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SUBSCRIBE TO THE TEA HOUSE TIMES
World Tea Expo Special Report, Part One (The Tea House Times, May/June 05 issue)
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.
World Tea Expo (formerly the Take Me 2 Tea Expo), March 21-23 at the Las Vegas Hilton Convention Center, was a great experience. Not only did The Tea House Times receive more subscribers and renewing subscribers, but we had the chance to meet all the wonderful people in the tea industry. Sharing this wonderful feeling of “tea-time” through tea, food, gift items and great classes devoted to helping tea businesses, 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. Having just returned from the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas, we are excited to report about the following products that we have had the privilege of sampling. This is a two-part report since we are awaiting some samples by mail. Part Two will cover more products, books, and announce the date and location of the next World Tea Expo.
Cirqua Customized Water. This was truly amazing. We tasted tea brewed from three different waters. One just produced a bad tasting tea, the other produced a tea with an aftertaste, but the Cirqua Water was smooth, clean tasting, and made the tea taste very fresh and delicious. Seriously, the feel and taste of this water is definitely the best for brewing the best pot of tea that your customers will return for. www.cirqua.com
Teaosophy Leaf tea without the mess. Unique pyramid shaped tea pods (teabags) allow water to circulate around the leaves and gives them room to expand. What we liked about these teas is that you can buy a gift box filled with mini pyramid shaped boxes each containing a single tea bag from different tea growing regions including Kerala, Assam, Nilgiri, Ceylon, Darjeeling, Green Darjeeling, and Earl Grey. A cool gift or an easy way to create a tea tasting party. www.teaosophy.com
Royal Wedding Blend This tea by The British Tea Company is exclusively available from Christopher Brooks Distinctive Foods for a very limited time to celebrate the April 8th wedding of The Prince of Wales to Camilla Parker Bowles. This is a pretty blue box with gold lettering. 50 teabags, Darjeeling Tea. It’s Darjeeling, no complaints. Just plain good. They also have a lemon flavored Darjeeling tea that would be wonderful iced! www.cbdf.com
Sencha Naturals Green Tea Mints This was one of the must see new products premiering at the expo. We love them. Mints in the shape of tea leaves! They come in a great little tin that is small and convenient to carry. They taste great, are refreshing and a real conversation starter since they are shaped like tea leaves. Made from a blend of organic green tea known to help inhibit the root causes of bad breath! www.senchanaturals.com
i-brew This is the another new must see product. You just have to see it. A disposable press. So you can brew loose tea, press, and go. Quick, neat, a great invention. www.brain-twist.com
Tea Time Bingo (TEAGO) A board game totally dedicated to the entertainment, education, and enjoyment of afternoon tea. Bingo?—It’s TEAGO! The perfect parlor game to accompany a relaxing afternoon tea. www.teatimebingo.com and now available at www.theteahousetimes.com Great for entertaining.
Darie’s Gourmet Scone Mixes All you have to do is add butter and cream to these mixes for delicious home made taste every time. Flavors available: Luscious Sweet Cream, Cranberry Almond, Southern Cinnamon Pecan, Lavender, and Chocolate Chip. Lightly sweet; moist inside, crispy outside. The lavender scones add just the lightest touch of purple; pretty on the plate and lightly sweet and fragrant. All delicious. Contact Darie Estill (417) 576-1384 or email: Darie@allthingslovely.com
Red Hat Society This was a spectacular display of RHS merchandise and information about the Red Hat Society. Just walking into their booth made you feel like becoming a member right away. The Red Hat Society is all about fun. “Red Hatters go to tea, sail the high seas, join parades and go on motorcycle rides.” How does this tie in to our tea world? Remember that feel good, relaxing, family time, friendship thing that brings so many people together for tea? Well Red Hatters love it. They are all about friendship and fun and finding ways to enrich their lives. They enjoy going to tea and it’s great fun to see a group of them together. Encourage Red Hatters to visit your tea rooms with special events and by carrying their wonderful line of merchandise. www.redhatsociety.com
WHAT ELSE HAPPENED AT THE EXPO? If you attended the expo you may have received the important message of finding ways to work together with others in the industry. On Monday morning we all enjoyed a presentation from keynote speaker, Kare Anderson. Her message was clearly to “Walk your Talk: Grow your business faster through Successful Cross Promotional Partnerships” which happens to be the title of one of her books. Kare is the publisher of the international “Say it Better” e-zine and the author of several books. Networking with other business owners at the expo and working on cross-promotional avenues is imperative and I hope those of you attending made a point to meet and greet as many people as possible. Meeting face to face and discussing ways to help each other is invaluable. www.sayitbetter.com
SPECIALTY TEA INDUSTRY UPDATE: WHAT’S HOT, NOT & SUPER-HOT: This was the title of a lecture given by Brian Keating of Sage Group International www.teareport.com As trends change and tea becomes “hotter” Brian Keating’s lectures are extremely worthwhile and not to be missed at every World Tea Expo. We must all keep on top of the growing trends in the tea industry. Sage Group publishes a valuable report that you can check out at their website. Did you know there are 15,000-17,000 coffee outlets and 1,200-1,500 tea operations? Coffee outlets are beginning to carry tea products. They are trying to capture the consumer interested in that feel good, relaxing, energized feeling that comes from enjoying a pot of tea. The tea industry receives wonderful press and will grow even more in years to come. Tea rooms should try to carry several brands and types of tea, tea accessories & accoutrements. Educate your customers about tea, how it differs from herbals, and how affordable loose tea is. Most importantly keep giving your customers that feel good time-out that everyone is seeking to enrich their lives.
MORE ABOUT WORLD TEA EXPO: The Take Me 2 Tea Expo has taken on a whole new look and name. At the expo in Las Vegas, March 21-23, they announced their new name and new look. NOW PRESENTING: the World Tea Expo
“The new name is a true representation of our show” says George Jage, World Tea Expo president. “This event attracts exhibitors and attendees from all over the world. The tea trade is truly a global industry, and the World Tea Expo reflects that.”
The World Tea Expo seeks to expand the international tea marketplace by helping tea professionals develop their knowledge, network with the tea community, discover new products and meet vendors face to face.
The World Tea Expo is open to the trade only. Dates and venues for the 2006 World Tea Expo will be announced May 1, 2005 at the new World Tea Expo website, www.worldteaexpo.com.
STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO (July/August 05 issue of The Tea House Times) To include “How to Establish Yourself as a Tea Educator” a lecture by Elizabeth Knight AND more product reviews. (We didn’t have time to taste all the tea samples before going to print) We couldn’t possibly review everyone at the expo. But you can be sure every single company exhibiting had quality, unique teas and merchandise. Check out all exhibitors at www.worldteaexpo.com
A REVIEW OF THE TEA HOUSE TIMES: We also exhibited at the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas. What’s hot? Our logo tea cozy will keep your tea hot for hours. The Tea House Times makes a great gift. Thanks to those of you who visited us at the expo and for all the tea rooms and customers that believe in us and are renewing bulk shipments and personal subscriptions. We strive for early shipments and strongly believe in helping tea businesses in every way possible. We enjoy afternoon tea that much! Explore our website for FREE party ideas, party games, event listings, unique advertising opportunities and links to tea rooms and tea businesses. The Tea House Times will be available soon in book stores & coffee shops.
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