Tea Biz

HEAR THE HEADLINES – The Tea Industry Welcomes The Climate Summit's Damage and Loss Fund as wealthy nations agree to pay to repair monumental damage | Solidaridad Asia Hosts India's First International Small Tea Grower Convention | Japan Expands the Reach of its National World O-CHA Festival | NEWSMAKER – Rudra Chatterjee, Managing Director, Luxmi Estates | FEATURE INTRO – Rudra Chatterjee, the dynamic managing director of Luxmi Tea, has expanded and diversified the venerable 30-million-kilo bulk tea producer into direct-to-consumer retail. Luxmi, which operates 25 estates in India and Africa, has shortened the supply chain to deliver fresher tea and now sources herbal infusions and inclusions for blends locally. South Asia Correspondent Aravinda Anantharaman in Bengaluru discusses Chatterjee's vision for rebranding the company as Luxmi Estates. Luxmi Embraces Estate-Direct Tea Retail at Scale – In our last interview, Rudra Chatterjee, Managing Director of the 110-year-old Luxmi Tea, spoke about adding retail to the brand's offerings as COVID brought more consumers online. Two years later, the Luxmi Estates was launched as a retail brand offering a range of teas and a subscription program as a significant business vertical. We catch up with Rudra to hear about the rebranding and his plans.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – India Tea Exports Rise as Sri Lanka's Decline | Comparisons of export data through the first eight months of the year reveal a significant shift in the global market for orthodox processed black tea | Extreme Heat Concerns are Raised at the Ongoing COP27 Climate Summit in Egypt | Founder Sandip Thapa Explains the Cuppa Trade Tea eMarketplace | NEWSMAKER – Seth Goldman, CEO of Eat the Change, founder of Just Ice Tea | FEATURE INTRO – Tea Biz visits Just Ice Tea founder Seth Goldman this week in Bethesda, Maryland. Seth launched the new low-sugar, organic, Fairtrade tea brand in a remarkably rapid 90 days after learning that Coca-Cola would discontinue by year's end the iconic Honest Organic Tea brand that he co-founded in 1998. Shocked that Honest Tea would be discontinued, Goldman tells how tea suppliers rallied to support his long-term commitment to organic, fair trade tea. Seth Goldman's Encore – Coca-Cola's Venturing and Emerging Brands group invested $43 million in 2008 to acquire a minority interest in Honest Organic Tea. This low-sugar organic bottled tea dominated the premium fresh-brewed tea segment in natural grocery outlets, including Whole Foods Markets. Seth Goldman and co-founder Barry Nalebuff had grown the company to +$20 million in annual sales since brewing the first batch into five thermos bottles in Goldman's kitchen. What they needed was national distribution. Coca-Cola's investment catapulted Honest Tea to the list of Inc. Magazine's fastest-growing companies. Earnings grew to $70-80 million. Coke's Big Red trucks soon delivered 100 million bottles nationwide, and in 2011, Coke purchased the company. Goldman joined the behemoth bottler as an ardent champion of flavorful teas and herbal infusions. During the decade that followed, Honest Tea generated hundreds of millions of dollars at far greater margins than commodity brands, where the raw cost of tea is about a penny per unit. He bought eight million pounds of organic tea annually at that time and spent millions more on organic sugar and ingredients. In 2019 Goldman left Coca-Cola to establish Eat the Change after working as executive chair of Beyond Meat. Eat the Change, “a snack company of the future” launched by Goldman and celebrity chef Spike Mendelsohn, will manage the fledgling tea venture. Just Ice Tea has reunited vital staff and suppliers that built Honest Tea into a half-billion-dollar brand. In June, Goldman announced that Eat the Change would launch a new organic tea brand, and by September, the first bottles were served in restaurants.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Funding Initiatives at the UN Climate Summit are Vital to Tea as prevention gives way to funding repairs | Bangladesh Production Rebounds After Strike | New Tea Tourism Handbook Elevates Immersive Travel  | NEWSMAKER – Michael D. Ham, co-founder and company president of Wild Orchard | FEATURE INTRO – This week, Tea Biz explores the exotic Jeju Island off the coast of South Korea, where Wild Orchard Regenerative Tea is grown. Michael D. Ham, co-founder and president of the company, describes in detail the cultivation and multiple washings during the processing of these award-winning teas. He said the result is a clean, authentic taste as nature intended. Regenerative Tea – Jeju Island lies 130 kilometers off the southern coast of South Korea in the Korea Strait. Dormant for the past 5,000 years, Hallasan Mountain is a 1,950-meter volcanic wonderland of craters, cinder cones, and giant lava tubes that dominates the densely foliated island. Popular with tourists for its national park and scenic beaches, the island is also known for its tea. Wild Orchard sources all its tea from a 1000-acre garden planted in 1999. The nutrient-dense soil, gentle mists, and abundant wildlife led growers to plant tea seeds on hillsides that were not terraced or cleared of native plants. Irrigation is solely by rainfall. There are no fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides applied and the soil is never tilled. The farm was certified organic in 2007, and the Wild Orchard brand was established in 2019. In May of this year, the brand became the world's first Regenerative Organic Certified tea. It was selected by Noma, the World's Best Restaurant, to be served on their NYC menu and will soon be available for sale at the Rare Tea Counter at Fortnum & Mason tea shop in London.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Pricing Tea in a Slogging Economy | Indicators suggest a recession is imminent | The International Tea Academy “Leafies” are Awarded | Sales of Herbal Infusions are Expected to Double this Decade | NEWSMAKER – Professor Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia | FEATURE INTRO – Canadian Economist Sylvain Charlebois sees a lot of positives for the tea industry but cautioned that inflation is an economic disease that will linger. Supply chain challenges remain. The macro-dynamics around commodities are getting more complicated, he said, “The fall is not going to be an easy one." High Inflation is an Economic Disease – "When you look at global issues. When you look at where the market is going, I see a lot of positives for your product in particular," Professor Sylvain Charlebois told attendees at the North American Tea Conference in September. Two immediate challenges confront the industry, inflation and the global supply chain. "So let's talk about inflation. Inflation is an economic disease. In this case, it's self-inflicted," he said. "Inflation is a big problem, but we have to deal with inflation. When people go to the grocery store, they are absolutely spooked because they know everything is more expensive everywhere. In the grocery store, it's even worse. Much worse. Consumers are trying to recalibrate their budgets just to make sure they have a roof on the top of their heads and to feed themselves, so that portion of their budget is increasing by the day. And we know the fed is going to increase its benchmark," he said. "So, in the tea business, I would ask myself, OK, are we going back to 3.5% inflation? The answer is: not in the near future."

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Sri Lanka's Tea Sector Opposes Doubling Corporate Tax | IMF bailout forces bankrupt government to collect more revenue | Vietnamese Tea Exports Experience Slow Decline | Kenya Expands its Orthodox Tea Capability | NEWSMAKER – Joydeep Phukan, the Principal Officer and Secretary of India's Tea Research Association | FEATURE INTRO – Joydeep Phukan, the Principal Officer and Secretary of India's Tea Research Association, discusses a unified agricultural standard for tea fields and factories. The new standards are aligned with the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. Introduced in September, the standards will be fully implemented in January 2023. India's New Tea Sustainability Standards – Growers worldwide adhere to the Tocklai Tea Research Institute's Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) standards. The standards date to the early 1900s with frequent updates. The latest revisions align closely with the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. New standards are necessary to help growers and manufacturers improve soils, protect natural ecosystems, encourage diversity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and establish a more climate-resilient tea industry. Joydeep Phukan has managed the research institute for the past 16 years. Before that, he was assistant secretary of the Indian Tea Association and managed the Guwahati Tea Auction Center. He holds a master's degree in marketing from the TASMAC School of Business.

| HEAR THE HEADLINES – AVPA Names Teas of the World Winners | Contest entries increased by 21% to more than 300, including several from less well-known origins | India Lifts Tea Blending Ban to the Relief of Darjeeling Growers | Falling Green Leaf Prices Distress Assam Smallholders see Roopak Goswami's in-depth report on the Tea Biz Blog. | NEWSMAKER – Nishchal Banskota, Founder Nepal Tea Collective  | FEATURE INTRO – This week, Tea Biz travels to New York, where Nishchal Banskota, founder of the Nepal Tea Collective, shares his vision of a public benefit corporation that shifts the focus to creating value for every stakeholder in tea – not just shareholders. A Stake for Every Stakeholder in Tea – In 2015 after graduating college in the US, Nischal, who grew up near Ilam farming Nepal's first certified organic tea garden, returned to open the BG Tea Bar, the first tea bar in Kathmandu. A year later, following a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake, he launched Nepal Tea, which has since grown in sales and reputation. Banskota says that he is committed to creating tech-enabled, transparently traded tea. His venture produces award-winning Himalayan teas, sustainably sourced and packaged, bringing jobs to the tea lands that pay double the prevailing wage. Teas are shipped directly to customers worldwide. Every hand-made package is labeled with a QR code that enables buyers to meet the growers at one of three farms. The omnichannel business earns high gross margins selling wholesale and packaged tea. One percent of revenue is reinvested in farming communities, and a tea sapling is planted for every order (10,000 in 2022). Banskota is currently seeking investors on WeFunder with a goal of $600,000. The money will be used to extend the brand to include organic botanicals, make the company's supply chain more sustainable and construct infrastructure for visiting tea tourists. A three-year goal is to build a modern packaging and fulfillment center in Nepal. The campaign is nearing $200,000. The minimum investment is $250. | https://wefunder.com/nepalteacollective

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Dietary Recommendations Proposed for Flavanols found in Tea | The National Institutes of Health (NIH) to consider dietary recommendations for first bioactive compounds | Colombo Tea Auction Prices Reach an All-Time High | India Rolls Out a Digital Retail Network for Small Grocers  | NEWSMAKER – Raj Vable, founder of Young Mountain Tea | FEATURE INTRO – This week, Tea Biz travels to the Himalayan peaks of Kumaon, India, where Raj Vable, founder of Young Mountain Tea, is helping finance the construction of a farmer-owned tea processing facility with a capacity of 75,000 metric tons per year ⎼ enough to sustain a village of several hundred workers. Building a Future and a Factory – Oregon-based Young Mountain Tea recently announced its latest funding of $1.1 million. The brand works closely with the tea community in Kumaon, India, offering growers a sales platform via Young Mountain Tea. India correspondent Aravinda Anantharaman met with Young Mountain's founder Raj Vable to discuss community and brand plans. Vable explains, "we wanted to find funding to launch a community-owned and operated factory not just to process tea but to empower farmers. We recognized that traditional venture capital funding was not appropriate. So, partnering with Frontier Co-Op, we secured a grant from USAID to build a factory co-owned by ourselves and local farmers."

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Kenya Announces a National Tea Brand | President William Ruto makes value addition in tea exports a priority and announces new tea processing and packaging facility in Mombasa | Euromonitor Report Advises Targeting Customers by Type | Lipton to Launch a Hard Tea Brand in 2023 | NEWSMAKER – Peris Mudida, CEO Kenya Tea Board | FEATURE INTRO – Peris Mudida, chief executive officer of the newly re-established Kenya Tea Board in Nairobi, shares her vision and describes the tea board's mandate to regulate, sustainably develop, and promote the tea sub-sector. Kenya Repositions its Tea Board to Meet Challenges – Founded in 1950 as an independent, public body responsible for developing, promoting, and regulating Kenya's tea industry, in 2014, the Kenya Tea Board was dissolved in favor of a single Agricultural and Food Authority (AFA) housed within the Ministry of Agriculture. In 2021 the newly constituted Tea Board seated elected representatives of smallholder cooperatives and associations, factory operators, large producers, tea traders, and the Kenya Tea Development Agency – a private consortium representing tea farms and factories responsible for producing 60% of the country's tea. As CEO, Peris Mudida works closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Trade and is the official promoter of Kenya's tea industry worldwide.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Tea Consumption Globally Increases to an Average 800 Grams Per Person | The International Tea Committee revised its per capita benchmark, noting a 113% increase in tea consumption during the past 20 years. | Parcel Carriers Hike Rates as Delivery Demand Declines | Tea Drinkers Experience Lower Risk of Diabetes This week Tea Biz travels to the North American Tea Conference on the shores of Lake Ontario. The three-day conference drew tea professionals from around the world. This year's conference opened with a status report on global tea presented by Ian Gibbs, head of the International Tea Committee in London. | NEWSMAKER – Ian Gibbs, Chairman of the International Tea Committee, London | GUEST – Indian tea grower Padmanabhan Subramaniam  | FEATURE INTRO – Meet Padmanabhan Subramaniam, a remarkable tea farmer from the Nilgiris whose Facebook series “Knowledge Sharing is Caring” showcases farmers' successes and achievements.  Knowledge Sharing is Caring – At the height of the COVID pandemic, Indian tea grower Padmanabhan Subramaniam, with the Nilgiris Sustainable Farmers Welfare Association, organized online activities for the small growers in Nilgiris with the theme Knowledge Sharing is Caring. Since then, local tea experts and fellow growers have conducted 78 virtual meetings on all topics related to agriculture. "We have had guests from India, one guest from the US. The programs cover different topics," says Subramaniam. "We want these farmers to have an idea on how to go with innovative ways of agriculture and upgrade themselves economically. These things we kept in mind and talked about everything from the soil up to the harvest," he says.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – FAO Reports that Progress Toward Sustainable Agriculture has Stalled in Many Regions | Sustainability remains a priority and trending, but the implementation of the UN FAO's Agriculture goals was hampered by war, COVID-19, and climate change | Tea Relief for Pakistan | Outsider Offers $157 Million to Buy McLeod Russel India | NEWSMAKER – Jami Lewchik, Head of TAZO and Portfolio Sustainability, eketerra Americas | FEATURE INTRO – This week, Tea Biz travels to Connecticut to discuss with Jami Lewchik the ambitious task of certifying TAZO Regenerative's entire line of teas and ingredients. TAZO Adopts a Regenerative Business Approach – TAZO reformulated and relaunched four of its leading blends this summer. TAZO's long-term ambition is to transform its products and the brand's entire business operations into a regenerative approach that challenges what the tea industry can do and gives back to people and the planet. In renaming the brand TAZO Regenerative, parent tea company ekaterra committed a sizeable long-term investment in its tea supply chain. The focus is on support for farmers that implement practices to increase soil health and assure fairness to farm workers. Third-party certifier Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA) praises the company for “aligning with our mission: to heal a broken system, repair a damaged planet, and empower farmers and eaters to create a better future through regenerative organic agriculture.”

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Stubborn Inflation Nudges US Economy Toward Cliff | Tea brands brace for a downturn as core inflation remains high, undermining consumer confidence | Starbucks Announces a Retail Renaissance | Orthodox Tea Exports Fall Short of Demand | NEWSMAKER – Dr. Roshan Rajadurai, the Managing Director from Hayleys' plantations, managing agents for Kelani Valley, Tallawakelle, and Horona plantations | FEATURE INTRO – This week, Tea Biz travels to Sri Lanka to assess the condition of a resilient tea industry following an unsettling spring marred by high unemployment in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic. For several months tens of thousands protested the inflation-driven cost of food and shortages of basics, including fuel, cooking gas, and electrical power. The upheaval led to the resignations of both the prime minister in May and the nation's president, who fled the country in July. Organizational Discipline Helps Tea Industry Cope with Continual Crisis – Sri Lanka has been facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence. Following the pandemic, many industries on the island have ceased to exist due to political and financial difficulties. However, the island's tea industry continues to battle on. Tea Biz correspondent and PMD Tea MD Dananjaya Silva sat down with Dr. Roshan Rajadurai, the Managing Director from Hayleys' plantations, managing agents for Kelani Valley, Tallawakelle, and Horona plantations PLC, to discuss how his plantations have adapted and continue to produce tea, given the economic hardships.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – There's Ample Tea for Sanctioned Russians: After six months of sanctions, the tea aisles in Russian grocery stores display few European brands, but the shelves are not bare | Kenya's Tea Industry Suffers Collateral Damage Due to Sanctions | Tata Consumer Products is on the Hunt | NEWSMAKER – Kevin Gascoyne, partner Camellia Sinensis, Montreal, Canada | FEATURE INTRO – Tea Biz travels to the newly remodeled Camellia Sinensis tea house in Montreal, Canada, for a conversation with partner Kevin Gascoyne: Our stores have always offered options to smell the tea, he says, but we wanted to capture that special tasting moment and offer the possibility to take it further. The Evolution of Experiential Retail – The Camellia Sinensis retail store has undergone many physical changes since 2001 when it first opened in a space adjacent to the established teahouse, but this is the most extensive, says partner Kevin Gascoyne, one of four master tea merchants who own the venture. The company wholly reimagined and remodeled its brick-and-mortar flagship after COVID-19 lockdowns forced the teahouse to close. The new design incorporates many time-proven aspects of tea retail – the most important of which is sampling. Gascoyne explains that clients appreciate the opportunity to select their tea sensorially. But he says, “despite continued popularity and regular lineups of clients eager to visit, the changing times meant that those precious moments of magic we created with such love and care barely paid the bills. It required enormous micro-management and many staff to offer such a complete experience to so many people. We are done with the impracticalities of the sit-down visit, but we wanted to capture that special tasting moment and offer the possibility to take it further.”

HEAR THE HEADLINES – China's Heatwave Deadly to Tea and Man | Summer yields are expected to decline sharply, and autumn teas are in jeopardy | Bangladesh Tea Workers End Strike | Study Shows Tea Drinkers Live a Little Longer  | NEWSMAKER – Alan Lai, founder and CEO of ProfilePrint, Singapore | FEATURE INTRO – ProfilePrint is a digital food analyzer that distills sensory data from plant-based samples in seconds. The result is a digital fingerprint used to describe tea samples' quality, origin, and composition. The software is predictive and capable of making blending recommendations for tea. A Digital Tea Fingerprint in an Instant – ProfilePrint is a food ingredient search engine platform powered by patented A.I. fingerprint technology. ProfilePrint synthesizes complex interrelated parameters and sensory data into a single digital fingerprint, rapidly predicting the quality and profile of a food sample within seconds. The company is headquartered in Singapore with sales offices in Belgium, Japan, and China. Founded in 2017, ProfilePrint is funded by leading international venture funds, the Singapore government, and strategic investors. Founder and CEO said the company “is on a mission to transform food ingredient supply chains globally - not just ours, but every customer and prospective business on a recurring revenue model.”

HEAR THE HEADLINES – As Peak Retail Season Nears, Experts Anticipate Holiday eTailing to Top $1 Trillion | Bangladesh Tea Workers Strike Nationwide | Green Tea is Good for the Gut | NEWSMAKER – Darian Rodriguez Heyman, Executive Director of the Numi Foundation | FEATURE INTRO – The Numi Tea Foundation coordinates fundraising efforts to bring safe drinking water and life-saving essentials to Ukrainians displaced by war. Numi Organic Tea Together for H2OPE: Ukraine – Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced by the Russian invasion of their country. People have been forced to flee, leaving their families, friends, possessions, homes, and even homelands. San Francisco-based Numi Organic Tea wanted to do something to help and to assemble their fellow tea drinkers to help, too. They have a foundation — the Numi Foundation — that supports the communities where they farm and people in need in the Bay Area, where their head office is located. To help the Ukrainian people, Numi is partnering with two organizations, Waves for Water and MPOWERD. They have a specific goal: to raise $1 million to provide clean, safe drinking water and solar-powered lights and charging devices to up to 550,000 displaced Ukrainians.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – TAZO Tea Embraces Regenerative Ag | Ingredients in Reformulations are Verified Regenerative | Tea Labor Unrest in Bangladesh | Canada Requires Front of Pack Nutrition Warning Labels | GUEST – Quentin Vennie, co-founder of Equitea, Baltimore, Maryland USA | FEATURE INTRO – Tea Biz this week travels to Baltimore, Maryland, to talk with Equitea co-founder Quentin Vennie about three new condition-specific canned, cold-brewed tea blends formulated to ease anxiety and depression, improve focus, and calm young people coping with ADHD. Cold-Brewed Calm – Author and wellness expert Quentin Vennie, with his wife Erin, on the advice of their son's neurologist, found that green tea helped their seven-year-old boy maintain calm and focus. Diagnosed with ADHD, a condition leading to impulsive, hyperactive behavior, tea's unique combination of L-Theanine and Caffeine offered relief, but loose-leaf teas were challenging to brew and not that tasty to a pre-teen. Quentin and Erin added calming botanicals to make the tea palatable. Inspired by their success, they launched a tea venture that produced packaged teas that became a favorite of Gwyneth Paltrow, whose company goop sells the teas online.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – India Considers Tough New Import Restrictions for Nepal Tea | IMF Bailout Talks with Sri Lanka to Resume | Kenya's Ag Minister Reverses the Government's Position Favoring Mechanization | NEWSMAKER – Aasha Bhandari, International Trade and Promotion Executive at HIMCOOP, the Himalaya Tea Producers Co-operative | FEATURE INTRO – Tea Biz this week travels to Kathmandu, Nepal, where Aasha Bhandari describes how Asia's enthusiasm for golden tips powered Nepalese tea producers through the pandemic. HIMCOOP, the Himalaya Tea Producers Co-operative, is a consortium of tea producers founded in 2003. Nepal Opportunity – The Eastern Nepal region has led the country's tea trade. Today the landscape is changing as more entrepreneurs are exploring the tea industry. HIMCOOP trade and promotions executive Aasha Bhandari says, "One of the best advantages Nepal tea has is that they own their factory, they own their garden. So, they have the power to make whatever sort of tea they want to make. That's a good advantage. And I think they're doing it quite well. I'm really impressed with the small farmers compared to the big factories."

HEAR THE HEADLINES – | Generation Z and Leisurely Tea | Survey Shows Retail Frontline Workers Exhausted and Underappreciatedand | India's Tea Employment Plateau | PLUS Tea Biz travels to Kansas City, Missouri to discuss with Emilie Jackson, founder of Emilie's French Teas, the ongoing evolution of specialty retail at independent shops and tearooms. | GUEST – Emilie (Potier) Jackson, co-founder Emilie's French Teas | FEATURE INTRO – Tea Biz this week travels to Kansas City, Missouri, where we discuss with Emilie Jackson, founder of Emilie's French Teas, the ongoing evolution of specialty retail at independent shops and tearooms.The French Finish – Emilie's retail shop and tearoom, founded in 2015, spans 2,500 sq.ft., seats 10, and is co-located with The Centered Spirit, her husband Alex's holistic medicine practice. Emilie was born in France and grew up in Paris. A graduate of the Sorbonne in business management with post-graduate degrees in marketing. Fluent in Spanish, Emilie was marketing manager for Lacoste in Mexico City. Emilie curates a selection of brands that share the “French Finish,” a blending style that showcases French expertise in wine, culinary, essential oils, and perfume for more subtle and smoother tasting blends.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Kenya's Price Floor is Sagging | Finlays' Cites Tea in its Top Beverage Trends | The Pandemic Shuffles Tea Export Ranks, a TEAIN22 forecast. | GUEST – Aravinda Anantharaman, Tea Biz India Chief Correspondent India | FEATURES – This week Tea Biz travels to Bengaluru where India Chief Correspondent Aravinda Anantharaman reviews a momentous year for the tea industry in a country that produces 20% of the world's tea. Her report is the sixth in the series of TEAIN22 year-end reviews and forecasts.  | Reorganizing and Reinvigorating India's Tea Sector – India's tea industry in 2021 recovered from severe setbacks due to the pandemic. Production totals rebounded in 2021 but exports lagged as global prices fell and logistics costs soared. A shortage of containers led to high freight costs. Export volume declined to a five-year low of fewer than 200 million kilos. Kenya undercut prices at auction for commodity black teas. Fortunately, India's domestic demand remains firm, consuming 75% of locally grown tea. The year saw the pilot of the Japanese auction model, now named the Bharat auction, that launched in South India in January. Tea Board of India Chairman PK Bezboruah reports that high-quality teas are sold at a 150% premium over medium-quality teas. “The path forward for the organized sector is to focus on quality. Therein shines the silver lining,” he told the Times of India.  Tea Biz asked tea industry stakeholders Anshuman Kanoria, Chairman, Balaji Agro International, Head of India Tea Exporters Association and owner of Tindharia, Goomtee and Jungpana gardens in Darjeeling; and Pranav Bhansali, managing partner, Bhansali & Co., what to expect in 2022.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Sri Lankan Tea to the Rescue | India's Monsoon Rainfall Exceeds 2021 Totals | Vancouver Hosts Bubble Tea Festival July 22-23 | GUEST – Ksenia Hleap, Director of Communications and Development at Agence pour la Valorisation des Produits Agricoles (AVPA)  | FEATURE INTRO – The Fifth Edition of the annual Teas of the World International Contest is underway. Tea producers from around the world are invited to submit entries to AVPA, the Agency for the Valorization of Agricultural Products. Samples are due by the first of August.  More than a Medal – AVPA's annual tea competition offers more than a medal. The organization was founded to assist producers of various agricultural products, including edible oils, coffee roasted at origin, and chocolate elaborated at origin. During the past five years, AVPA has elevated the status of tea producers large and small, not only on the global stage but, most notably, in their local markets.

HEAR THE HEADLINES –  Ekaterra Names Nathalia Roos CEO and Pierre Laubies chair of the Board | Coca-Cola Launches an Herbal Tea Line in China | A Tea Scented Perfume Wins the Prestigious Art and Olfaction Award | GUEST – Tea Book Club founder Kyle Whittington | FEATURE INTRO – Kyle Whittington reviews The Teabowl: East and West, a book authored by Dr. Bonnie Kemske, a ceramic artist for the past 30 years, curator, and long-time student of the Japanese tea ceremony.  The Teabowl: East and West – This wonderful book by Bonnie Kemske is a very personal, human look at an object and subject, the tea bowl, which can often be talked about in an all too esoteric or intensely academic way. What Bonnie succeeds so well in doing with her book is fusing the academic and esoteric contexts of the tea bowl with her personal experience as both a ceramicist and student of tea into a highly digestible book. Full to the brim with stunning images of all sorts of tea bowls. – Kyle Whittington.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – China Eases Travel Restrictions | Sri Lanka Crisis Worsens | Sustainability Survey Reveals the Tea Industry's Cautious Optimism  | GUESTS – Nigel D'Souza, Dejoo Tea Estate, and Niraj Mani Chourasia, Nonaipara Tea Estate | FEATURE INTRO – This week, Tea Biz travels to the vast tea estates of Assam, India, where a high incidence of fatal encounters among tea workers interacting with elephants, leopards, and snakes led two Goodricke Group senior managers – who are avid wildlife photographers – to capture animal behavior as situational awareness is critical in avoiding human-animal conflicts. Avoiding Human-Animal Conflict – Two tea estate managers who are avid nature photographers use their astounding images and teaching to educate garden workers and residents to effectively anticipate animal behavior and avoid conflicts with elephants, leopards, and snakes. A World Wildlife Fund study in the Sonitpur district (Assam) reported 206 human fatalities and 131 elephant fatalities between 1996 and 2009, with more than half the deaths on tea estates. Between 2010 and 2021, 175 people and 73 elephants died in the Udalguri district in Assam.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Tea Retailers Brace for Recession | Kenya Tea Prices Rebound | Pakistan Asks Citizens to Cut Back on Tea  | GUEST – Tracy Bell, co-founder of Millennia Tea in New Brunswick, Canada | FEATURE INTRO – Millennia Tea in New Brunswick, Canada, sells raw tea leaves as food. The leaves are washed, chopped, frozen, and sold by major grocers to be brewed as fresh green tea or formed into cubes to be blended in smoothies. Farm to Freezer – Millennia Tea co-founder Tracy Bell explains that “instead of picking the leaves and then withering them and processing them in a number of ways, like your conventional dried teas, we work with farmers to pick those same organic tea leaves, and then we wash them and we treat them like frozen fruit, just like frozen blueberries and strawberries. We believe that tea is food, and we want to give consumers the opportunity to enjoy it in its most real, raw, and naturally powerful format.”

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Bottled Tea is Bouncing Back | Honest Tea Co-Founder Seth Goldman Will Launch a Rival Tea Brand | Tea Parcels Contribute to Record Carrier Volume | GUEST – Suzette Hammond, tea educator and founder of Chicago-based Being Tea  | FEATURE INTRO: This week Tea Biz correspondent Jessica Natale Woollard travels to Chicago, where Suzette Hammond, founder of the Being Tea school, describes an expanded eight-month course on how to be a brilliant tea educator. Hammond recognized a gap in tea training: tea professionals are not taught how to teach how to deliver meaningful programs in a small group or one-on-one.Teaching the Tea Teachers – Small business owners are a large percentage of Suzette Hammond's students. Tamina Monchi, who is the founder of Mythaga tea in Nairobi, Kenya, is someone who came to the program as a certified tea sommelier, one of the first in East Africa. So she has a really deep tea background; a lot of it was in field research and understanding tea cultivation, says Hammond. She didn't intend to create a small tea business, but it just kind of happened in the pandemic. "I remember her saying to me that when she was getting started, it hadn't occurred to her how important education would be, how in order to actually sell the tea that she would have to train people. It was something that had not come up for her. She was just so excited to make these learnings, these connections happen in real time. And so seeing that light bulb moment go off — that at every point she'd be training people — that was really awesome to see."

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Food Safety is in the Spotlight | Tea Bushes Globally are Taking a Beating this Spring Due to Climate Change | The UK Tea Academy Announces “The Leafies,” a Whole Leaf Tea Competition | FEATURE INTRO – This week, Tea Biz is at home in Winnipeg, Canada celebrating the 6th Anniversary of the magazine's launch and asking readers, ‘What comes next?' Learning by Listening - Six years ago today, after a sleepless night, I learned that Kickstarter donors in 36 countries had pledged $128,107 in donations to fund Tea Journey magazine, making Tea Journey the third-highest of 1,098 Kickstarter crowdfunded periodicals.  Hundreds of articles that have since appeared in the print edition, smartphone app, and website enabled tea enthusiasts to travel to tea gardens from Argentina to Zimbabwe, walk the terraces, watch tea being made, read the sampling notes of professional tasters, study the latest medical findings, and download culinary recipes.  “Think of us as a digital caravan that travels to the tea lands and returns laden with artisan tea and stories to tell,” I wrote, describing Tea Journey as a magazine for tea enthusiasts, embracing the story of tea in every language with authoritative, elusive, exclusive articles, photos, and videos to help readers discover their tea destiny.  Tea Journey has charted a course with lots of advice from a loyal following, but we need additional insights to expand our audience. Therefore, we ask that you complete a 2.5-minute online survey available on the website and social network and via email. Your response will guide the design of an online portal revealed in the next few weeks. - Dan Bolton

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Coca-Cola Discontinues the Iconic Honest Tea Brand | The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization says that Embracing Sustainable Agriculture is Essential for Tea Smallholders | Starbucks Exits the Russian Market after 15 years, closing 130 locations | GUESTS – Denise Atkinson and Marc Bohémier, co-founders of Tea Horse in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada | FEATURE INTRO – Jessica Natale Woollard travels to the northern shores of Lake Superior in Ontario, Canada, where Anishinaabe tea blenders of the First Nation's Obijwe clan combine locally harvested wild rice with imported Japanese sencha to create roasted wild rice genmaicha. They call the roasted rice blend manoomin cha (wild rice tea). Canada's Version of Genmaicha with an Indigenous Twist – In Japan, it's called genmaicha; in Korea, hyeonmi-cha. Canada's version of tea blended with Canadian wild rice is called manoomin cha. Jessica Natale Woollard chats with Tea Horse proprietors Denise Atkinson and Marc Bohémier about their new Canadian version of roasted rice in three flavors: ManoominCha, ManoominCha Dark, and Manoominaabo Tisane.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Let's All Celebrate International Tea Day | The Tea Day Sofa Summit is Monday, May 23 | Global Instability is Suppressing East African Tea Prices  | NEWSMAKER – Sneha Balasubramaniam, Head of Marketing and Innovation at Tata Consumer Products | FEATURE INTRO – This week Tea Biz travels to Montvale, New Jersey to the headquarters of Good Earth Tea a division of Tata Consumer Products that is celebrating its 50th Anniversary with a revival of two beloved teas.Good Earth Tea Celebrates 50th Anniversary – The Good Earth brand was founded in 1972 by a Santa Cruz-based herbal tea company that supplied tea to a local restaurant that expanded into a chain of 50 franchises. The brand experimented with herbal blends during its first two decades, producing more than 40 varieties. Tata acquired the company in 2005 and relocated offices to New Jersey.

HEAR THE HEADLINES: Tea Value Surges as Production Slows in China | International Tea Day is May 21. The Sofa Summit is on May 23 | Dan Bolton explains People's Picky Preferences in Tea at an International Tea Day webinar hosted by the European Speciality Tea Association on Wednesday, May 18. Register free: https://specialityteaeurope.com/webinars | NEWSMAKER – Ian Chun is a Japanese tea merchant, marketer, and CEO of Matcha Latte Media in Tokyo.  | FEATURE INTRO – Japan set a record for tea exports in 2021. This week, Tea Biz travels to Tokyo to discuss with Yunomi Life founder Ian Chun Japan's resurgent tea export market and the remarkable story of the hand-rolled green tea that brought two million yen at auction. Japan's Tea Export Strategy is Working – Ian Chun founded Yunomi Life, an online platform showcasing 170 small-scale Japanese tea farms with a mission to put Japanese culture into the hands of consumers around the world. Farmers recently auctioned a kilo of Saemidori sencha for a record 1.96 million yen. In this segment, Ian describes the handmade needles and taste profile of the Saemidori cultivar, a Yabukita cross first bred in 1969 and registered in 1990.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – India Resumes Tea Shipments to the Russian Federation | COVID Surge Makes Tea Packing Unpredictable| Special Report: Beyond Tea Cuisine | GUESTS – Brand owners Nikita Mittal, Dhiraj Arora & Priti Sen Arora, Anubha Jawar, tea producers and industry veterans, Jagjeet Kandal, Vikram Gulia, Atul Asthana, Ajay Jalan, Raj Barooah, and Rajah Banerjee | FEATURE INTRO – This week Tea Biz returns to Bengaluru where South Asia Editor and Producer Aravinda Anantharaman concludes a two-part series on Realigning the Marketing of Indian Tea with the questions needed to solve the mammoth task of rebranding the industry as it coaxes consumers in the domestic market to drink higher quality tea. Realigning the Marketing of Indian Tea – In Part 2 of our story on Realigning the Marketing of Indian Tea, we speak to various stakeholders in the industry, including brand owners and tea producers and industry veterans. We also have Ramya Ramamurthy, author of Branded in History offering her views on nostalgia as a marketing trope in tea.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Health Symposium Reveals a Plethora of Science-based Benefits of Tea | COVID-Influenced Consumer Behaviors Present New Opportunities for the Tea Industry | Sri Lanka Tea Exports Decline 10% | GUEST – Jagjeet Kandal, country head, IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative | FEATURE INTRO – This week, Tea Biz travels to Bengaluru, where South Asia Editor and Producer Aravinda Anantharaman begins a two-part series on Realigning the Marketing of Indian Tea. Realigning the Marketing of Indian Tea – India produces 20% of the world's tea. Production, however, has stagnated for years. Costs are up prices flat. Professional tasters report sharp declines in quality. Marketing tea to domestic consumers is complicated -- but promising. Indians consume 90% of the tea grown there but mainly purchase lower grades. Per capita consumption is modest at 840 grams due to a preference for tea in blends, but tea is stocked in every household, and Indians drink two cups per day. Until recently, India exported virtually all its best teas. Tea discovery is discouraged as imports from China, Taiwan, and Japan are expensive due to high tariffs, but rising affluence is overcoming these obstacles. Indian legislators are currently considering a draft Tea (Promotion and Development) Bill to remove colonial-era provisions regulating tea and re-direct the Tea Board of India's resources to expand existing markets and promote tea domestically.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Snarls in Logistics and Cool Weather Slow China's Tea Harvest | Crisis in Sri Lanka Worsens | Shizuoka Hand-Rolled Tea Brings a Record 1.96 million Yen at Auction | GUEST – Jane Pettigrew, BEM, author, educator, consultant, and founder of the UK Tea Academy | FEATURE INTRO – Jane Pettigrew describes the remarkable evolution of the UK Tea Academy into an innovative global tea education resource that has emerged from the chaos of COVID-19 Online Adaptations Enhance and Expand Tea Education – By Dananjaya Silva | PMD Tea The United Kingdom Tea Academy is recognized as a world authority for online tea education. Staffed by professional tutors, the Academy offers courses from beginner to advanced. I sit down with the Director of Studies, Jane Pettigrew, who is a leading author and speaker on tea, along with Suranga Perera, the chief instructor of the Ceylon tea program, who counts over 20 years of experience in tea and is the former CEO of Ceylon tea brokers PLC.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – The Heightened Urgency of Earth Day 2022 | Smallholders Now Own Rwanda's Largest Tea Factory | The Mombasa Tea Auction Completes its Switch to Digital  | GUEST – Maksym Malygin, owner of Ukraine's Zhornyna Experimental Tea Garden  | FEATURE INTRO – This week, Tea Biz travels to Ukraine, where tea grower Maksym Malygin produces tasty oolongs from cold-resistant plants whose ancestors survived decades of heavy snow during prolonged winters at temperatures as low as 26 degrees below zero Celsius. Ukraine's Cold Weather Tea – Virtually all the world's tea is grown between latitudes 20 degrees north and 20 degrees south of the equator. Rising temperatures in this narrow band threaten tea yields and force growers to consider planting “upslope” at higher elevations where cooler temperatures prevail. Unfortunately, subtropical tea cultivars perish in a hard frost, expected above 7,500 feet. At the Zhornyna Experimental Tea Plantation in Western Ukraine, Maksym Malygin successfully grows tea plants under forest cover that have survived heavy snow during prolonged winters at temperatures 26 below zero Celsius.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – A Global Recession Looms | A Realignment of the Orthodox Tea Supply Chain is Underway | Assam to Open First High Schools for Children of Tea Workers | GUEST – Korangani Tea Estate planter and mechanical engineer Ranjit Chaliha | FEATURE INTRO – In this installment of Frugal Innovations, Tea Biz travels to Assam, India, to meet planter and mechanical engineer Ranjit Chaliha who describes the Varun, a device named after the Hindi God of Wind that recirculates heated exhaust to conserve energy and eliminate the inconsistencies in tea dryers that lower tea quality. Achieving Consistency and Efficiency in Drying Tea – The Model Tea Factory at Tocklai was constructed during Ranjit Chaliha's tenure as chairman of the engineering subcommittee of India's Tea Research Association. During this time he began experimenting with equipment to recirculate exhaust in the factory's tea dryers. At an engineering symposium on tea machinery in 1998, Chaliha presented a paper describing the benefits of recirculating exhaust air. He based his findings on experiments and filed for a patent. A dozen years later, he was finally awarded recognition for his innovation, Varun, a device that reduces inconsistencies in drying tea.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Sri Lanka Tea Harvest is Under Duress | China faces a Qing Ming Quandary | Tea and Productivity are Twinned  | NEWSMAKER – Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Mr. Jayampathy Molligoda | FEATURE INTRO – This week Tea Biz travels to Sri Lanka where London-based correspondent Dananjaya Silva speaks with the chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board about its decision to pursue a Geographical Indication by the European Union. GI status affords global trade protection under the World Trade Organization and officially recognizes the authenticity of the Ceylon brand. Why Sri Lanka is Seeking Geographical Indication Status for its Ceylon Tea – Sri Lanka has been producing tea for well over 150 years marketed under the brand name Ceylon tea. Today the Sri Lankan tea board is looking to pursue GI Geographical Indication status for its much fame product. GI indication is a seal of authenticity used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or reputations that are due to that origin. Correspondent Dananjaya Silva sat down with Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Mr. Jayampathy Molligoda to discuss how the tea board is pursuing GI status and what this means for prices for producers and for the nation's tea.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – American Consumers say The Worst of the Coronavirus Pandemic has Passed | Expect Strong Venture Capital Support for Retail in 2022 | Join Tea Biz "On the Floor" at World Tea Conference + Expo| PLUS listen to how the Boba Guys are Building a Gateway to Tea | NEWSMAKER – Andrew Chau, co-founder and CEO Boba Guys, bubble tea shops in San Francisco. Los Angeles and New York City | FEATURE INTRO – This week Tea Biz traveled to Las Vegas for the World Tea Conference + Expo where Boba Tea CEO Andrew Chau, a featured speaker, explains how relentless attention to quality elevated a simple mix of milk tea and tapioca to a $3 billion global segment that is enticing a generation of non-tea drinkers to give tea a try. 'We Really Push the Envelope for Quality' – Boba Guys make their drinks with natural fruit, real milk, real foamed cheese, raw sugar, and natural tea, brewed from loose-leaf oolong and other quality varietals and served with tapioca balls made in their factory. The bustling chain, now with 20 locations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City, was co-founded by Andrew Chau and Bin Chen. | ON THE FLOOR at World Tea Conference + Expo – Mackenzie Bailey is On the Floor with the Tea Biz podcast at the 20th anniversary of the World Tea Conference + Expo. She reports a high level of excitement with tea vendors, customers, and attendees of the adjacent Bar and Restaurant Expo. Mackenzie spoke with several tea vendors about how the event unfolded.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Russia and India Pursue Sanction Workarounds for Tea | Tea Party at the Top of the World | Tea Biz Previews the 20th Anniversary World Tea Expo  | GUEST – Rajiv Lochan, founder of Lochan Tea and owner of the Doke Tea Estate in Bihar, India | FEATURES – This week Tea Biz travels to Siliguri, India to speak with Rajiv Lochan, founder of the Doke Tea Estate in Bihar, a non-traditional tea growing region bounded by West Bengal, Sikkim, and Nepal. Lochan's marketing mastery has literally put Bihar on the official map of India's tea-growing regions. The Rise of New Tea Growing Regions –India proudly claims Assam and Darjeeling, two of the world's most famous tea-growing regions. Yet neither grew tea until 175 years ago and it took 50 years to achieve scale. Today Indian consumers drink 90% of the tea it produces. It is only recently that domestic consumption surpassed exports and the expansion of tea lands. Growing regions are inherently blessed with tea-enhancing terroir, but ideal soil conditions, altitude, and micro-climate still require the pioneering vision and gritty persistence of growers like Rajiv to achieve their potential. Rajiv graduated from university in 1973 with a master's degree in organic chemistry. He spent his early career managing established gardens where the skills he developed in cultivating award-winning teas were complemented by his efficient management. In 1998, the Indian government, noticing the strong growth in domestic sales, issued permits to expand tea lands. Adhering to biodynamic principles, Lochan planted drought-resistant cultivars in the loamy soil along the Doke River. He now produces green, white, and oolong teas and black fusion, a blend of Assam and Darjeeling teas. It took him 10 years to acquire and consolidate smaller plots into the Doke Tea Estate.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Beverage Multinationals Suspend Operations in Russia | Once Unleashed, Sanctions Have an Unpredictable Bite | Extreme Winter Transitions to a Gentle Spring   | NEWSMAKER – Ian Gibbs, chairman since 2016 of the International Tea Committee   | FEATURES – This week, Tea Biz travels to the UK offices of the International Tea Committee, where Chairman Ian Gibbs describes several immediate and possibly long-term impacts on the global tea trade - stemming from the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.   Payment Concerns Further Disrupt Tea Supply Chain – During a period of upheaval caused by the pandemic, the tea industry's newest worries include guaranteeing payment for containers of tea without violating sanctions while booking scarce carriers for shipments to the Russian Federation and Ukraine. As the ruble's value collapsed, Russian tea buyers accustomed to favorable credit terms now find it difficult to secure the financing needed to pay upfront, according to Ian Gibbs, chairman since 2016 of the International Tea Committee (ITC). Gibbs predicts a dip – but not a significant drop in the volume of tea shipped to the world's third most valuable tea market. In 2020 the Russian Federation imported 142,000 metric tons of tea valued at more than $400 million and produced 4,000 metric tons of its tea, grown in Southern Russia along the coast of the Black Sea near Sochi.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Russian Invasion Roils Tea Trade | Duncans Troubled Tea Gardens are Bought Out of Bankruptcy | The Pandemic Transformed Tea Tourism, a TEAIN22 Forecast | NEWSMAKER – Anil Cooke, managing director and CEO of Asia Siyaka Commodities  | FEATURES – This week Tea Biz travels to Colombo, Sri Lanka to assess the impact of the war in Ukraine on one of the Russian Federation's most important tea trading partners. Correspondent Dananjaya Silva spoke with veteran exporter Anil Cooke, managing director and CEO of Asia Siyaka Commodities. Cooke's insights offer clarity amid a fast-changing crisis that is disturbing global harmony in tea. Sri Lanka's Close Ties to Russia and Ukraine –Russia, which annually imports 150,000 metric tons of tea faces an unprecedented combination of payment and logistics barriers that are already interrupting supply. The combined resolve of governments condemning the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has created uncertainty over prompt clearance of payments. Sanctions that exclude Russian banks from the SWIFT global payment system and threats to the liquidity of Russia's Central Bank led to a severe devaluation of the ruble making tea imports far more costly. In addition, closing airspace and the collective refusal of the world's shipping companies to deliver or receive goods pose severe barriers to the movement of tea.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – The Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says the Tea Industry Can Help Transform the Global AgriFood System | Domestic Demand Drives Bangladesh's Surge in Production | Tea Biz Recounts 2021's Advances in Health & Wellness, a TEAIN22 Forecast. | GUEST – Mike Bunston, OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire), is chairman of the London Tea History Association, honorary chairman of the International Tea Committee, and serves as Sri Lanka's Tea Ambassador. | FEATURES – This week, Tea Biz travels to the Tea History Collection in the UK, where Bernadine Tay discusses modern innovation in tea with taster extraordinaire Mike Bunston. Tea Taster Extraordinaire Mike Bunston's First Taste of Bubble Tea –Mike Bunston recently visited the Tea History Collection in Banbury, Oxfordshire, to videotape a tasting of modern teas, including milk tea, a Jasmine-Mango fruit tea, and his first taste of bubble tea. Charlie Shortt, a co-founder of the Tea History Collection, organized the tasting and narrated this exchange. Bunston then spoke with Bernadine Tay, founder of Quinteassential Teas, sharing his insights on modern tea innovation. “I think what people can do nowadays, with modern technology and all the bright ideas people have, all things are possible,” said Bunston.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Globally, Tea Consumption is Regaining its Momentum | West Lake Longjing Digital Authentication Launches March 1  | Tea Acquisitions, and Mergers Were Few in 2021, a TEAIN22 Forecast   | GUEST – Christine Folch, assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University in North Carolina   | FEATURES – This week, Tea Biz travels to Duke University in North Carolina, where Jessica Woollard explores the cultural underpinnings and growing interest in drinking Yaupon tea. Yaupon is made from the caffeinated leaves of a species of holly tree native to the Americas. Close relatives include Yerba Mate and Guayusa.  The Cultural Heritage of Yaupon – What makes one beverage more popular than another? What makes a beverage take hold at one moment in history over another? Christine Folch, assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University in North Carolina, explores these questions through her research on three beverages of the ilex, or holly, genus: yerba matte, yaupon, and guayusa

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Restaurants are Clawing Back to Normal | Nepal Tea Exports Plunge | Tea is a Bit Tepid in Grocery, a TEAIN22 Forecast | NEWSMAKER – Elizeth R.S. van der Vorst, Consultora de Negócios do Chá, Certified TAC Tea Sommelier| FEATURES – This week Tea Biz travels to South America where tea lovers from across Brazil are organizing the country's first Tea Culture Week scheduled for early August 2022. Amigos dos Cha founder Elizeth R.S. van der Vorst, Eli to her friends, and Yuri Hayashi, founder of Escola de Chá Embahú in São Paulo announced the event. Eli joins us this week to discuss tea culture in Brazil. Brazil Announces a National Celebration of Tea Culture –Tea Culture Week, scheduled for August 1-7, 2022 will feature online and in-person activities across the country. Retailers, marketers, tea educators, and volunteer enthusiasts have been planning the event for months according to Eli. Events include special tastings, formal afternoon tea, gift offers, and discounts to encourage sampling as well as public presentations, workshops, and gatherings in parks and tea houses. The more than 200 million people living in Brazil, a country hard-hit during the pandemic, are traversing a familiar path as health-conscious consumers seek plant-based foods and beverages. During the period 2013 to 2020 tea consumption increased 25%, “almost double the world average of 13%” according to market research firm Euromonitor. In the past five years specialty tea cafes and franchised tea emporiums have flourished, says Eli.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Finlays' and Firmenich Partner in Tea and Coffee | Japan Tea Exports Rise to New Record | Nothing is Normal in Tea Logistics, a TEANIN22 Forecast | PLUS The IDH Roadmap to a Living Wage| NEWSMAKER – Judith Fraats, senior program manager IDH, the sustainable trade initiative| FEATURES – This week, Tea Biz travels to Amsterdam in the Netherlands where Judith Fraats, senior program manager at IDH, the sustainable trade initiative, discusses the IDH living wage roadmap and how tea companies can ensure a living wage for workers at every link of the supply chain.IDH Roadmap to a Living Wage –A sustainable future in tea depends on a shared responsibility among stakeholders to assure living wages (for workers) and a living income for smallholders. Last fall, Netherlands-based IDH, the sustainable trade initiative, introduced the Living Wages Roadmap, a platform, online wage matrix, and guide to help businesses assess potential wage gaps along their supply chain. Case studies show that companies that pay a living wage to achieve greater productivity, less turnover, and a competitive marketing advantage by improving the quality of life for workers.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Intestinal Bacteria Tied to Low COVID Deaths | Food Inflation Eases | Trade and Tariffs Boost Globalization, a TEAIN2022 forecast | PLUS BRÜ Debuts at CES | ISTA Specialty Tea Standards | NEWSMAKER – BRÜ Maker One inventor Bogdan Krinitchko | GUEST – Andrew McNeill, International Specialty Tea Association | FEATURES – This week, Tea Biz travels to Zurich, Switzerland, where BRÜ co-founder Bogdan Krinitchko describes the Consumer Electronics Show debut of his award-winning specialty tea brewer…and then to Tucson, Arizona, where the International Specialty Tea Association announced it has developed evaluation protocols and assembled a panel of tasters who share a common lexicon and have calibrated their sensory expertise to consistently judge tea quality, based on the skill of its makers. BRÜ Maker One Debuts at CES –In November 2019, Kickstarter donors pledged 500,000 Swiss Francs to finance a startup specialty tea brewer designed by Swiss engineer Bodgan Krinitchko. Bodgan partnered with Filip Carlsberg to create BRÜ Maker One, an (internet of things) IoT device powered by smartphones that memorized settings for brew time, temperature, and water quantity. The single-cup brewer uses whole leaf tea, not capsules, with push-button convenience. After receiving 10,000 orders and a US patent, the machine is a reality three years later. Unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, BRÜ won several awards for innovation and will begin shipping this spring. ISTA Reveals Tea Evaluation Protocols –The International Specialty Tea Association, working closely with Tucson-based ProSense Consumer Research, has completed a 14-month pilot to train and calibrate a panel of tea tasters with new protocols to evaluate the quality of a wide variety of specialty teas. The first full-panel descriptive analysis will be black tea due to its commercial importance and high variability. “Producers of black tea, new and old, are seeking a sustainable market for high-value, high-skill specialty products and need a system that recognizes and rewards tea makers for that effort.”

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Kenya's Price Floor is Sagging | Finlays' Cites Tea in its Top Beverage Trends | The Pandemic Shuffles Tea Export Ranks, a TEAIN22 forecast.| GUEST – Aravinda Anantharaman, Tea Biz India Chief Correspondent India| FEATURES – This week Tea Biz travels to Bengaluru where India Chief Correspondent Aravinda Anantharaman reviews a momentous year for the tea industry in a country that produces 20% of the world's tea. Her report is the sixth in the series of TEAIN22 year-end reviews and forecasts. | Reorganizing and Reinvigorating India's Tea Sector –India's tea industry in 2021 recovered from severe setbacks due to the pandemic. Production totals rebounded in 2021 but exports lagged as global prices fell and logistics costs soared. A shortage of containers led to high freight costs. Export volume declined to a five-year low of fewer than 200 million kilos. Kenya undercut prices at auction for commodity black teas. Fortunately, India's domestic demand remains firm, consuming 75% of locally grown tea. The year saw the pilot of the Japanese auction model, now named the Bharat auction, that launched in South India in January. Tea Board of India Chairman PK Bezboruah reports that high-quality teas are sold at a 150% premium over medium-quality teas. “The path forward for the organized sector is to focus on quality. Therein shines the silver lining,” he told the Times of India. Tea Biz asked tea industry stakeholders Anshuman Kanoria, Chairman, Balaji Agro International, Head of India Tea Exporters Association and owner of Tindharia, Goomtee and Jungpana gardens in Darjeeling; and Pranav Bhansali, managing partner, Bhansali & Co., what to expect in 2022.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Draft Tea Act Redefines India's Tea Board Mission | A Global Tea Harvest Review, a TEAIN22 Forecast | BOH Malaysia Named Tea Brand of the Year| NEWSMAKER – Jason McDonald, tea farmer and founder/CEO of The Great Mississippi Tea Company| GUEST – Kyle Whittington, founder Tea Book Club| FEATURES – This week, Tea Biz travels to the state of Mississippi, where tea farmer and founder/CEO Jason McDonald of The Great Mississippi Tea Company discusses the economics of mechanical harvesting following a two-year trial of selective harvesting equipment. Then to London, where Tea Book Club founder Kyle Whittington offers a modern take on the century-old classic The Book of Tea, published in 1906 by Okakura Kakuzō with an introduction rich in detail and context by Bruce Richardson. The Economics of Small Scale Mechanization –Inspired by The Charleston Tea Plantation in South Carolina, Jason McDonald decided to plant a tea garden amid the timber on his 289-acre farm in Lincoln County, Mississippi, where a combination of high heat, humidity, acidic soil, and ample rainfall is ideally suited to tea. In 2012 McDonald planted a test plot, making his first tea in 2015. In 2018 the tea garden produced sufficient quantities to begin selling to the public. McDonald has since diligently researched all aspects of the industry, enlisting horticultural, sustainability, manufacturing, and machine professionals to develop harvesting and automated tea processing equipment at scale. During the past two years, the farm conducted field trials with a selective mechanical harvester to produce 250 to 350 kilos of made tea annually. McDonald shares cost savings, a boost in yield, and leaves suitable for making specialty and mid-grade teas with readers.The Book of Tea, a review by Kyle Whittington –For a book that is well over a century old, The Book of Tea remains a classic and a book that is well worth re-reading from time to time. There are so many editions out there, variously with introductions by tea aficionados, scholars, and masters of the last hundred plus years. Some editions are particularly aesthetically pleasing to add to the tea bookshelf. However, the edition I always recommend is the one with the introduction by Bruce Richardson. Bruce's exceptionally well-researched introduction into the life and times of Okakura is fascinating and helps to contextualize The Book of Tea. Additionally, the fantastic photos and illustrations help bring both the book and Okakura's period of history to life.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – India Conducts its First Bharat Tea Auction | DNA Disqualifies Five in Lugu Farmers' Tea Contest | RTD Tea by Volume Continues a Five-Year Slide, a TEAIN22 Forecast | NEWSMAKER – Dr. Nada Milosavljevic, a Harvard-trained physician and faculty member at Harvard Medical School and founder of the integrative health program at Massachusetts General Hospital.| FEATURES: This week, Tea Biz travels to Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, where Jessica Natale Woollard discusses the medicinal power of tea with Dr. Nada Milosavljevic. Nada will deliver the keynote address on food as medicine at the 7th Global Tea Initiative Colloquium on Jan. 13, an all-day online event hosted by the University of California, Davis. The Medicinal Power of Tea –"My journey began in 2007 working with patients—they ranged from teens to young adults to adults—I realized that many of the medications that we use, which are beneficial, can save lives, but some of them have specific side effects. And I found out that there were several natural compounds, tea being one, that can play a role as a preventive or something that can be used as adjunctive therapy and serve a healthful purpose. That's where a lot of my research began, looking into not just tea, but other herbs as well, and the synergistic and additive effect they can have for optimal health, and certainly from a preventive standpoint, if someone wants to start using something even earlier, to put themselves on a healthy trajectory." – Dr. Nada Milosavljevic

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Omicron Cancels Restaurant Reservations | Tea Sales in Foodservice Continue to Decline, a TEAIN22 forecast | Sri Lanka Barters $5 Million a Month in Tea to Settle Iranian Oil Debt| GUEST – Research scientists Nigel Melican, founder Teacraft, and President of the European Speciality Tea Association | FEATURES – This week, Tea Biz travels to the Republic of Ireland to visit Teacraft founder and research scientist Nigel Melican. Melican explains the necessity of mechanical tea harvesting and describes an innovation in two-person harvesters that features a rotating head that simulates a “selective” pluck without shearing leaves. Tea Mechanization Must be Well Managed –Nigel Melican is a career research scientist, founder of Teacraft technology consultancy, and President of the European Speciality Tea Association. He has monitored advances in harvesting technology for more than 40 years, from crude shears and reciprocating blades to the next generation “selective” harvesters capable of discerning and plucking (not shearing) only those shoots consisting of two leaves and a bud. Virtually all crops are being mechanically harvested now, explains Melican. Given the cost and shortage of labor and the growing demand for tea, there's no other way that you can make commodity tea commercially viable, says Melican.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Bulk and Specialty Tea Prices Diverge, a TEAIN22 Forecast | France to Pay €1 Million to Certify Ceylon Tea | Bids total $8 Million HDK at Sotheby's Inaugural Tea Auctions| NEWSMAKERS – Shekib Ahmed of Koliabur Tea Estate, Assam, India and Abhijeet Hazarika @TeaSigma | GUEST – Mary Cotterman, founder Mary Cotterman Pottery, Asheville, North Carolina, USA| FEATURES – This week, Tea Biz travels to Asheville, NC, to meet teaware potter and ceramist Mary Cotterman, who discusses the artisan spirit and state of mind of those embracing native clay and how COVID-19 lockdowns focused her attention like a monk.Then, to Assam, India, to hear Part 2 of the series Frugal Innovation. In this segment, Aravinda Anantharaman explores the application of Frugal Innovation in the tea garden and factories. Shekib Ahmed of Koliabur Tea Estate explains that "Objective data changes the conversation in the factory from vague concepts to thresholds and parameters. It makes operations scientific so that we can improve.”Born from Mud –In 2015 Mary moved to China to learn from the old masters how to make clay teapots in the style of Chaozhou Gongfu and to speak Mandarin. She spent two years there learning from a master in the Beijing school, becoming the first westerner to throw shou la hu teapots. She next studied at the Sanbao International Ceramics Village in Jingdezhen, the home of porcelain for 1700 years. She returned to the US in 2018 and makes her home in Asheville, North Carolina, where you will find her crafting water jars, pitchers, teacups, celadon gaiwans, and ash-glazed Japanese-style Kyusu teapots in a wood-fired kiln. - By Dan BoltonFrugal Innovation: In the Garden and Factories –Embracing Simple Technology with Scalable Impact | Frugal innovations utilize simple technology to address the most vexing challenges facing the tea industry. It's an umbrella term for innovations that do not require much capital, carry a low financial risk, and can be done safely with high reliability. For an industry that's been grappling with multiple challenges, frugal innovation is a low-risk and impactful option, spearheaded by an industry veteran with an eye for innovation. For every successful experiment, many fail, but these are essential to the process that begins with the question, “What if…?" - By Aravinda Anantharaman

| Hear the Headlines ― Economic Forecasters Predict Higher Tea Prices in 2022 | The Rush of Holiday Orders is Easing - Now a Delivery Crisis has Emerged | German Tea Drinkers Set a Consumption Record Last Year Despite Lockdowns | PLUS Frugal Innovation, Part 1| Guests ― Abhijeet Hazarika, @TeaSigma, Saurav Berlia, LR Group (Berlia Fresh Foods & Beverages) and Shekib Ahmad, managing director Koliabur Tea Estate.| Features ― This week Tea Biz travels to Assam, India to explore "Frugal Innovations" that utilize simple technology to address some of the most vexing challenges facing the tea industry. In Part 1 of the series, Aravinda Anantharaman talks with Abhijeet Hazarika @TeaSigma, an IT analyst and former head of process innovation at Tata Global Beverages, and visits with growers Saurav Berlia and Shekib Ahmad on cost-efficient experiments and pilots that demonstrate why tea producers should embrace simple technologies with scalable impact.Frugal Innovation: Introducing Technology into the Value Chain ― There are few entry barriers to tea. It does not demand heavy infrastructure. But the complaint from smallholders selling raw leaf to large-scale tea producers operating multiple factories is that farmgate prices are not commensurate with costs. Quiet work underway in India is yielding encouraging results that lower the cost of tea production, improve quality, and ease a shortage of labor. At the same time, the economics of the tea trade is shifting from oversupply to scarcity. Demand is expected to exceed production in 2021 and a deficit of tea is expected through 2023, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. Globally tea prices increased $0.21 cents per kilo since the beginning of 2021, up 7.3%, according to Trading Economics. Abhijeet Hazarika, IT analyst @TeaSigma and former head of process innovation at Tata Global Beverages, observed that “Tea is not a very high profit yielding commodity and will not be so in the foreseeable future until some tech breakthrough happens.” The frugal innovations described in this series, combined with higher prices may herald that breakthrough.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Ekaterra Tea Underway | India Steps up Efforts to Halt Illegal Imports | Chinese Archaeologists Discover Oldest Tea Yet | NEWSMAKER – John Davison, CEO ekaterra tea | FEATURES – This week Tea Biz travels to Singapore for a conversation with John Davison, CEO of ekaterra tea, soon to be the largest tea company in the world. Ekaterra is currently a division of Unilever that houses 34 tea brands including Lipton, PG Tips, TAZO, Brooke Bond, Pukka, and Red Rose. In November CVC Capital Partners, a multi-billion private equity firm headquartered in Luxembourg, paid $5.1 billion for ekaterra tea, outbidding several competitors and establishing a valuation based on 14x earnings before taxes and depreciation. Regulatory and antitrust reviews will take six months to complete. Ekaterra's First Steps – John Davison joined Unilever in March 2021 to carve out the company's underperforming tea portfolio. Davison discusses the urgency of improving tea quality and adopting sustainable initiatives along the entire supply chain. Listen to his plans for reenergizing the world's largest tea company.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – In the Black: Holiday Sales are Surging | CVC Capital Pays $5.1 Billion for Unilever's Tea Portfolio | A Climate Change Adaptation Essential for Tea | NEWSMAKER – Evy Chen, founder of newly rebranded Evy Tea, Boston, Mass.| GUEST - Kym Cooper, co-founder of East Forged tea in Brisbane, Australia.| FEATURES – This week Tea Biz travels to Brisbane, Australia where East Forged Tea co-founder Kym Cooper reminds us that innovation need not be at the expense of the timeless taste of tea. East Forged preserves that taste ― with no sugar, coloring, or artificial flavoring ― in a convenient, slightly fizzy, nitro-infused, cold-brewed iced tea that pours a craft-brew-like head of foam. … and then to Boston, Mass. to learn how Evy Chen, facing an 82% decline in foodservice sales of her signature cold-brewed tea, reformulated, rebranded, and relaunched online as a successful direct-to-consumer brand. The Timeless Taste of TeaEast Forged tea co-founder Kym Cooper explains that innovation need not be at the expense of the timeless essence of tea. East Forged preserves tea's delicate taste ― by avoiding sugar, coloring, or artificial flavoring ― in a convenient, slightly fizzy, nitro-infused, cold-brewed iced tea that pours a craft-brew-like head of foam.Resilient & Resourceful: Evy ChenIn 2020 US restaurant and foodservice sales fell by $240 billion placing unprecedented stress on food and beverage suppliers. Evy's Tea, a pioneering cold-brewed, ready-to-drink tea manufactured in Boston since 2014 nearly failed when the pandemic altered long-established consumer buying habits. Short on money and with a skeletal staff, founder Evy Chen's resourcefulness led her to develop a tea concentrate in cans, enabling the company to pivot online as a direct-to-consumer brand now known as Evy Tea. Chen's story is the first in a series of articles describing how resilient individuals arrived at pandemic-inspired workarounds that exceeded expectations.

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Climate Pact Boosts Morale but Will Momentum Build? | Tea Lowers Risk and Severity of Stroke| Golden Leaf Awards Return | NEWSMAKER – Prabhat Bezboruah, Chairman of the Tea Board of India | FEATURES – India's highest levels of government are reforming the basic structure of agriculture. The intent is to loosen regulations on pricing and storage and to permit direct sales of produce. The rules have protected India's farmers from the free market for decades. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the reforms a "watershed moment" for Indian agriculture. In Part 2 of Aravinda Anantharaman's Newsmaker Interview --- Prabhat Bezboruah, Chairman of the Tea Board of India, describes a new board mission to increase consumption, promote tea exports and expand markets at home and overseas. He also addresses discussions underway to transfer regulatory oversight of India's tea industry from the Ministry of Commerce to Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry..