Shop Status – Take 3
Sinks are delivered, plumber scheduled for next week. Extra electric has been installed to handle busy brewing needs. We still need a wall separating food prep from walkway to bathroom, and I have to finish painting the floor.
Have hired some extra staff, and wonder of wonders, they can all get together at the same time for a tea sampling and orientation!
Our target OPEN date right now is Tuesday 5/14…..Taste of Maplewood is Sat 5/18, and we really want to be open for you then – as a respite from crowds and heat or chill with a refreshing cup of tea.
Maplewood Chamber of Commerce has scheduled our ribbon cutting for Tues 5/21 at 5:15 pm – Please join us for that!
Meanwhile – the “tea shop that travels” will be at opening day of Tower Grove Farmers Market on Sat 5/4 from 8:00 am-2:00 pm with some new brewing options, and perhaps a new flavor of tea to refresh you!
Looking forward to Sharing Good Tea with our friends – both old and new!
Shop Status Update
Though we are not yet officially open, yesterday was our first event in our new shop location at 2707 Sutton Blvd in Maplewood – The 4th Annual Maplewood Coffee Crawl [I always forget to take pictures!!]
600 people were registered, and I know we saw many of you! The flow of tea sampling was pretty constant from 8:15-12:30. THANK YOU! and thank you SO much for your warm welcome to the neighborhood.
We are still waiting for installation of sinks, and have some finish painting etc to complete, as well as final inspections.
We’ll be sending out an email as well as updating Facebook and Twitter as opening day gets close.
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In the meantime, look for us in the Farmers Market area at Earthday by the Muny in Forest Park on Sunday 4/21
AND/OR attend our food and tea pairing at Something Elegant Catering on Tuesday 4/16. 
Attendance is limited to 25 guests and we are more than half full at this point – so don’t delay. Recipes and tips for cooking with tea will be shared freely. Call me or email to reserve your spot 314 477 8516 or kateri @ traveling-tea (dot) com
[Click on the image to open in new window and enlarge so it is readable]
New shop – 2707 Sutton Blvd – Maplewood
3/26/13 – Update
We are about 95% finished with painting the walls. Plumber has installed floor drain and roughed in the drains. Sinks are ordered.
We WILL be serving tea samples at the Maplewood Coffee Crawl on Sat April 6, 8am-1pm. Full open and able to sell date is yet to be determined.
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We hope some of you can join us at Something Elegant Catering, 2200 Yale Avenue Maplewood on Tues 4/16 for tea and food pairing. 3 course tasting with cocktails & mocktails + truffles from Oh Sheila! Limited to 25 guests, $30/person Reservations required – Call 314-781-7722
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I welcomed Home Wine Kitchen to the Traveling Tea Service family, and FORGOT to also Welcome Pie Oh My!
Jane started serving some of our tea in February, dine in or to-go [Scottish Breakfast, Maple Honeybush, Meeting of the Mints, AND Wuyi Oolong]. You KNOW you Want a piece of Pie!
Fun with Tea as Art
I’ve been so busy sharing tea and making new plans for sharing tea, I’ve not taken time to update you here.
Tea as beverage, tea in cooking, ….. tea in art? (besides paintings and drawings of people enjoying tea)
On Friday 2/1/13, a new exhibit opened at the Contemporary Art Museum [Jeremy Deller's "Joy in People"]
Part of the exhibit includes a replica of Valerie’s Snack Bar from Manchester England, and part of the “art” is that complementary tea is served in the exhibit.
Valerie's Snack Bar replica
Guess whose tea is being served? Every day of the exhibit, through 4/28/13, good tea is being shared. I was honored to be asked.
As a further tie-in, I provided individual teabags for an art project for Family Day, and this is what Maria created with those. What Fun?!
Do You Know Where Your Tea Comes From? [aka - What are you using for your kombucha?]
Japan Firm Recalls China Tea on Pesticide Fears
by Naharnet Newsdesk 12/11/2012
Japanese food company Ito En on Tuesday issued a huge recall of Chinese-grown tea after some of it was found to contain illegal levels of pesticide residue.
The firm said it was recalling about 400,000 packages of Oolong tea after spot testing revealed pesticide residue levels above Japanese food safety limits.
Ito En said it started testing the tea from China’s southern Fujian province after another Japanese teamaker announced last month it had found similarly high pesticide levels in its China-sourced tea.
“We found the higher levels of pesticide residue after conducting voluntary tests following another company’s announcement about Oolong teabags,” an Ito En spokesman told Agence France Presse.
But he insisted the findings were not an imminent health risk, adding that the firm had not received any complaints from customers.
The spokesman said the tea had passed sample testing performed in China, which has been hit by a string of food safety scandals in recent years.
Ito En said it may strengthen its testing of the traditional-style Oolong tea and has sent company officials to China to investigate the matter.
“We will suspend sales of the relevant products until we find out the cause,” he said.
The tea under recall has expiry dates from mid to late November 2013.
Excerpted from article here
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All our oolongs are independently 3rd party tested and certified organic.
We know you can find cheaper tea….can you trust it? Email or call to discuss bulk purchasing (8-16 oz or more)
Green Tea a Useful Disinfectant
04 Oct 2012
By World Tea News
SEOUL, South Korea
As the flu season approaches, tea drinkers can take comfort in the fact that green tea may provide additional protection.
Researchers at the Yonsei University’s Department of Biotechnology at the College of Life Science and Biotechnology tested green tea solutions in various concentrations and discovered tea killed the influenza virus on skin.
All concentrations were effective against the flu virus, including the one with the lowest concentration, according to lead researcher Woo-Jin Shin. Viruses on skin containing the virus that was treated with a control (PBS) remained, but even weak green tea solutions proved effective.
Skin was exposed to one green tea bag per 120 mL of hot water at the low end and two and three bags per 120 mL to test higher concentrations.
Researchers conclude that using green tea solution as a hand disinfectant, gargling with tea and drinking tea could be a useful way to prevent transmission of the flu virus.
The study was published in the journal Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry.
Source: Digital Journal
Market News & new teas
I am sorry to say, effective immediately, I will have to stop attending the Schlafly Maplewood Farmers Market for the remainder of the Summer season. Sales and market exposure have not been enough to make up for the wages that I’ve been giving up. Many of you realize I am still working a nearly full-time job to pay my personal bills.
I know this Market is more convenient for some of you, and I can still meet you there to deliver tea orders.
I hope to return to the Schlafly Winter Market, if they will have me.
New teas in (all organic): Hojicha, Jasmine Pearls, and Mothering Tea and Sage Woman have returned by special request.
We also have organic Matcha in 1oz and 4oz sizes. I hope to get all of these added to the website in the next week.
News and Teapot Travels
HAPPY 4th of July!!
Apologies for how long I’ve let the website go without updating info. I hope to do better going forward. Instead of worrying about how it all looks/flows from a marketing standpoint, I’m just going to start sharing notes about what goes on. Hopefully, you won’t mind the informality.
Newest news: a selection of Traveling Tea teas are now available at Home Eco and Missouri Botanical Garden Gate Shop, making a total of 10 other locations to buy my tea if you can’t get to Market or shop.
I’ve added a link here, at right, to subscribe to a “Tea-mail” list. I’m putting together a notice to go out tomorrow….in celebration of my birthday next week I will be serving mini-cupcakes at TGFM this Saturday (to the first 40 customers). These are super yummy, gluten-free (I defy you to tell the difference), baked by my daughter (who is in the fledgling stage of developing her own bakery business in Columbia, MO
July & August will pretty much just be Market months. In September, extra events start (StrangeFolk Festival and Scottish Games)
I hope to get the calendar page updated within the next week. My computer crashed in April and many things have had to be recreated from scratch. Bah.
In April I attended a Tea Sommelier training in So. Carolina AND got to visit the Charleston Tea Plantation. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they use mostly organic practices on their plants and will start carrying American (Continent) grown tea soon. [They do use chemical fertilizers due to being a public tourist attraction .... manure wouldn't go over very well].
I am still working on the follow-up to the training (I have to learn about, sample, and compare 30 different teas, and post my findings in the class forum). Hmmmm…..since I learn better when sharing with others……anyone want to help me? If so, please contact me via any of the usual channels.
Try to keep cool out there – Kateri
New Tea Service Review Campaign
Due to a recent disappointing experience, and because there are so many teas available and it is impossible for Traveling Tea to provide everything to everyone, and in keeping with our motto: “Sharing Good Times ~ Sharing Good Tea©”, I’ve decided to start a review of tea service at local restaurants and cafés.
It is the least I can do, to aid my customers (and other tea drinkers) to have the best experience possible when Traveling Tea is not being served.
I have devised “star award” criteria, and as I make my way through various establishments, the findings will be posted on this “Tea Service Reviews” page. I invite YOU to email your experiences and findings to me as well, so we can create a more comprehensive list. [You can also post on our Facebook page and I will transfer the details here.]
I award stars based upon the following criteria:
*Loose leaf (vs. bagged…..there are some better brands of bagged teas, and they will get their star for that if appropriate)
*Brand Selection, e.g. organic/fair trade/good reputation of company (environment and people)
*Description/Variety of teas (is there a “tea menu”; how are the teas described? And what sort of choices do you have?)
*Presentation & Steeping method (cup or pot on table, appropriate water temp)
*Value (can you get add’l cup? resteep)
5 STARS means they give comparable attention to their tea, as they do their coffee and/or wine (relative to the establishment)
It is my hope that as we, together, put attention on communicating our desire for the same quality of product that is given to coffee and wine connoisseurs (and appreciating those who DO provide it), we will encourage more establishments to “step up their game”.
Shopping for Tea
FINALLY – After 2 years of plugging away, I have 99% of our available teas listed on the Products page for your purchasing convenience!! (and most of them have pictures too)
The remaining 1% is for flavors or varieties that are seasonal or currently low in stock, and they too will be added as we restock. If there is a particular one you are looking for, please drop me an email to check on status. It helps me to know what your interests and preferences are.
You can also notice that there is NOW a functional listing of product categories (seen here, to your right), where you can select a particular product type and narrow your search so you no longer have to scroll through 70-80 items listed alphabetically.
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Next up: Adding options to purchase “pre-bagged” teas, and trial/travel sizes.
Trial/Travel Size: If you’ve seen us at Markets and Events, you know we have travel size packets for many of our teas (containing enough loose tea for two 8oz cups or one 16oz mug). When ordering on-line, I am happy to include 1 or 2 of these, complimentary, in your shipment – but you need to email me to request flavors.
Pre-Bagged: It is a little known feature that we can create teabags for most of our lovely teas. These make a lovely gift when packaged in a tin; or individually wrapped to tuck into a card. They are an even greater travel convenience than our Trial/Travel Size packets.
