Silver Tips Tea Blog » Teas

Teas on Sale this Month

Anupa — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 11:44:04 +0000

Each month, we put 3-4 teas on Sale. This gives fans of those teas an opportunity to stock up at a discount and allows others to try teas they may have otherwise have passed up. We try to include at least one varietal, one flavored and one decaf or non-caffeinated. Our selections this month are:

Doomur Dullung: A black, tippy tea from Assam, rich, malty, good with or without milk, one of our great Assams. (Far left)

Tropicana: Our house Iced Tea during the summer. Beautifully blended with tropical flavor and flowers, a sure-fire favorite. (Foreground middle)

Ten Treasures: A proprietary house blend combining two types of green leaf with cherry and passionfruit flavor with some safflowers added for color. A recent addition, it has a strong following. (Infused leaf)

Vintage Red: An unusual mellow combination of Rooibos with wine flavor. Just hits the spot. A non-caffeinated blend. (Far right)

Flowering teas

Anupa — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 16:16:45 +0000

One of our regular customers told us last week that he was intimidated by Flowering Teas. When we asked why, he said it seemed such a production to steep them. So here’s de-mystifying flowering teas and by the way, you can find small canisters of assorted flowering teas at the Tea Room for $5 a canister. First, what are these? They are hand-tied to bloom into flowers and other distinct shapes when steeped in water. Originally from China, now one can also get display teas (also called artisan teas) from other origins, e.g., India. Second, you can steep them in anything, preferably glass so you can enjoy the bloom. You don’t need a glass mug or teapot – you can use a goblet, wine glass, glass bowl – anything that allows the tea to bloom. Third, they are easy to steep and can give you many cups of tea because as you pour each cup, just add more water. These teas rarely become bitter. Finally, it’s a simple, breathtaking pause in your day – a beautiful bit of poetry in a cup.

2011 Trends

Anupa — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:04:18 +0000

The August 2010 issue of Specialty Coffee Retailer Magazine has a story on the Ten 2011 Trends. Although geared mainly for the Coffee industry (Coffee Consumption, Origin and Coffee in Grocery stores), not surprisingly, some of the trends covered tea:

Specialty Tea: Here are some important and interesting points made – Tea sales topped $8.5 billion dollars in 2009 and continue to grow. Teavana, the nation’s largest chain tea retailer opened its 100th shop. Tea retailers are able to focus their attention on engaging and educating the customer…there remains a tremendous opportunity for retailers to create a unique buying experience around a product that is healthy, natural, rich in history and culture, and offers far tremendous variety and complexity.

Tight Credit: 61% of respondents surveyed reported difficulty in obtaining credit in the last 3 months compared to 44% in the first quarter. Most noted the situation was getting worse.

RTD Coffee & Tea: RTD = ready to drink. The mainstreaming of tea (and specialty tea) continues to accelerate.

New online poll…please vote

Anupa — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:31:21 +0000

In response to a few e-mail requests on how to vote in our polls, click here and it will take you there. You can also forward to friends and family and invite them to participate. Nice to see this interest!

Poll results – Black Tea

Anupa — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:16:25 +0000

Results of “Which Black tea do you drink the most?”

Assam: 21%
Darjeeling: 29%
Ceylon: 14%
China Black – Yunnan/Keemun: 17%
Breakfast blends – English/Irish: 19%

Surprise item was the 29% of Darjeeling tea drinkers. New poll will be online today. Thanks for participating.

Online poll results

Anupa — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 12:28:13 +0000

Last week, we asked, “Which type of Tea do you drink the most“? Here are the answers:

Black Tea – 42%
Green Tea – 24%
Chai – 10%
Flavored Tea – 13%
Decaf/Herbal – 11%

Interesting to see such a high number of Green Tea drinkers. We thought Flavored Tea would be the 2nd most popular. Tea has obviously come a long way. We’ve put up a new online poll yesterday – please participate!

July Specials

Anupa — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:23:35 +0000

You will find two Specials at the Tea Room the next time you visit:

Quiche/Scone: Order a Quiche and get a Scone at Half Price. This is Lunch & Dessert for under $10. For $9.25, you get an individual Quiche (Mushroom & Onion or Goat Cheese & Herbs) served with a side of our House Salad with Dill Vinaigrette, and a Scone served warm, with Cream & Preserves. Can’t beat that! Add the Iced Tea of the Day for $1.99 or the Lemonade and you’ve got a nice refreshing lunch.

Bargain Bin is back: We pack a collection of teas in our assorted 2-oz. bags and offer them at a discount. 1 for $3.00 or 2 for $5.00. A varied collection each with a pretty label – straight, flavored, herbals. You may know we have a warehouse full of teas and as we add and remove teas and check our inventory, these are what we place on special. Enjoy – these are real deals – don’t miss them. When they’re gone, they’re gone.

Our 5 minutes of fame

Anupa — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:33:28 +0000

Over the years, we’ve been privileged to supply tea to some of the major brands – Honest Tea, TAZO, Republic of Tea, among others. Here’s an article in today’s New York Times (Business Section, page B4, July 8, 2010)on Honest Tea and their partnership with Coca Cola and how they’ve handled their alliance with them. And note, I got into the picture!

It’s an excellent article and answers questions that skeptics have been asking – have they lost their integrity, did they sell out, how could they do this? It’s a tough balance and Elizabeth Olson has captured the nuances of the give-and-take between them.

OP, FOP, TGFOP, FTGFOP…

Anupa — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:15:39 +0000

Everyone knows that FTGFOP stands for Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, right? Wrong! Apparently, one of our regular customers, Janet, came into the Tea Room today and saw one of our Tea carry bags and provided her own, much better interpretation: Fair Trade, Good For Our Planet! Her husband had been asking her what it meant so she supplied the translation. This is the grade that is stencilled on all our Makaibari chests.

Now, let’s analyze. Finest? Not always. Tippy, not necessarily. Golden, not really. Flowery, not all the time. Orange Pekoe…well maybe but what does that mean? On the other hand, if it is from a certified fair trade estate, it is always Fair Trade, Good For Our Planet! Well done, Janet!

Bargains & Freebies

Anupa — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:30:24 +0000

We received two e-mails this past week asking about our Specials, both in-store and on-line. Here’s a brief summary:

Each month, we put a few teas on sale – usually 3 or 4. They are under Sale Teas online and prominently displayed at the Tea Room.
Every month we select two customers who have visited our Tea Room and used their Loyalty Cards, and add 100 points to their card.
We offer a free sample of a different tea each day at the Tea Room which is also priced at a discount for the day.
During the summer, we offer Lemonade to go for $1/glass.
We offer $3 Samplers at the Tea Room. We also have $4 Iced Tea packs which make 2 gallons of Iced Tea. Both attractively packaged – a great little gift.
Web specials are offered as available. Right now, a Large Infuser Basket is on Sale.