Free shipping reminder

Yesterday our "free shipping for blog readers" campaign got underway. The offer is good until next Friday.


—Mellow Monk

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Booze-making monks

Some monks make chocolate, and others make hooch.


—Mellow Monk

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Japan's new prime minister

The Economist has a concise summary of the challenges facing Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe.





—Mellow Monk

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Free shipping for blog readers!

As a way of thanking the readers of this blog, we're offering free shipping on all orders of Mellow Monk green tea.

This offer is good for one week only—starting right now and ending next Friday, October 6, at 2 p.m.

To order, simply click on the "Go to the Mellow Monk tea page" link below and order as you normally would. When you arrive at the order confirmation page, you'll see that shipping charges are zero. Nada. Zip. (There's just one catch—this offer is for U.S. orders only.)

Payments are processed through PayPal, which delivers industry-leading security. What's more, our tea is 100% guaranteed, so if you're not happy with your purchase for any reason, you can return the unused portion for a full refund—no questions asked.

Anyone can take advantage of this free shipping offer, but we're publicizing it only on this blog.

See? Who said reading a blog never pays off?


—Mellow Monk

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How green tea can help you lose weight

From WebMD: "Drinking Green Tea May Help You Lose Weight."


—Mellow Monk

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Pop star's mom caught with cash

The mother of Japan's biggest pop singer, Hikaru Utada, was recently caught trying to board a plane with over $400,000 in cash. Probably for the in-flight duty-free shopping, no doubt.





—Mellow Monk

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From the "No, it couldn't be!" files

[I wouldn't ordinarily post something like this, but the humor potential was just too great to ignore.]


Most ladies will undoutedly think "They needed an expensive study to figure that out?" upon reading the headline to this story.





—Mellow Monk

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Tiger Tanaka and Tokyo Rose, R.I.P.

Two obits today:


Japanese actor Tetsuro Tamba, who played Tiger Tanaka in the James Bond flick "You Only Live Twice," has passed away. If you're into samurai flicks, you'll also know him for the huge legacy of films of that genre that he leaves behind.





Also, Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who became notorious as "Tokyo Rose," has passed away at 90.





—Mellow Monk

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From H to green tea

These days, the former bad-boy author who wrote "Trainspotting" has replaced drugs with green tea.

—Mellow Monk

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Green tea as a home remedy

From MSNBC.com:

Minor burns — whether you fell asleep in the sun or grabbed the wrong end of a curling iron — can be treated with a cold compress of black or green tea, says Marie Savard, MD, a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "Soak a dish towel in cold tea. The phytonutrients will reduce inflamed blood vessels."

—Mellow Monk

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Harvard Women's Health Watch on green tea

The proof is in: drinking tea is healthy, says Harvard Women’s Health Watch.

—Mellow Monk

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Japan's addictive arcades

Japan's video game arcades are positively addictive, says one writer.





—Mellow Monk

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Attention-grabbing clouds

View pictures of unusual cloud formations, like the one below.





—Mellow Monk

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The French press, a simple solution for brewing loose green tea

French presses such as the Aerobie Aeropress coffeemaker are popular for coffee, but they're also great for brewing loose green tea, too. For instance, the water in the brewing chamber of a French press stays in there until you press down the plunger, allowing you to fine-tune the brewing time.





—Mellow Monk

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Lining up for American beef

Now that the ban has been lifted, Japanese fans of American beef are lining up for gyuudon made with imported U.S. beef.





—Mellow Monk

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Japan's princess war

Drowned out by the nation's cacaphonic celebration of the newborn royal heir is a low-level conflict between supporters of the two pricesses: Kiko and Masako.


—Mellow Monk

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Stress-busting belly breathing

Belly breathing is a basic deep-breathing technique and an excellent way to relax. It's something that comes naturally to us, but as we get older we forget how. You can (re-)learn the basics from infants.


—Mellow Monk

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Japanese lockers lock!

Yo, check out these homies from Japan, yo! These boys know how to lock.

(What did you think I meant by "lockers"—the things you put gym clothes into?)





—Mellow Monk

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Tea bag baby stroller

From Yahoo! Japan: a picture of a baby stroller covered with tea bags. In commissioning this piece of "art" (their term, not mine), baby goods manufacturer Aprica says its message is that as infants grow and develop they need stimulation in all five sense.

Makes perfect sense, no?

Besides, if you have a lot of tea bags on your hands, you have to do something with them. After all, you can't drink the stuff.





—Mellow Monk

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Pair o' sumo suits

Speaking of sumo, you can buy your very own pair of inflatable sumo suits, if you so desire.

Thanks to Helen for the link.





—Mellow Monk

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Rock 'em sock 'em sumo

One of the basic rules of Japanese sumo wrestling is: No punching, and especially no punching in the face.

Kotokanyu, a 19-year veteran of sumo, broke that rule in spectacular fashion this weekend when he punched his opponent in the face. Needless to say, there have been repercussions.





—Mellow Monk

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Catechins in green tea and chocolate

Catechins are present in tea and chocolate, among other foods, but green tea is especially loaded with these disease-fighting compounds:

One cup of green tea provides 10-40 mg of polyphenol bioflavinoids and provides more antioxidants than a serving of broccoli, spinach, carrots, or strawberries.

—Mellow Monk

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Turning un-Japanese

According to some observers, Japan is becoming more modern and less alien to outsiders in many ways. One upshot: An American professor living in Japan and teaching a course on the 1950s films of famed Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu has to explain to his Japanese students the intricacies of the traditional Japanese family system.





—Mellow Monk

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A good day's sleep

When you work nights, sleeping during the day isn't always easy. But there are a few basic rules for making sure you get the restful sleep you need when it's light outside.


—Mellow Monk

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Behind the organic label

From the L.A. Times, via the American Council on Science and Health website:

[A]s organic products — and their claims to superiority — have grown more common, scientists, policy analysts and some consumers have begun to ask for proof. Where's the evidence, they ask, for the widespread belief that organic foods are safer and more nutritious than those raised by conventional farming methods?

The short answer, food safety and nutrition scientists say, is that such proof does not exist.

—Mellow Monk

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New PlayStation to support research

Be prepared, parents. Your kids may soon waylay you with yet another reason why should get a PlayStation 3 console: to help eradicate disease.


—Mellow Monk

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Taiko and shamisen

Taiko are traditional Japanese drums; one internationally known taiko artist is Joji Hirota.

The shamisen is a traditional stringed instrument. The Yoshida Brothers have attracted much attention with their own unique fast-paced, modern style of playing shamisen.


—Mellow Monk

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Drink green tea and get some me time

(I decided to post this on Monday, so readers could have a chance to read it before getting too caught up in the week.)

The message in this story is in perfect synch with Mellow Monk's Philosophy of the Green Tea Break:

Taking a break will actually make you discharge your responsibilities better. Galinsky's surveys show that people who are happiest at work are those who take time for themselves. "If you shift your focus, you go back to the other areas of life with more energy," she says. "You're less stressed, more satisfied with life in general."

(If the above link doesn't work, try this one.)





—Mellow Monk

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After Einstein's brain

Here's part one of "After Einstein's Brain," a documentary about Japanese mathematician Kenji Sugimoto's obsession with tracking down Albert Einstein's brain.

Sound weird? It is.





—Mellow Monk

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Dr. Oshimi on the benefits of catechins

Dr. T. Oshimi of Hokkaido explains the many health benefits of green tea catechins.

Incidentally, the reason that the good doctor doesn't list tamaryokucha as one of the four types of green tea is that tamaryokucha is a type of sencha—grown and harvested in the same way and processed identically with one exception: at the end of processing, the leaves are curled instead of straightened, hence the name "tamaryokucha" (curled green tea).

—Mellow Monk

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Green tea protects against dioxin

Research shows that compounds in green tea prevent dioxin from causing cancer.

—Mellow Monk

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Paper robots

From Wired:

No matter what the latest toy sensation in Japan is, it always involves robots. But now geeks are putting aside traditional mold-injected plastic figurines in favor of Kami-robo (paper robots), which players assemble themselves.

—Mellow Monk

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Top Leaf and Hojicha have arrived!

We just received a shipment of Top Leaf and Hojicha (Roasted Green Tea) from the Nagatas in Japan, and the "Buy tea" buttons for those two teas have been re-activated.

Our most profuse apologies for the stockout, but that's unfortunately what happens when having the tea shipped to us in small batches for freshness's sake.


—Mellow Monk

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Locally grown, locally eaten

Japan's chisan chishou movement is about consumers actively seeking out locally grown produce.

—Mellow Monk

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Ultramodern tea bags

As green tea grows in popularity, do-it-yourself teabags are going high-tech.

Tea pouches (also called tea filters) like these are a good solution for enjoying loose-leaf green tea on the road, but at one dollar a pop, using them regularly at home or at the office would get expensive if you're a five-cups-a-day person like me.

As for pre-bagged tea, the problem remains that manufacturers spend more on the bag and the bagging process than they do on the tea inside. In other words, just as great coffee is whole-bean, great tea is loose-leaf.

Incidentally, Mellow Monk's Green Teas offers imported Japanese tea filters as part of our Green Tea Starter Kit (scroll to the bottom of the destination page).





—Mellow Monk

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