always time for tea

On a side note from the tea business and tea world. I finally had some time to read up on Dan Brown's Angels and Demons the precursor to his more renowned book, The Da Vinci Code.

I must admit, it was a really exciting book with plot twists and intrigue, conspiracies galore and quite a few other things that have made me a really big fan of his now.

But one thing that I really enjoyed about this book is how there is always time for tea! In a hurry to escape the illuminati? First, have a cup o' tea. Running for your life? Have a cup o' tea. need to discuss life and death matters? Let's chat over a cup o' tea. I LOVE IT!

Robert Langdon, and whatever situation he is in, the people around him always want to sit and get some tea, even though he just wants to get the heck out!

Basically, this book is a must read especially during these rainy days and cold nights with a nice hot pot of tea. Otherwise you may forget to take a break and read the whole book in one sitting! yes, it's THAT exciting!

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angels and demons

clip-n-seal + teas = fresh!

When we started the tea company, we searched for the most economical as well as the best solution for storing our teas. After many months researching and trying out different products, we came upon Clip-n-Seals. These are just a natural extension of the baggy clips, only these things actually work! We've been using these and our teas have stayed as fresh as when they were first created.

But we not only use these for our teas, but we use them in our break room. These keep our snack bags fresh, cheeses in the fridge as well as some deli meats. We have an awesome break room!

This has lead us to a special offer. To help our friends spread the joy that is their wonderful product, every order at Paper Street Teas will include a sample clip-n-seal. These are the best way to keep chips, cereals, and anything that needs to be sealed fresh.

So check them out!

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Clip-n-Seal

blogger woes

Sorry for the lack of updates these past few days, but we have been experiencing some difficulty logging into blogger. But that has come to pass. At least for now.

So onto the updates!

tea can prevent alzheimers!

According to some research, drinking tea may help fight off the onset of alzheimers.

This is great news as alzheimers is really big because...well...because people are living longer now-a-days so their neurons just get too old too work properly. But that's besides the point.

One more thing to add to the many great benefits of tea!

article

no flu shot? Drink 4-6 cups of black tea!

With the onset of winter coming and the lack of available flu shots, there are definitely some alternatives such as exercise and better diet. They also suggest drinking black tea 4-6 times a week!

Drink 48-to-60 ounces of water daily and green or black tea 4-to-6 times per week.

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article

waking up to a pot of tea

It was quite a chilly weekend and still is today. It's been raining like no other around here so we've been pumping up the production of tea round the house. Not only do we need it to really start off our day, but lately we have been needing it to get out of the warm bed.

Because of the difficulty, or more like laziness, we have been putting tea into our coffee pot and setting our pot to start brewing at 6 am so we can really begin our day. We first tried putting the tea leaves into the filter then just letting the pot brew the tea. That didn't work out too well with our pot. We tried it by just putting the tea leaves into the pot and just letting the hot water sit there. That brews the tea much better but of course it makes a bit bitter because of how long it stays in teh pot. But this is an incentive to get up and grab that pot before it gets too bitter to the point of just plain ole sucking. The quickest way to get rid of the leaves would be to use the coffee filter and pour your tea trhough it. This takes some concentration so you don't burn yourself.

Now waking up in the morning isn't too much of a drag, but leaving the toasty bed is still pretty difficult.

All in all, for those of you who just need that cup of tea, or three like me, then this is the best way to start your day. Just test it out and see what you like. I know other people just use the filter like coffee but that just doesnt cut it for us.

So now you can enjoy the best cup of the day...the first!

How much do you spend on drinks?

Have you ever sat down and calculated how much you spend on specialty drinks like coffee blendeds, smoothies and other types of drinks like this?

Let's see...the average cost of a coffee ice blended from Starbucks is about 3.95.

Let's say you get each one, twice per week. So you're spending 7.90 per week. That's almost $32 a month on these types of drinks.

Now I know people that I used to work with who get these drinks on a daily basis. I always wondered what the point was on spending so much money on a drink that costs pennies to make. I remember I had asked them, and they said, it's not the same. They also would say that I'm paying for the service. Yet they buy the drinks to go.

First off, I am not the type of person to always make my own food because it's cheaper, or whatevers, but I think in an office setting, people should know that they can have their ice blendeds essentially for free if they just tell their employer.

How? Well, all of the ingredients needed to make a a frappuccino are readily available. And I'm not talking about the frappuccino packs. You can buy the powder they use, its a chocolate smoothie mix. There's a great one by Caffe D'Amore. You take that, and a shot of your favorite espresso, some ice and blend it. Now you have your favorite specialty iced drink! You can even throw in some flavorings with Torani syrups, which you can get at your local Gelsons market or specialty foods market.

Another great drink is to take Caffe D'Amore's vanilla powder and blend it with your favorite tea. You just steep your tea as normal (loose leaf tea works best because of stronger flavor), and take 2 sccops of the vanilla powder and a cup of ice. Blend it all together and you have a great tea-ice blended!

Why would you want to do this? So you can have your favorite drink for free.

Why would your employer pay for this? The cost is a few cents more per cup than just having sick old coffee thats been sitting in the pot all day. But the main reason why your boss will do this is because over time they save money, because you are more productive at work, and because you don't have to do a Starbucks run, you have more time to finishing up on that project.

Everybody wins! So go tell your boss to incorporate this or they'll keep losing money through reduced productivity!

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Caffe D'Amore
loose leaf tea

tea bit of info

Of all the countries in the Middle East, Egypt and Iran are the largest consumers of tea. While Iranians consume about 100,000 tons of tea a year, Egyptians consume 80,000 tons annually, averaging any where from 12 to 30 cups of tea a day for most people

happy anniversary Paper Street!

Happy 1 year anniversary to Paper Street Teas! It was 1 year ago today when Paul and I officially unveiled the then named Teanas website. It was a proud moment celebrated with Guinness and some gourmet cheeses. Once we got our first order we were ecstatic! Oh my, how much has changed since then. The one thing that hasn't changed is the amount of work we put in.

Here's to another great and successful year!

Having a tea filled breakfast

With all the available tea products ranging from regular tea, to jams and tea sprays and even desserts like cookies and ice cream, we decided to have a tea filled breakfast on Sunday.

Here is what we had.

- Some tea from Paper Street Teas. Mainly the earl grey cream, long island strawberry green tea, strawberry kiwi herbal, belgian chocolate rooibos, and their keemun panda.

- Raspberry quince tea jam by Republic of Tea.

- Vanilla bean tea honey by Republic of Tea.

- Green tea mochi

Here's how we did.

Breakfast:

3 cups of earl grey cream
2 pieces of sourdough bread
1 three cheese omelette with green onions and bell peppers
2 breakfast sausages

On 1 side of toast I put the raspberry tea jam. This tea jam tasted surprisingly good with a hint of tea. I thought it would be over powering but it wasn't. The raspberry characteristics definitely played well with the tea. It almost tasted like raspberry tea but sweeter.

Side 2 took on the vanilla bean honey. The vanilla taste was again, just a hint, but enough to notice. It was weird tasting vanilla on a piece of toast. But I suffered through it for everyone here. I will definitely try a more appropriate flavor next time. But the vanilla honey did wonders for my earl grey cream. It gave it a more lively vanilla flavor.

Now for dessert...We picked up a package of Green Tea Mochi from our local korean market. They also have this available in Ranch 99 and other asian super markets. The package only contained 4 mochi balls, but that was good enough. Eating each one with its ice cream filled center was a delight and the green tea tasted really good. It has a matcha type flavor, almost powdery to some extent, but then that coudl also be due to the doughy exterior.

This breakfast received 5 teacups out of 5 teacups.

Our next mission will be to tackle a tea filled lunch and tea filled dinner. But instead of just using tea filled products, we plan on cooking with tea. If anyone has any recipes or suggestions email us at tea.oracle@teavilla.com.

hello oolong

What is oolong? Oolong is a tea that is made from the same plant as green and black tea. The difference being how long it's fired or roasted. But because oolong tea comes from the same plant, it too has many health benefits such as weight loss, lowering cholesterol, etc.

A little history:

Oolong tea originated in the Fujian Province of China where is thought that it was first produced at Mt Wu Yi Shan about 400 years ago at the end of the Ming dynasty. The tea is now made in China and Taiwan as the growers who colonized Taiwan took the traditions of oolong tea to their new country. Taiwanese oolong tea is often called Formosa oolong as, hundreds of years ago, the country was called Ilha Formosa (meaning Beautiful Island ).

Oolong tea has been a wonderful addition to the tea family as the smooth mellow taste of the Formosa oolong is great for the afternoon or as a dessert tea.

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More about oolong
buy oolong tea

food for your looks?

With so many beauty products whats one more? There's a new genre of beauty products called cosmeceuticals which are beauty products that enhance the outside from the inside. This genre is popular in Asia with foods like yogurts, cereals and many other products.

And of course tea cereal!

Next on the menu could be Nissin Cisco’s Green Tea cereal - a rice-based cereal that contains green tea powder, green tea extract and gyokuro tea. Many will be familiar with the antioxidant health benefits of green tea as a beverage, but now you could boost that effect over breakfast and gain one-third of the requirement of vitamins A, B1, B2, C and niacin.

This is quite a sight. I mean reading that article, they have collagen soup! Collagen soup!? What will they think of next? I would love to try this out. If anyone in Japan can send us a sample or a box it'd be awesome!

If you have a product or seen something, we'd love to hear from you!

email me at tea.oracle @ teavilla . com (take out the spaces)

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beauty food products

a nice mojito for you

Here is a great recipe for a regreshing drink.

Steaz Organic Mojito (single serving)

"An alluring tropical tea beverage…..sophisticated and refreshing with an organic twist!"

4 fresh mint leaves (about 1 tsp.)

1 Tbsp. organic cane sugar

2 Tbsp. fresh organic lime juice

1 1/2 oz. light rum

Crushed ice

Splash of Steaz Key Lime soda

*chilled lime slices and mint sprigs optional

Place mint, cane sugar and lime juice in a tall glass. With the back of spoon, crush mint until cane sugar is dissolved. Stir in rum. Fill glass with crushed ice. Top off glass with Steaz soda, to taste. Stir. Garnish with lime slices and fresh mint sprigs, if desired.

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Steaz Key Lime soda

mini ipod contest is now underway!

We have finally got the mini ipod contest underway. We are giving away a mini ipod a month in conjunction with Paper Street Teas. Check out the rules page. It's pretty simple. Just join us at our wonderful tea forums.

Come and get your mini pod already!


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rules page
tea forums

green tea helps with heart attacks

With all of the benefits of green tea finally being researched, here is yet another reason to drink green tea regularly.

... experiments show rats on green tea have a better chance of recovering from a heart attack and that their heart muscles would be less damaged by such an attack too.

This is quite a great reason for people in the states to drink green tea because of all the elevated causes such as obesity, which in turn we can thank the wonders of fast food and lack of exercise.

We hope that soon they will show that research will show how green tea helps with memory and others.

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article

fun mug

Here at Tea Villa, we try our best to bring you not only the latest news and developments of tea, but interesting and fun products.

In our search we have found the excalibur 467. It'a a mug that displays info about coffee and tea as well as recipes, brewing instructions and other tidbits.




It's an interesting mug to say the least. It'd make for a great gift for that tea or coffee drinker you love.

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excalibur 467