The Tea House Times

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(The Tea House Times, July/August 05 issue—SHOW REPORTS)

Part II--As part of The Tea House Times’ ongoing commitment to assist busy tea room owners, we have been attending various trade shows to preview products of interest to tea room owners and customers.  Here part 2 of our World Tea Expo coverage and also some products of interest from the New York International Gift Market.  Enjoy. 

World Tea Expo Special Report, Part Two

World Tea Expo (formerly the Take Me 2 Tea Expo), March 21-23 at the Las Vegas Hilton Convention Center, was a great experience.  The World Tea Expo is growing and is absolutely a must attend event for anyone in the business of serving or selling tea and related products.  We are excited to report about the following products that we have had the privilege of sampling.  This is the second of a two-part report.   If you missed Part One, go back to our website news page.

Earlene Grey writes tea poetry.  Her line of books, cards, prints, and gift boxes are beautiful.  Books include Musings with a Cuppa, Musings and Men, Musings for the Quiet Person – all poetry about tea with Victorian images.  These books are small but stunning.  4 1/8” wide by 5 ½” high printed on very heavyweight metallic paper stock.  Inside each cover is a beautiful, floral, sheer paper through which you can view the title page.  Very pretty and meaningful poetry.  You’ll want them all!   www.earlenegrey.com
 

Cool Capp®.  Loving these.  This is a fun line of special drink mixes to create both hot specialty teas and cold, icy treats.  Yummy hot drinks like Spiced or Dutch Apple Chai Capps™ Tea Lattes.  Icy drinks called Cool Teaz™ like Peach Jasmine, Passion Fruit and Green Matcha Tea (our favorite).  Other products include Cool Sicles™-a fruity treat, Cool Creamz™-Blended Iced Creams, & Cool Capps™-Blended Iced Coffees.  All delicious, fun, special treats.    www.coolcapp.com

Teas from the World   Custom blended, flavored teas.  Exotic and international flavors.  We tasted Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, Acapulco Coffee Liqueur, Parisian Autumn Strawberry & Pomegranate, Lady Day Pomegranate Crème, Tropical Nights, French Caramel Crème Brulee, and Blue Lady.  All teas we tasted were flavored and some mixed with pretty flowers.  Each tea was wonderfully aromatic and delicious.  The flavor combinations are unique.  Email Teadude@San.Rr.com

Bunn Beverage Equipment  All the equipment you can possibly need to create perfect beverages.  The hot water dispensers provide precise temperature control.  Medium volume and large volume machines provide 4.2 gallons to 13.2 gallons of hot water per hour.  Other products include water filter systems, paper filters for coffee and tea brewers, brewers, warmers, dispensers, urns, coffee grinders, iced tea brewers, juice dispensers, ice dispensers, fresh mix dispensers, and hot water dispensers.  www.bunn.com

Serendib Enterprises  Suppliers of premium pure Ceylon teas.  The brisk flavor of the Ceylon teas are complimented by the flavors this company offers.  The teas we tasted, all teabag teas, were Maple, Green w/Jasmine, and Mango.  The flavors were good and very aromatic.  They also offer pretty, metal tea canisters. www.serendib-teas.com

Lindsay’s Teas  A full range of teas and herbals.  Very pretty packaging.  Bagged or loose tea.  We tried chamomile, green w/Jasmine, and Rooibos.  All were pleasantly flavored.  The tea bag packaging is pretty and would make unique token gifts packaged together in small decorative bags, which they also offer.  Also available tea pots, accessories, and beauty products.  www.lindsaysteas.com

Liards  Nickel, Bronze, Brass, and Silver, very romantic, decorative pieces including frames, stands, easels, candlesticks, vanity trays, powder shakers, mirrors, desk and writing accessories, bathroom accessories, hooks, vases, mussies, cake stands, placecard holders, impressive centerpieces with candles & space for floral arrangements, chargers, ice buckets, wall mount plate holder and cup and saucer holder, and so much more.  Simply gorgeous.  And very reasonable prices.  www.liards.com

WHAT ELSE HAPPENED AT THE EXPO?

HOW TO ESTABLISH YOURSELF AS A TEA EDUCATOR a lecture by Elizabeth Knight. 

How do you establish yourself as a tea educator?  You may already be.  If you are a writer, speaker, or other tea professional, chances are you are already educating in many different ways; sharing your passion and knowledge.  To become an educator it is very important to first educate yourself so you may answer common questions in your field of expertise.  Take classes and read a lot.  Be professional and reliable.   Write articles, communicate with customers via newsletters (like the custom newsletters provided by The Tea House Times ;-), teach, speak, host a special event and talk about a related topic, just share your passion and knowledge the best way you know how.  Ms. Knight’s class covers how to market yourself, how to determine your target market, how to get and prepare for speaking engagements, getting paid, how to look and sound like an expert, and much more.  Very worthwhile.

MORE ABOUT WORLD TEA EXPO:

The World Tea Expo will be held again in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Hilton, March 27-29, 2006.  To expand awareness of the World Tea Expo, they have launched the World Tea News, a must-read information source for members of the tea community.  Sign up to receive news from World Tea Expo at:  www.worldteaexpo.com.

We couldn’t possibly review everyone at the expo.  But you can be sure every single company exhibiting had quality, unique teas and merchandise of interest to tea room owners.   Check out all exhibitors at www.worldteaexpo.com

A NOTE FROM THE TEA HOUSE TIMES:   Thanks again to those of you who visited our booth at the expo.  Most tea rooms are creating a VIP Program with The Tea House Times.  Tea Room owners--be sure to sign up for our bi-monthly Resource Mailer.  Visit our website for FREE party ideas, NEW free party games, event listings, unique advertising opportunities and links to tea rooms and tea businesses.  Enjoy.  Tea businesses and publishers are welcome to submit samples for review.  PO Box 1049, Sparta NJ 07871

Visit our Advertising page for unique, quality advertising opportunities in The Tea House Times and our Resource Mailers.

The New York International Gift Market

The Tea House Times attended the New York International Gift Market at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, in New York City, February, 2005.  This show is huge and a little overwhelming.  You need several days to get through it.  A small offering highlighted below.   There were many other companies with great products suitable for tea rooms.

Liette International  Purveyors of Fine Porcelain.  A very beautiful line for home, bath, & kitchen.  Loads of florals and some very Victorian styles.  Plates, cups, teapots, trays, eyeglass holders, teacup nightlights, perfume bottles, mirrors, miniature baskets, clock with teapots pictures on a plate, bathroom accessories, mustard jar, salt & pepper shakers, tea sets.  www.lietteinternational.com

Tea forte Teabags in the shape of a pyramid that hold loose leaf teas beautifully.  A real conversation starter and makes a cute gift.  Each teabag stands upright in the pyramid shape with a bendable leaf coming off the top of the bag. “Revolutionary infusers filled with whole-leaf teas, herbs, and flowers.”  Each infuser brews 2 cups or a small pot of tea.  www.teaforte.com

Crabtree & Evelyn Wonderful lotions, soaps, bath and beauty products.  They also offer a line of food products including cookies, teas, & preserves.  All would be beautiful displayed in a tea room.  www.crabtree-evelyn.com

Bag Ladies Tea  Very unique packaging.  English Breakfast tea bags each labeled according to the package theme.  Themes include Girlfriends, Sisters, Oh Baby, I Do I Think, Working Girls, Forget Him, Well Hello 40’s, Well Hello 50’s, Happy Birthday, O Christmas Tea, No Other Like Mother, There’s No Place Like Home.  Each teabag in the 24 count tin has a different little “dash of humor” printed on the tag.  www.bagladiestea.com

Anna Griffin Inc.  Invitations, Social Stationery, Home Office, Decorative Papers.  The most beautiful line of paper products ever seen.  Spruce up your office with floral file folders.  Invitations for weddings, events, baby.  Decorative papers galore.  Cards, pads, scrapbook papers.  Display racks available.  www.annagriffin.com

Penguin Group A huge selection of books. We found some very good books about tea & parties.  Reviews soon.

www.penguingroup.com

The Tea House Times, PO Box 1049, Sparta NJ 07871