"Tea thief" author interviewed

NPR has an interview with Sarah Rose, author of For All the Tea in China — a truly fascinating-looking book that I mentioned recently — as well as an excerpt of the story.





—Mellow Monk

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5 years for O-CHA and a Cali tea field for Imperial

O-CHA Teahouse of Greenville, SC is celebrating its 5th anniversary, while in California, Roy Fong of Imperial Tea Court has just acquired a farm where he plans to grow tea.


Tea in California—I think that is wonderfully bold, and I wish Roy the best of luck.



And now for something completely different: Winter Wonderland in Japan, courtesy of Alfie Goodrich.


—Mellow Monk

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Two books—tea espionage and the gardens of Japan

Read a review of For All the Tea in China, which chronicles the tale of an Englishman who stole the secret of tea from China in the 1800s.


Another book you may find interesting is The Gardens of Japan, which is reviewed here.



A landscape at the Adachi Museum of Art, which is one of the many featured in The Gardens of Japan.


—Mellow Monk

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Tea across America: Springboro, OH and Park Ridge, IL

A Springboro, Ohio tea shop is targeting teens in addition to traditional tea aficionados.


Meanwhile, the proprietor of a Park Ridge, Illinois tea store is spreading the word by demonstrating tea's culinary versatility. For instance, she especially likes this Green Tea Panna Cotta recipe from Tonia George's Tea Cookbook:

Green Tea Panna Cotta

1 1/2 T Matcha powder

6 T whole milk

2 tsp. powdered gelatin

2 C heavy cream

1/3 C sugar

4 (5-oz.) teacups or small round cooking molds

Gradually mix the Matcha powder with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the milk in a small bowl until smooth.

Pour the remaining milk into a small heatproof bowl and sprinkle over the gelatin. Set aside for about 5 minutes, then place the bowl over a shallow saucepan of hot water and stir until dissolved. Let cool.

Put the cream and sugar in a saucepan and heat over low heat until almost boiling. Remove from the heat and pour into a large glass measuring cup. Beat in the Matcha powder mixture, then the gelatin solution. Beat until fully blended. Pour the mixture into the teacups or cooking molds. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours until set. The panna cotta should wobble but they shouldn't look as though they are liquid in the center.

If you have made the panna cotta in cooking molds, dip the bases briefly in boiling water, then invert onto plates and give one short, sharp shake to loosen them. They should drop out easily. If you've made them in teacups, serve as they are. Serves 4.

The sign of a traditionalist: The above recipe calls for real powdered green tea, not tea bags.


—Mellow Monk

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Jamba Juice to serve "heavenly" tea

The news from Jamba Juice is that its upcoming lineup of hot beverages includes "Heavenly Green Tea," made with matcha green tea, cane sugar, and vanilla.


I look forward to tasting one, although I will probably ask them to hold the cane sugar.


And with a bottle of vanilla extract, we could all make our own Heavenly Green Tea.



A farmhouse and its tea field. (Taken by yours truly in Kumamoto, Japan.)


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea market keeps on chooglin'

According to Global Industry Analysts, the global market for green tea will exceed 1.2 million tons by 2015.


GIA doesn't say how big the market is now — you have to buy the full report to find that out — but any way you slice it (or steam it or roll it), 1.2 million tons is a lot of tea.



I took this photo last summer at the estate of one of our growers in Kumamoto.


—Mellow Monk

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Countdown to the Victoria Tea Festival

There are only 9 days left until the Victoria Tea Festival, which bills itself as North America's largest public tea exhibition.



A pic from 2009 festival's image gallery.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea, hangover cure

Regarding hangover cures, Keith Strickland of the B-52s says, "Green Tea is about the best one I have used."


I thought I would share this with you now, instead of tomorrow, when it might be too late.


Happy New Year's, everyone.



A nice, warm cup of hangover cure, waiting for you.


—Mellow Monk

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The $2,500 bottle of green tea

That is a lot to pay for a bottle of green tea.


Not only are quality greens available for much less [hint, hint], but green tea's free-radical-fighting catechins begin breaking down soon after brewing, which is why freshly brewed tea is so much healthier for you.


(Bottled teas that tout their high EGCG content, for instance, have boosted the catechin artificially.)



Billed as "the green tea you enjoy in a wine glass."


—Mellow Monk

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Teaching the yout' the calming art of tea

A nice story about a tea ceremony teacher and her pupil—who said she used to be stressed out "like a spinning top"—demonstrating sado to a group of 8th graders in Pittsburgh.



Learning a skill—mellowness—that will come in handy later in life.


—Mellow Monk

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Tea sommelier and recipies

A pair of tea-related stories from the Vancouver Sun—one about a tea sommelier and some "less traditional" tea recipies.





—Mellow Monk

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A study to determine the HPV-fighting abilities of green tea

Researchers at the University of Arizona Medical Center are launching a study to see if green tea polyphenols can help fight the human papillomavirus (HPV).



Researchers Sherry Chow and Wade Chew prepare vials for the green tea study.


—Mellow Monk

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Gourmet teas thrive as global economy sags

From the New York Times:

The global economic crisis may have damped the appetite for high-end goods, but one small daily luxury — gourmet tea — has been posting surprisingly strong sales [. . .]

Read the rest here.



The tasting room at Le Palais des Thés in Paris.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea may improve bone health

Green tea could strengthen your bones and help prevent osteoporosis and other bone diseases that afflict so many, according to a recent study.


Publishing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers found that certain green tea polyphenols promote bone formation by boosting the activity of a bone growth enzyme, but without any toxic effects to bone-producing cells.


Promoting the good without introducing the bad—that is truly the ultimate goal of all healing.



Who would guess that such a soft, gentle liquid could be so good for toughening our bones—and our teeth, too.


—Mellow Monk

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Tea video double feature

Husband-and-wife team The Houston Hill have produced two wonderful entries for the Calm-a-Sutra tea video contest: "The Teacup Tango" and "The Scale of Tea."








—Mellow Monk

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Green tea reduces risk of cancer in blood, bone marrow, and lymph nodes

A new study shows that green tea can cut your risk of hematological malignancy—cancer of the blood cells, bone marrow, or lymph nodes—by as much as 50 percent.


The research, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, looked at the health histories and green tea consumption patterns of over 40,000 participants.


The folks who gained this benefit were those who drank 5 cups of green tea or more every day.


In other words, a cup a day just isn't going to cut it—you really have to make green tea a part of your life. The good news, however, is that doing so brings so many other benefits, too.


—Mellow Monk

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Damn the recession! Full steep ahead!

Despite the recession—or perhaps because of it—new tea shops continue to open.


This dovetails with another recent story—that people in the U.K. are drinking even more tea in these hard times.





—Mellow Monk

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Tea sales rise during recession

The word across the pond is that tea sales there are actually rising during tough economic times.


Seems people there—and everywhere else, too, I'm sure—are realizing that tea is not only healthy, but is also a lot easier on the wallet on a cup-by-cup basis than your typical fancy-shmancy frappumochalatteccino.



Healthy, relaxing ... and a beverage bargain, too.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea could be a new weapon against ALS

A Canadian high school student recently won big at a national science fair by showing that green tea may slow the progression of the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).


Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an antioxidant found only in green tea,

increased the growth of special motor neuron cells in mice by 16 to 30 per cent, according to some of the teenager’s test results.

That means there is a possibility the antioxidant might slow down the wasting effects of the disease, which would be good news for ALS sufferers.

The Monk has a great uncle who died of ALS, so this issue hits close to home. Then again, that makes these research findings even more comforting.



ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, named after the Yankee slugger who delivered his famous "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech when the disease forced him into retirement.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea ingredient blocks HIV infection

Recently published research explains how, at a molecular level, EGCG—a tea catechin found only in green tea—can block infection by the virus that causes AIDS.



Ilona Haube (center), University of Hamburg researcher and lead author of the groundbreaking study.


—Mellow Monk

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A trio of chocolate pots de creme with matcha

The L.A. Times has been running a lot of stories about green tea of late. Here is one about pots de creme (a.k.a. custard) made with matcha.


Of course, you already knew that green tea and chocolate are an exquisite match, yes?



Matcha custard with (clockwise from top) white vanilla, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate.


—Mellow Monk

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Is tea the key to peace in Sri Lanka?

A reporter traveling to a town in war-torn Sri Lanka found that folks there only wanted to talk about one subject: tea.


With the regional economy dominated by tea estates, locals wanted to know about global trends in tea consumption and whether demand would be picking up soon.


Wouldn't it be wonderful if both sides in the conflict there were able to rally around tea as their common cause?



These leaves bring mellow to individuals—can they mellow out an entire society?


—Mellow Monk

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World Tea Expo stirs in offbeat offerings

Morning lychee green tea, green tea liqueur, Sergeant Pepper's orange LHCB rooibos, and Romeo and Juliet's green tea hearts (pictured below)—just a few of the wares on display at the World Tea Expo.





—Mellow Monk

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Green tea ale

Great Lakes Brewery's Green Tea Ale is getting great reviews.


If any of you try some, I'd love to hear about it.



I like the "tea" symbol (茶) and the teahouse icon in the center of the label.


—Mellow Monk

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Now more than ever—the simplicity of tea

The more complicated our world gets, the more we seek out respite in pockets of simplicity.


Thus even "captains of the Internet" and former quad-cappuccino-quaffing techie types are discovering the soul-soothing tranquility of tea.



Business guru Tim Ferriss prepares a pot of mellow.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea may help keep gums healthy

A study published in the Journal of Periodontology found that the more green tea you drink, the less likely you are to get gum disease.


Researchers postulate that this is because the polyphenols in green tea inhibit the bacteria that cause gum disease.



Muko Shrine in Kyoto. (More great pics here.) What, did you want to see pictures of gum disease?


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea, PAHs, and breast cancer

At a recent forum on breast cancer, Dr. Gail Sonenshein gave a presentation on how a green tea catechin can help prevent breast cancer.


According to Dr. Sonenshein — a professor of biochemistry at the University of Boston School of Medicine — epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) stops polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from turning healthy breast cells into cancerous ones.


Long known as carcinogens, PAHs are generated from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, polluted air or water, cigarette smoke, and charcoal-broiled foods.


Dr. Sonenshein's work is called "one of the most detailed molecular characterizations of how green tea may be an effective risk-reduction strategy for breast cancer prevention."


—Mellow Monk

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Daily tea could prevent strokes

A researcher at the University of California Los Angeles reports that drinking tea every day could reduce the risk of stroke by as much as 21 percent.


The linked-to article also has an accompanying video report.



In addition to green tea, making regular excursions to mellowing places like art museums is another way to reduce the stress that contributes to strokes.


—Mellow Monk

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Hot green tea is good for a cold—in an unexpected way

We already knew that the antioxidants and vitamin C in green tea can help you fight a cold.


But researchers have now found another way that hot green tea may also help your body fight illness—just by being hot. Researchers at Cardiff University were surprised by the finding, and still aren't sure why hot beverages work better than their cold counterparts. It could be the sinus-opening effects of the steam, or it could be psychological, they speculate.


But here's one possible explanation they missed: the heat itself.


After all, when you are sick, your body diverts a lot of energy to your immune system. That's why your sick body feels so weak.


Your body also uses energy to make heat, so consuming a hot beverage may take some of that heat-generating burden off your body, allowing it to better fight germs.


And to give your green tea an additional cold-fighting boost, add your favorite citrus juice.



Feel a cold coming on? Start brewing green tea, then.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea may inhibit HIV

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital have found that Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)—an antioxidant found only in green tea—"appears to prevent HIV-1 (the virus associated with AIDS) from infecting cells in the immune system and could prove a valuable part of treatment for the disease."


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea improves brain performance

This is good news for a lot of people: In a study done at Oxford University, green tea was one of three foods found to enhance cognitive performance, the other two foods being red wine and chocolate.


An abstract of the original study is available here.



Brain-protecting plants ready to be rendered into tea.


—Mellow Monk

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A million-dollar study on the health benefits of tea

An Australian university is embarking on a four-year, million-dollar study that is expected to "add to a growing body of evidence linking green tea with health benefits such as weight loss, lower cholesterol levels and prevention of diabetes."



Here's to your health.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea, blood pressure, and extreme exercise

Newsflash!


Green tea can lower your blood pressure and help you stave off illness and infection during extreme exercise.



Click on the pic to read about the connection between green tea and broccoli. Hint: it has to do with quercetin.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea helps you burn more fat during a workout

Medical doctors and health gurus Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen — authors of bestsellers such as You: The Owner's Manual — say that drinking green tea before a workout will help you burn even more fat.



A cup of our Top Leaf Green Tea


—Mellow Monk

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The mobile tea cottage

Wouldn't it be nice if, when you can't make it to your favorite tea room, your favorite tea room would come to you.


Well, if you live in or near Wayland or Hopkinton, Massachusetts, be on the lookout for the GayGrace Teas Mobile Tea Room, which bills itself as "An English cottage on wheels."


I wish someone would start a mobile green tea room. Hey, how about slapping a set of wheels on this one?



Have no fear, the teamobile is here.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea may stave off type 1 diabetes

Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia have found that the powerful green tea antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) may delay the onset of type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes.



Drs. Drs. Stephen Hsu (left) and Kevin Gillespie, who headed up the research project at the Medical College of Georgia.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea, island style

Because of the tea plant's climate needs, there aren't many tea farms in North America. In fact, the Charleston Tea Plantation bills itself as "America's only tea garden."


The folks on Wadmalaw Island, SC, will have to change their sign, though, because a new tea garden has opened up on the Big Island of Hawaii.



Onomea Tea Company's tea bushes on the tropical north shore of Hawaii's Big Island.


—Mellow Monk

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Mother-to-baby benefits of green tea

Research conducted at Oregon State University and reported in the journal Carcinogenesis suggests that pregnant women who drink green tea may confer cancer-fighting benefits to their babies.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea bracelets and pillows

San Diego-based Zenlet is now offering green tea bracelets and green tea spa pillows, which stylishly and comfortably confer the health benefits of green tea by osmosis.



Zenlet's "Green Tea Compassion Bracelet."


—Mellow Monk

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Tea boom in the coffee kingdom

The Seattle Times reports that in America's coffee heartland, more and more people are discovering the surprising accessibility of tea.



Serving freshly-prepared English tea at Seattle's Queen Mary Tea Room.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea brims with benefits

Bastyr University faculty member Paul Anderson — who is a regular green tea drinker — talks about the many benefits of this wonderful green beverage.



Actress Reiko Takashima making a green tea promo. Yes, I know this picture has nothing to do with the article, but it's nice to look at, no?


—Mellow Monk

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Benefits of tea: freshly brewed beats bottled

Salada Tea has announced a campaign that Mellow Monk can definitely get behind: to promote the health and environmental benefits of freshly brewed tea over bottled tea:

Freshly brewed green tea has up to 95 percent higher levels of the antioxidant EGCG than bottled tea (2006 U.S. Department of Agriculture database of flavonoid content in foods). Antioxidants in green tea are sensitive to heat, oxygen, sweeteners and other additives and can easily be destroyed during processing, transportation and storage of bottled tea. Studies have shown that antioxidants help with weight loss, cholesterol, cardiovascular diseases and stress.

And speaking of EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), the many benefits of this antioxidant — which is found only in green tea — may include the ability to prevent Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.





—Mellow Monk

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Reading the mystery behind tea leaves

From abc13.com:

If you're poised to bring a beverage to your lips and it's not water, chances are, it is tea. Second to water, tea is the most consumed beverage around the world according to the FDA. Steaming hot or iced, in winter or summer, tea is soothing, refreshing, fragrant and even healing.

—Mellow Monk

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Two states, three tea teachers

Christine Hunt and Eileen Schley are librarians in Proctorville, Ohio, who share their interest in tea with library visitors.


Sosei Matsumoto lives in Los Angeles, where she has trained over three thousand students in the art of green tea ceremony.



Sosei Matsumoto in front of her home in Los Angeles, where she teaches Japanese tea ceremony.


—Mellow Monk

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Another way green tea fights obesity

Researchers at Australia's Monash University have found that carbohydrates and and sugars promote weight gain not only by being converted into fat but also by damaging the brain cells that suppress appetite.


This happens because carbs and sugars create large amounts of free radicals, which attack neurons in the brain known as POMC neurons. When we eat and our stomach fills up, these neurons — when functioning normally — "turn off" our hunger by telling the brain, "OK, you can stop eating now. We're full!"


(Nature has an illustration describing how POMC cells regulate appetite.)


But when these neurons degenerate prematurely over time due to the free radicals in carb- and sugar-rich diets, these cells lose their ability to suppress appetite. A person with weakened POMC neurons will still feel hungry even after eating his fill and consequently pack on the pounds.


But green tea, remember, is positively rich in antioxidants, which zap free radicals — including (presumably) the ones that attack POMC cells. So, by keeping our POMC cells healthy, green tea can fend of obesity.



There will be a test on this tomorrow.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea shown effective against breast cancer

In a study done at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the green tea catechin epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) significantly inhibited breast tumor growth in female mice.



The Medical Center at Ole Miss, where the research was conducted.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea is on "Brain Food" menu

Some foods are so beneficial to your brain that they're almost like pharmaceuticals. Fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids are one category of such foods. Foods rich in antioxidants — especially polyphenols — are another:

One group [of antioxidants] that has been evaluated, the polyphenols, has been shown in rodents to reduce oxidative damage and to boost the ability to learn and retain memories. In particular, these chemicals affect changes in response to different types of stimulation in the hippocampus (a part of the brain that is crucial to the formation of long-term memories, and which is the region most affected by Alzheimer’s disease).

And guess which green beverage is rich in polyphenols? That's right — green tea.



She's improving her mind in two ways: reading and drinking green tea.



Green tea appears prominently under "Beverages".


—Mellow Monk

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How green tea helps the heart

Yet another reason to "go green":

A new study shows that [green tea], which is more popular in Eastern cultures, can protect heart arteries by keeping them flexible and relaxed, and therefore better able to withstand the ups and downs of constant changes in blood pressure.

"Would you like some tea?"


—Mellow Monk

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