Here’s a quick look at some tea developments that may not necessarily be new but are still not in the mainstream of tea drinkers’ awareness.
U.S. Tea Growers Expanding
Nigel Melican reports: “I now have positive responses from tea growers in eight US states – and many more potential growers – that’s marvellous [sic] in just 6 days.
The inaugural meeting of the US League of Tea Growers will be held at the World Tea Expo at 4:30pm on Saturday 8th June 2013. All interested parties are welcome.” Sounds fabulous! As a nation that still goes for coffee much more frequently than for tea, this is an amazing development.
Tea Flavor Enhancer Patent
Unilever, the company behind a very well-known brand of powdered and bottled tea, has filed an international patent for a process that creates tea juices to enhance the flavor of those tea powders and bottled teas. The tea juices are made with minimal processing and higher levels of bioactive compounds. Naturally, tea lovers are a tad…uh, well… up in arms, actually. Personally, I have to say that anyone who buys bottled teas or powdered instant teas has already opted to get less than a true tea experience. So, why should a flavor enhancer be a big deal?
Tea 2030 Project Launches
The Tea 2030 project is going to be exploring how the tea industry could change over the next 17 years. Leading stakeholders in the tea industry, from growers to producers to vendors) will be looking into the challenges facing them all. From drought to the push to give up crop saving pesticides to changing from manual harvesting to machine, tea growers face a lot of issues, and those issues ripple out to producers and vendors.
That’s it for this month. Will see what next month brings.
See more of A.C. Cargill’s articles here.
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Tea Blog 
Leave a comment