Tea Biz
Tea Biz offers insight in real-time for beverage professionals scanning daily news items about their trade. Tea is both art and craft. It nourishes and inspires. It is the most ancient of plant-based medicines, simultaneously energizing the body as it soothes the mind. Intimately local in character, the tea trade exerts global influence, employing millions to supply consumers at far greater volumes than coffee. It is a fascinating, intricate topic… far more complex than one person can master. That is why the Tea Biz Podcast enlisted 40 voices skilled in 12 languages to tell the story of tea… Authentic reporting relies on the expertise of tea professionals who know the tea lands from birth and speak the native tongue. Transparency is storytelling grounded at origin. Each week the Tea Biz Podcast summarizes news with the greatest impact on the tea industry -- but tea requires far more nuanced coverage than the recitation of production volumes and commodity prices. That is why the Tea Biz Podcast is paired with the more inclusive Tea Biz Blog and Tea Journey Magazine. The podcast offers a weekly mix of news and features. It is innovative and interactive, permitting listeners to conveniently contact reporters at origin to ask questions that are answered via text messages delivered privately to their phone. Tea Biz Blog Subtext Avoid the chaos of social media and start a conversation that matters. Subtext’s message-based platform lets you privately ask meaningful questions of the tea experts, academics and Tea Biz journalists reporting from the tea lands. You see their responses via SMS texts which are sent direct to your phone. Subscribe to Subtext to instantly connect with the most connected people in tea.
Episodes
HEAR THE HEADLINES – Cold Brew is Trending for Iced Tea Month | DAVIDsTEA in Canada Settles its Debts
and Kenya Exports Surge but Auction Prices Remain Low
| GUEST – Ravi Kroesen, head teamaker at Steven Smith Teamaker, in Portland, Ore.
| NEWSMAKER – Amy Dubin-Nath, founder Janem Tea in Colombus, Ohio
| FEATURES – Tea Biz this week travels to Columbus, Ohio to visit with Amy Dubin-Nath, founder of Janem Tea and an ad hoc India tea...
HEAR THE HEADLINES – Food Inflation Dampens Enthusiasm Over Rising Tea Prices
| India’s Tea Industry Under Duress | and the European Union Grants Rooibos GI Protection
| NEWSMAKER – Jan Holzapfel, owner of 198-year-old Ronnefeldt Tea in Frankfurt, Germany
| FEATURES – Tea Biz this week travels to Frankfurt Germany to discuss best practices in Sustainable Wholesale with Jan Holzapfel, owner of Ronnefeldt Tea, a 198-year-old company t...
HEAR THE HEADLINES – Pandemic Powers Organic Sales | Tea Cafes Cautiously Re-opening
| Tata Expands Direct-to-Customer Range | Buyers Spend Big at Chinese International Tea Expo
| GUEST – Simona Suzuki, née Zavadckyte, co-founder and president Global Japanese Tea Association
| NEWSMAKER – Olivia Chan, owner of Treasure Green Tea Co., a Chinatown tea shop in Vancouver, British Columbia.
| FEATURES – Tea Biz this week travels to Japan w...
HEAR THE HEADLINES – | Tea History Collection Unveiled | Indian Commodities Logjam | THIRST Undertakes a Human Rights Analysis in Tea | A Series of Major Quakes Rattle Yunnan
| GUEST – William Liu is a 20-year-old sophomore at Wake Forest University and founder of the World Tea Association on campus and online.
| NEWSMAKER – Asha Bhandari is the International Trade and Promotion Executive at HIMCOOP, the Himalayan Tea Producers C...
HEAR THE HEADLINES – International Tea Day | Assam Forbids Tea Workers to Isolate at Home
| Nepal’s First Flush is Delayed | Kagoshima May Soon Outproduce Shizuoka
| GUEST – Author Chitrita Banerji, a chronicler of food history and culture
| NEWSMAKER – Eva Lee, founder of Tea Hawaii, a tea farm and wholesale venture in Volcano, Hawaii
| FEATURES – Tea Biz this week travels to the slopes of the Kilauea Volcano where Tea Hawaii Founder ...
HEAR THE HEADLINES – Kenya is Becoming Unbearably Hot for Tea | Brexit Disrupts UK Tea Trade | Colombo Tea Auction Transformed
| GUEST – Adventurer and author Jeff Fuchs, founder of Jalam Tea
| NEWSMAKER – Steve Schwartz, founder of the Art of Tea in Los Angeles and graduate of Ayurvedic Institute of New Mexico
| FEATURES – Tea Biz travels to Los Angeles this week where Art of Tea founder Steve Schwartz, a graduate of the Ayurvedic I...
HEAR THE HEADLINES – Dry Weather Worsens in Assam | COVID Infections are Rising in Nepal and Bangladesh | Are Tea Auctions Still Relevant? | Two Major Grocery Chains Agree to Carry Flash-Frozen Tea Leaves
| GUEST – SofaSummit for International Tea Day organizer Shabnam Weber, president of the Tea & Herbal Association of Canada
| NEWSMAKER – Are Tea Auctions Still Relevant? Pranav Bhansali, managing partner at Bhansali and Com...
HEAR THE HEADLINES – Mombasa to Expand Tea Auctions to Five Days a Week | Spiking Prices Dismay Russian Tea Drinkers
| A 6.4 Quake Shakes Assam – Tea Factory Damage is Minor | Vahdam Tea Mobilizes Emergency COVID Aid for India
| GUEST – Rishi Saria is a third-generation planter, managing the Gopaldhara, and Rohini estates in Darjeeling, India.
| FEATURES – This week Tea Biz visits the fabled Darjeeling tea growing region in the Him...
HEAR THE HEADLINES – Earth Day Takes on New Urgency | Restaurants are Rebounding |
| World Tea Expo Co-locates with The Nightclub & Bar Show in Las Vegas | Bubble Tea Boba is Languishing at Sea
| GUEST – Philippe Juglar, President AVPA (Agency for the Promotion of Agricultural Products)
| FEATURES – This week Tea Biz travels to the famed Royal Botanic Garden at Kew to explore a prized collection of 174-year-old tea recently exa...
HEAR THE HEADLINES – | India Surpasses Brazil as the World’s COVID Hotspot | Tea Imports Spike in Pakistan
| The Global Tea Initiative at the University of California, Davis Hosts a Second Virtual Event | Tea Masters Cup Names Champions in Moscow
| GUEST – Jack Mackenzie, general manager, Summer Lodge Country House Hotel & Restaurant in Dorchester, England.
| FEATURES – This week Tea Biz offers a glimpse of the many teas of Ind...
HEAR THE HEADLINES – A Sparkling Future for Fizzy Tea | Bubble Tea Drinkers Froth Over Drinking Straw Ban
| Vahdam Tea Partners with Goodricke Group | Starbucks Introduces Rent-a-Cup
| GUEST – Supriya Sahu, managing director of INDCOSERVE, a cooperative of 30,000 tea farmers producing 14 million kilos of tea annual in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu.
| FEATURES – This week Tea Biz visits the Nilgiri tea growing region in South India w...
HEAR THE HEADLINES – | Suez Ship-jam Delays Tea Deliveries | Tea Aisle Sales Stand Out in Grocery | Tea Retail Realignment is Underway
| GUEST – David O'Neill director of Falls of Clyde International, a maritime heritage non-profit with plans to state clipper tea races in 2025.
| FEATURES – This week Tea Biz visits Scotland for a lesson on the history of tea clipper ships and a plan to revive the famous tea races from China t...
HEAR THE HEADLINES – | India High Court Reverses Assam Tea Worker Wage Increase | Kenyan Tea Factory Elections Suspended | Study Finds Growers Adapting to Climate Change
| GUEST – Shunan Teng, founder of the Tea Drunk tea house in York City and the pandemic-inspired online Tea Education Club and monthly tea subscription service offering China’s heritage teas.
| FEATURES – This week Tea Biz discusses a retail-inspired tea education cl...
HEAR THE HEADLINES –
| US Restaurant Rescue Funds Total $28.6 Billion | EU Reviews Pesticide Rules | Tea Theaflavin Inhibits Coronavirus Replication | PLANT-AG is a $9 Billion Startup that Promises Field-to-Plate Traceability
| GUEST – Rudra Chatterjee, Managing Director of the Luxmi Group, which owns estates in West Bengal, Assam and Tripura in India and Rwanda in Africa producing collectively 20 million kilos of tea annually.
| FE...
HEAR THE HEADLINES
First Flush Harvest Underway | Tea Price Report | Tea Relaxes Blood Vessels | Celebrating the Green
| GUEST
Yasuharu Matsumoto, vice president of the Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms.
| NEWS First Flush Harvest Underway
Droves of COVID-19 wary pluckers are working gardens in China, Sri Lanka, and India amid favorable weather after a dry winter. The Darjeeling first flush is underway.
Consumer demand for premium tea increased dur...
HEAR THE HEADLINES
| Brand Relevance in Chaotic Times | Nepal Announces Tea Traceability Project | The Danish Tea Association Merges with The European Speciality Tea Association | YELP! Names a Tea House to its list of Top 100 Places to Eat in America
| GUEST
Angela McDonald, president US League of Tea Growers
| FEATURES
This week Tea Biz shares the secret to creating tea blends that sell, a conversation with master blender Sameer Pruth...
NEWS HEADLINES – Retail Sales Thawed in January | Restaurant Reticence Persists | Kenya's Tea Export Earnings Surged in 2020 | Assam Increases Daily Wages by 30 Percent for Tea Workers.
FEATURES – This week Tea Biz visits London for a chat with David Veal about the European Speciality Tea Association’s newly launched training program for tea professionals… and we travel to India for a discussion on the future of handcrafted ...
NEWS HEADLINES – Sri Lanka Launches Expansive Ceylon Tea Promotion | Green Tea Compound Acts Like a Superhero Sidekick to Cancer Cell Suppressor | Lipton IPO Likely in 2021 | Tea Tourism Stirs from a Deep Pandemic-Induced Slumber
FEATURES – This week Tea Biz reports on T.Kettle, a Canadian retail chain launched at the height of the pandemic that features ethically sourced, vegan, organic, loose leaf teas…and travels to Sri Lanka for...
NEWS HEADLINES - Hard tea packs a punch…. India earmarks worker subsidies for women and children… and beware of false claims, FDA has so far issued 145 warnings to companies, including tea companies, to stop misleading consumers with products that claim to cure COVID-19.
FEATURES - This week Tea Biz reports on the growing sophistication of tea farming in the United States…and learn about Canada’s acclaimed tea sommelier certificatio...
NEWS HEADLINES - Shipping container shortage threatens timely tea deliveries. …. Kenya’s High Court has ruled against unions seeking to prevent mechanical harvesting of tea …and Bombs Away… Tea bombs encased in confectionary get rave reviews online.
FEATURES - In its national budget proposal this week the Indian government included 1,000 crorepati or 10 billion rupees in subsidies (the equivalent of $137 million US) to assist planta...
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