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Saturday July 23th Noon to 6:00
Hawaiian Sun Open House
at The Tea Smith
Drop by and enjoy special tea tastings, Hawaiian inspired snacks and special features on select teas. Yes we will have tea from Hawaii available!
 Omaha Public Library Summer Reading Events: A Brief History of Tea July 13th 3:30 Willa Cather Branch July 23rd- 9:00am Swanson Branch July 26th- 6:30 Elkhorn Branch Drop in and enjoy an hour with our Chief Leaf as we sip our way through history
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Featured Video
 | | Introduction to Rooiboos Tea, by The Chief Leaf, Tim Smith of "TheTeaSmith.com" |
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| Find us At | |
Tower Plaza
78th & Dodge
Online www.theteasmith.com
 
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| Summer Fun is in full swing at The Tea Smith |
Greetings!
Whether you love the heat and humidity or not, summer is keeping things warm around here as expected. But as we all know life is much more bearable when enjoying one of our bubble teas, iced teas or fruit tisane!
We took some time out to attend the World Tea Expo last month, and are starting to get some of our finds into the store! So you will want to check out our new features.
And just for fun, we have plenty of activities going on in July, including a couple of Fun Weekends at the store.
So grab your favorite cuppa and read on.
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A Tea with a Story: Silver Needles White Tea from Doke Estate.
 Traditionally white tea is associated with a very few varietals harvested in the early Spring in northern Fujian Province of China. As this type of tea has grown in popularity, we see many other regions producing offerings to participate in this lucrative market. Most do not seem to have a distinctive character what would make them worth the price commanded by white teas.
So I was not expecting much when presented a tea from Bilhar India, an area that is not even well known for tea. However, we are always up to tasting something new and we found a tea with a wonderful story, as well a very nice taste.
Bilhar is a remote area that is rather poor, even by Indian standards. Our friends, the Lochan family came across an area that looked promising for a garden. The garden, Doke, not only produced more tea per hectare than other areas, but had a much higher percentage of tips and small leaves. This makes  for a beautifully hand picked white tea that resembles the Darjeeling sweetness, and is quite smooth.
But that is only part of the story. Unlike other gardens, this is owned by the people of Bilhar. The Lochans lease the garden, and give them 25% of the profits on top of their daily wage.
According to Rajiv Lochan "We are just an agent in it for them. We have helped them make their land productive and we fund and finance all activities there."
When you purchase the Doke Silver Needle, you are enjoying a special hand produced tea that is helping to raise the living standards of the farmers growing it.
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Tea And Health
 EGCG, an antioxidant found in tea may help fight Alzheimer's Disease according to another study.
Foodconsumer.com reported on a study done by researchers at the University of South Florida.
Click here to go to the article |
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A Brief Report from The World Tea Expo
 | | Author Bruce Richardson, Jane Pettigrew and Tim Smith |
Tim and Paulette, our Chief Leaf and Loose Leaf attended this Expo again this year along with almost 5000 attendees and over 200 exhibitors. Our daughter's wedding last year took precedence over the last Expo, so it was nice to visit old friends, make new ones and check up on some of the new developments and offerings in the industry. Naturally we have lots of samples arriving from producers all over the globe.
This year we enjoyed Country sponsored pavilions from Ceylon, China, Taiwan and India to name a few. In addition there were teas from Kenya, and even Hawaii on exhibit.
New teas and new products are just part of the excitement.
There are numerous seminars offered during the show. Though many are focused on basics, we always find something interesting, Paulette particularly enjoyed Jane Pettigrew's seminar "Experiencing Rare Teas" which included a hand made Black Lotus tea from Viet Nam. Tim actually paid to drink bad tea at a tasting that focused on Detecting Defects in Tea Manufacture.
We promise to keep you posted on the new discoveries that we are bringing to The Tea Smith for you!
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The Tea Smith Recipe Card for Perfect Iced Teas
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If you know someone that enjoys the finer things in life, please forward this newsletter along to them.
Thank you for supporting The Tea Smith! Your encouragement and consideration are truly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Tim Smith, Chief Leaf
The Tea Smith, L.L.C. |
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