufacture of compostable U.S. corn-based products.

The Tea Spot’s CEO, Maria Uspenski, added “Such substantial funding for extensive marketing research of Brewlux™ allows us to introduce this innovative compostable product like one of the major players in the foodservice industry. This USDA grant is a game-changer for The Tea Spot”. Through grants offered by NIFA, the USDA enables researchers throughout the United States to solve problems critical to farmers, consumers, and communities. NIFA is the USDA’s major extramural research agency. NIFA-funded research spans problems and issues encompassed within 13 national emphasis areas.

ABOUT THE TEA SPOT: The Tea Spot is a for-profit philanthropic business producing handcrafted loose leaf teas and Steepware® – the tools that make loose tea easy. The Boulder, Colorado-based woman owned and operated company was founded by Maria Uspenski in 2004. A cancer survivor drawn to the health benefits of leaf tea during her recovery, she set forth to modernize the loose-leaf tea experience. Her message is simple and powerful: tea in its freshest form renders incredible flavor, unmatched health benefits, and is eco-friendly. The Tea Spot is a Certified B Corporation and ensures that its products uphold clean, sustainable and fair manufacturing standards. The company’s model of social entrepreneurship incorporates a culture of giving as it grows: ten percent of every sale made is donated in-kind to cancer and community wellness programs. For more information, contact media(at)theteaspot.com.

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Green Tea Compound May Aid Brain Tumor, Genetic Disorder Research

Posted by admin on August 31st, 2011 | No Comments »

ScienceDaily (Aug. 15, 2011) — A compound found in green tea shows great promise for the development of drugs to treat two types of tumors and a deadly congenital disease. The discovery is the result of research led by principal investigator, Dr. Thomas Smith at The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and his colleagues at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Their findings were recently published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) is found in all living organisms and is responsible for the digestion of amino acids. In animals, GDH is controlled by a complex network of metabolites. For decades it was not clear why animals required such regulation but other kingdoms did not. This was partially answered by the Stanley group’s finding that a deadly congenital disease, hyperinsulinism/hyperammonemia (HHS), is caused by the loss of some of this regulation. In this disorder, patients (typically children) respond to the consumption of protein by over secreting insulin, becoming severely hypoglycemic, often leading to death.

Using atomic structures to understand the differences between animals and plants, Dr. Smith and his colleagues discovered that two compounds found naturally in green tea are able to compensate for this genetic disorder by turning off GDH in isolated and when the green tea compounds were administered orally. The Smith lab also used X-ray crystallography to determine the atomic structure of these green tea compounds bound to the enzyme. With this atomic information, they hope to be able to modify these natural compounds to design and develop better drugs.

Interestingly, two other research groups have validated and extended these findings to demonstrate that blocking GDH with green tea is very effective at killing two different kinds of tumors; glioblastomas, an aggressive type of brain tumor, and tuberous sclerosis complex disorder, a genetic disease that causes non-malignant tumors to grow on a number of organs.

“While these compounds from green tea are extremely safe and consumed by millions every day, they have a number of properties that make them difficult to use as actual drugs. Nevertheless, our ongoing collaboration with the Stanley lab shows that there are natural compounds from plants that can control this deadly disorder and, with the atomic structure in hand, can be used as a starting point for further drug design.”

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.

Journal Reference:

  1. C. Li, M. Li, P. Chen, S. Narayan, F. M. Matschinsky, M. J. Bennett, C. Stanley, T. J. Smith. Green Tea Polyphenols Control Dysregulated Glutamate Dehydrogenase In Transgenic Mice By Hijacking The ADP Activation Site. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2011; DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M111.268599

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World Tea East, Sept. 9 – 10 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Posted by admin on August 27th, 2011 | No Comments »

LAS VEGAS, Aug. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — The producers of the renowned World Tea Expo, the real “tea party,” are bringing their platform — the best the specialty tea industry has to offer — to Philadelphia for World Tea East, Sept. 9 – 10 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. This new event features 100 innovative manufacturers and suppliers, best new tea products, expert-led educational sessions, focused tea tastings, pairing workshops and other special events for tea professionals, food and beverage manufacturers and decision makers in related industries.

The expo also presents the unique “Reflections in Tea” interactive art exhibit, which will benefit victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a major tea-growing and tea-consuming region. In addition, World Tea East debuts the Cha Jing Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be presented to distinguished tea leader John Harney, founder of Harney & Sons Fine Teas, for his significant contributions to the industry.

Kim Jage, executive vice president of World Tea Media, organizer of the event, said, “World Tea East is not only about specialty tea and the latest trends, it’s about providing professionals the tools needed to drive business and increase sales in tea and related products. There are untapped opportunities for retailers, tea and coffeehouse owners, hoteliers, restaurants, spas, grocers and innkeepers, to profit from this growing category. Attending East and the educational conference arms professionals with the business development knowledge they need to succeed with tea.”

According to Jage, the objective of the exposition is to support and fuel the expanding demand for specialty tea and related products in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Southeast United States, and to provide solid tea education for the category’s ever-growing popularity.

Reflections in Tea

One noteworthy happening at World Tea East is an interactive art exhibit, called “Reflections in Tea.” Groundbreaking artist Michele Brody, in partnership with World Tea East, offer this one-of-a-kind, hands-on art exhibit, which will provide both hope and financial support to the tea-growing country of Japan. The art exhibit includes the temporary installation of a tea house constructed out of copper pipes with walls of tea-stained tea sacs. Delegates of World Tea East have the opportunity to write a message of hope or prayer on the tea sacs, as a way to offer encouragement to the families and individuals who suffered during the disasters in Japan. Attendees can make a voluntary contribution for each stained tea bag that they transcribe, and proceeds will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross. At the conclusion of the show, the tea bags will be transformed into a “Wishing Quilt,” which will be sent as a gift to the residents of the Fukushima Prefecture.

World Tea East Highlights

World Tea East also provides professionals with numerous opportunities to discover new tea products, optimize merchandise, gain product knowledge and network with peers in an intimate setting. The conference is expected to bring in a high-level audience of buyers and decision makers.

Additional highlights include:

  • New and leading-edge exhibitors of tea and related products – The exposition is set to deliver tea favorites like International Tea Importers, Teas Etc., Sungarden Teas and Rishi Tea, along with newcomers, including Best International Tea, British Delights, Custom Co-Pack, Revolution Tea, SerendipiTea, Teazzers, Tiesta Tea, Tracy Stern SalonTea and Woodford Wicks.
  • Best new products – World Tea East also features the latest tea products, such as: the finum Traveler ZITA, Riensch & Held’s newest and most impressive tea ware for on-the-go; and AIYA America’s Matcha Zen Café Blend in single-serving packets for delicious Matcha smoothies and lattes at home, among many other exciting teas and wares.
  • Expert-led educational sessions – Presentations include: Top Tea Retail Trends; How to Conduct a Successful Tea Tasting; Tea 201: Finding Profitability; Food Service Market Trends; Building Tea Community the Easy Way; Fair Trade Certification Alternatives for Tea & Herbs; Unusual Herbal Teas; Using Protocol and Etiquette to Increase Sales & Traffic; and the History of Tea in America, among other topics.

 

  • Focused tea tastings – World Tea East tea-tasting sessions include type-specific teas, including the newest in Black, Unusual Herbal Teas, Blended/Flavored Teas, Oolongs, Puers and African Teas.

 

  • Workshops – Unique workshops include “There’s a Flower in My Soup: All About Edible Flowers” and “Tea and Cocktails – Flavor Fusion.”

 

  • World Origin Tasting Tour – This event stops at six different countries of origin, where attendees explore the country’s tea culture, look at unique manufacturing processes and taste six to eight teas that are authentic to each origin, providing delegates a solid understanding of the flavors and profiles of each.

 

  • North American Tea Championship Winners’ Tasting Circle – This experience offers attendees the opportunity to sample winning teas, meet the suppliers and judge for themselves which teas are the best in each category.

For more information on attending, exhibiting or sponsoring, visit www.WorldTeaEast.com or call the expo’s customer service line at 702-253-1893.

SOURCE World Tea Media

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