Dear Customer,

If you are like me, you have probably been deeply affected by the tragedy that struck the island of Haiti just a few days ago. While natural disasters are never a desirable event, when they impact the poorest of poor, the impact is felt many folds more. Over 70% of Haiti lives on less than $2 a day, so when for the average Haitian, this earth quake is nothing short of complete devastation of their life!

While this tragedy is going on we cannot sit on our hands and do nothing. This is why, Jaya Teas is announcing a unique program to help the victims of this tragedy. From now until the end of January, Jaya Teas will donate 25% of all the sales made through our website to American Red Cross, to help the Haiti relief effort.

If you would like to do something for Haitians, one way to do so would be by buying your tea needs before the end of January. We will donate 25% of your purchase value to American Red Cross. If you are not a tea drinker, or if you are well stocked with your teas, we encourage you to help out by donating directly to American Red Cross.

Here is a brief video from our First Lady Michele Obama explaining how you can help.

Please join Jaya Teas in helping our neighbor in her hour of need.

Madhulika Joshi

I wonder how much of this is due to recession, and how much due to change in habits

Canned and bottled tea, the largest component in RTD, slowed from growth rates exceeding 20% in both 2006 and 2007 to less than 1% growth this year, Packaged Facts estimates. Meanwhile, sales of bags and loose tea, which had been in decline for two years, are projected to show 3% growth this year.

Read more here

THIS SURVEY IS NOW CLOSED! THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION

Jaya Teas is offering a bag of 20 nylon tea pods of premium tea to any one completing the survey below. The survey is designed to help us pick top three bill boards we can use on our website. Its a way for us to involve you, our customer, in taking important decisions about our business!

Thank you for participating, your input is very valuable and important to us.

This is the survey link.

Madhulika

THIS SURVEY IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION

Photo credit: Rajesh Kumar Singh

The most populous democracy on the planet, India, just cast its 15th vote in general elections and the results are a victory to moderation and unity. Congress party, with standard bearer Rahul Gandhi leading the charge, fielded a large number of youth on its ticket and won 205 seats. Since Congress did not win the simple majority it needs in the 543 seat Lok Sabha, Congress will need to negotiate with other parties to form a government. News reports indicate that Congress is leaning towards partnering with a number of smaller parties rather than partner with Communists or Janata Party which are known for their anti-business agenda and divisive politics.

The Indian general election is historic in that all this is happening at a time when India is surrounded by countries that are totalitarian in their outlook. On its west is Pakistan which has had a checkered history in democracy, and is currently fighting for its survival as a democratic nation, and on the east is Burma which has been ruled by military for a number of years. To the North is China, and to the north east is Nepal, which has seen a maoist insurgency come to power and then implode.

So how is it that India continues its democratic march?

In my opinion it boils down to leadership. Ever since the birth of the nation in 1947, even in the most difficult days Indian leaders have insisted in adhering to the path of democracy. Four wars, one Emergency, and countless other incidents could have easily caused Indians to reconsider the value of democracy. Yet, although some times the country has faltered, each time the Indian leaders have put the power back into the hands of people and let them decide. So, 60 years after independence, India remains a beacon of hope for millions along its border. Each year, thousands and hundreds of thousands cross the border of India with Pakistan, Burma, Bangladesh, Nepal to come into India and enjoy fruits of a democratic state. This alone is a testimony to this powerful means of governance where the most illiterate and poor, and the richest and most highly educated citizens have the same right to vote.

Lets hope that the other nations in that neighborhood see the wisdom of following Indian example and developing the system of democracy. For as faulty as democracy seems to be, the world is yet to devise a better system of governance.

You can see some of the most stunning pictures of democracy in action on this Sacramento Bee Weblog

[International Woman’s Day 15% discount* on any purchase on Jaya Teas website. Enter the code “womansday” at check out. Here is the reason why…]

The birth of my second daughter, shortly after Mr. Obama won the election, got me thinking about the future of my two daughters in this country. Mr. Obama’s election made me very optimistic about the chances of my two girls in the United States. A country that reconciles with its past and elects a person of color to the highest office is a exhibiting signs of a maturing culture, and I was happy that my girls would be growing up in such a mature society.

As a child I had read about the struggle of women in the American society for equal pay and equal rights. In India I never felt the need to think about equal pay and equal rights because, although India is a relatively old civilization with conservative values, when it comes to gender equality, I felt like India was leap years ahead of the rest of the world. There were many reasons why I felt this way, starting with the fact that while most countries (including United States) are yet to install a woman as its chief executive, India was one of the few countries in the world where a woman, Indira Gandhi, had held the highest office of the land. Having Indira Gandhi run the country for 17 years made us feel that women could indeed play a significant role in Indian society.

But even more so, in my religion, Hinduism, I saw some of the greatest symbols of woman’s powers exhibited and worshipped out in the open. In Hinduism, the female deity holds incredible power. For instance, Laxmi is the Goddess of Wealth, Saraswati the goddess of knowledge and Durga holds the power to destroy evil. So, if you have the corner on knowledge, wealth and power what else could one want!! India is not perfect by any means, but growing up with such symbols I never felt insecure about my role in the society as a woman.

Yet we know that countries like US and India are islands in a sea of nations where such freedoms are not enjoyed universally by women. In fact, in many of the “old world” countries, women find themselves shackled by the social mores that may have had a place in 15th or 16th century, but certainly have no place in modern society. In many Arabian countries, women are still not allowed to enjoy basic privilages such as driving a car, or taking a job, or going to movies on their own etc. Repressive regimes such as the Revolutionary Government in Iran, or repressive movements like the Taleban in Pakistan and Afghanistan espouse theological views that are directed at denying the basic human rights to women. Even in India, I am sorry to say, recently there have been incidents of self-righteous conservative men attacking women for enjoying a beverage with their male friends.

So, although we are in the twenty first century, on March 8th there is still a strong reason for celebrating the International Woman’s Day. While in the US we may have reached a stage where we are enjoying these rights, we must remember that there are millions around the world that need our encouragement and support in their daily struggle against the tyranny of government rule or social mores that hold them down.

There are many ways to celebrate this day:

• One is to learn more about this holiday by visiting the website of International Woman’s Day.
• Another is to show the women in your life an appreciation for their contributions.
• Take your mother or sister out for dinner, of if you are a man, take your wife out for dinner.
• Blog about this day on your blogs and talk about this day in your churches and social groups.
• If you can, support a woman owned business.

On our side, we are happy to offer everybody a 15% discount* on any of our products. Simply use the phrase “womansday” at the time of checkout to avail of the discount. And yes, you can get this discount even if you are not a woman, but you have to promise to tell some one about the International Woman’s Day!!

*No other offer applies.

For a little girl growing thousands of miles away from the West that gave us St. Valentine, I was very much involved in celebrating the festival with as much gusto as any western woman. Of course I had no clue about why St. Valentine was so important to love, but we girls knew enough to giggle and tease and whisper silly things in each other’s ears about each other’s imagined special one. Unlike here in the US, in Jaipur we didn’t “go out” with some special friend for a night on town - that sort of thing could only be imagined, not done. Instead we would spend the day in company of each other’s best friends, exchange Valentine’s day cards and gossip.

In India, we have a festival to celebrate almost every thing. There is a festival that celebrates the bond between brother and sister called Bhai Duj. There is another festival that reinforces ties between husband and wife - called Karwah Chauth. But for a society that is famous for kinship amongst its women folk, it seems strange that there is no festival to celebrate the bond of friendship between two girl friends. To me, Valentine’s day seemed like so many other Hindu celebrations build around the notion of reinforcing certain ties - viz ties between two friends. So we adopted Valentine’s day as our own festival that celebrated the great love between friends. I still have very fond memories of my school friends even though we are miles apart.

As we grew older, Valentine’s day started to assume romantic notions for us. Indeed, during my college years as soon as February would arrive, notions of romance would infuse the air like the aroma of Jasmine in spring. Of course it was impractical to be romantically involved with some one of opposite sex (only “bad” girls did that). Instead, mostly we spent the Valentine’s day with our best girlfriends day dreaming about “prince charming” and “Mr. Handsome”.

All that ended when I met my husband and moved here to the US. Then, Valentine’s day started to have a special meaning to me and I spent a lot of time thinking about how I would celebrate it. But the opportunity to celebrate it with just my husband was short lived because within two years our first one arrived and being a daughter, now my husband had two girls to help him celebrate the day. This year, the Valentine’s day will be an extra special one in our home because this year we added a new little girl to our family! Jaya has a brand new baby sister - name Jiya. I am just waiting to see what gifts my husband comes up with!!

When it comes to gift, I don’t envy my husband’s position. My birthday in January, so he has to get something for me on that day. Then comes Valentine’s day when he has to get something for the two, now three, of us. Poor man!! Recently I noticed that my husband’s thick head of hair is thinning a bit. I wonder if its the manifestation of age, or if its his predicament on what to buy us girls for the Valentine’s day!

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Ps. We have a special Valentine’s day sale going on - get 10% off on any merchandise on our website. Just use the code “valentine” at the checkout.

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Author: Dr. Madhulika Pareek-Joshi
Authors website: http://www.jayateas.com
About the author: Dr. Madhulika Pareek-Joshi is the President of Jaya Teas, LLC. Dr. Pareek grew up in India in a family steeped in tea industry and tea lore. Many of Dr. Pareek’s uncles and cousins are involved in the Indian tea industry and so, although a medical doctor by profession, Dr. Pareek decided to use her family connections for the benefit of US tea customer, by starting a tea company . Jaya Teas, which specialises in teas from India, has been open for business since 2004. Dr. Pareek invites readers to contribute their comments on her blog Chaiwalah, which can be found at http://www.jayateas.com/blog/
You are free to replicate this article else where, but please, leave this box intact! We appreciate the back links!
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A tea afficianado will tell you that it takes time to learn to brew great tea. True, but its also fairly easy to learn how to brew good tea. Just learn the Five “T”s of brewing good tea, Tea, waTer, Temperature, Time and Taste, and you will be brewing outstanding tea in no time! Let me walk you through the five Ts.

1) The first “T” is “Tea”. This may sound silly, but really, more than 90% of the quality of the brew is going to depend on the quality of the tea that you select. Fortunately today it is easy to buy outstanding tea. Compared to the yesteryears, when you had to be in a big city like Philadelphia, New York or Boston to get really good tea, today in North America there is almost a rennaisance in the tea culture, and you can find really outstanding teas just by going online.

In your vendor selection, try to be very selective about who you choose for your tea purchase. Read the reviews, email the owner and learn as much about the vendor as possible before buying from them. Be aware that there are two types of vendors, A speciality tea vendor that specializes in tea from certain parts of the world - China or India or Celon etc, or a general vendor who sells every thing under the banner of tea, including the crazy fruity blends to Yerba Mate to Roiboos. Generally speaking, the specialist vendor tends to know more about their tea and will in fact point you in the right direction rather than try to sell you a lot of different types of tea. So select the vendor carefully and with a good tea, you are already on the way to making an outstanding brew.

2) WaTer: The second biggest factor that influences tea brew is waTer. Heavily chlorinated water from the tap completely destroys the flavors in tea, so avoid the chlorinated tap water. Distilled water is fine, but in my experience tea tastes better with spring water than distilled water.

Beware though, that not all spring waters are created equal. My advice is, buy four or five different types of spring waters and brew the teas in them separately to see which one brings out the tea flavor the best. You may even want to test the “filter” water from one of the home filter companies. These filters not only filter the water, but also add some trace amounts of salts, and do a pretty good job in brewing tea. Bottom line, avoid chlorinated tap water and choose filtered water or spring water.

3) The third tea is “Temperature”. The general rule of thumb is, lower temperatures for Whites and Greens, and higher temperatures for Oolongs and Black teas. Mind you, the puritans go crazy over this “T” buying a kitchen thermometer and being really precise about it, but brewing good tea is not about precision, its about enjoyment. So follow this simple advice. If you are brewing a green tea, bring the water to a boil, turn the stove off, and wait for 4-5 minutes before pouring it on the green tea. For Oolong, wait 2-3 minutes, and for black tea, use boiling water. This should take care of “temperature”, but feel free to experiment around with the wait times and I am sure you will arrive at the temperature that is right for you!

4) “Time”. In my opinion, this is the most flexible “T” that you can work with. Again, the general rule of thumb is, lowest amount of time for “Green teas and Oolongs”, and most amount of time for “black tea”. So, start out with 30 seconds for green tea, and increase it in 30 second increments to arrive at the right time. On the other hand, for black tea, start with 2.5 minutes, and experiment it by going up till you come to the right amount of time.

5) And the final T is “Taste”: When we started selling teas in United States, one of the most common complaint we heard was that our teas were too astringent. I found that very surprising, because in India and other countries like Germany the astringency of tea is found to be quite welcoming! Slowly we learned that Americans prefer mellow and sweetish tea. So, when you are buying tea, be sure to ask the vendor about the astringency profile of the tea. If it is very astringent and you prefer sweet tea, you might be better off selecting a different tea.

On the other hand, you will realize that if you modulate the first four “T”s correctly, almost any tea will produce a satisfactory brew - even the most astringent one.

So, there you have it, five “T”s to help you prepare an outstanding tea. Easy to remember, easy to implement - Tea, Water, Temperature, Time and Taste. Its really not that complicated!

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Article Title: Five “T”s of Brewing Good Tea
Author: Dr. Madhulika Pareek-Joshi
Authors website: http://www.jayateas.com
About the author: Dr. Madhulika Pareek-Joshi is the President of Jaya Teas, LLC. Dr. Pareek grew up in India in a family steeped in tea industry and tea lore. Many of Dr. Pareek’s uncles and cousins are involved in the Indian tea industry and so, although a medical doctor by profession, Dr. Pareek decided to use her family connections for the benefit of US tea customer, by starting a tea company . Jaya Teas, which specialises in teas from India, has been open for business since 2004. Dr. Pareek invites readers to contribute their comments on her blog Chaiwalah, which can be found at http://www.jayateas.com/blog/
You are free to replicate this article else where, as long as this box remains intact, including the clickable links in this box
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DailyIndia.com reports that Assam Agricultural University is offering a course in tea husbandry.

The only university in the world, which provides a bachelors degree in tea husbandry and technology, includes in the course, as well as classroom studies and exposure of the field during the rural work experience program.

Could be a great opportunity for those interested in tea industry jobs!

In another news, tea warehouses in Siliguri, India suddenly went on strike on Oct 26, after one of the members of the warehouse association was suspended for some irregularities. For the gentle readers who aren’t aware, Siliguri is one of the Auction centers in India where Darjeeling, Assam, Dooars tea gets auctioned. Just to give you a sense of the importance of this town to tea trade, here is a tid bit from the same article…

It may be recalled that there are over 30 tea warehouses in Siliguri, which, on an average, allow an inflow of about 3,84,000 kgs of tea per day. However, the ongoing strike has stopped both inflow and outflow of tea from the warehouses, which, if continued for a long period, would affect the tea trading.

As we approach the gift giving season, I want to give you some ideas on how one can make an elegant gift out of teas. Teas are traditional gift in China and India, where top quality teas can be very scarce and therefore very valuable. Most who can afford to give good quality tea usually gift it in small chestlets - of 5 or 7kgs. However, we can suit this tradition to our on purpose by modifying it per the American tradition. Today, I am writing about making a gift basket that includes tea. Things you will need for this gift idea are:

Cut a small 10 inches by 6 inches piece of the card board and fold the sides up by about one inch on all sides. Place the card board on the mesh fabric, place two caddies of tea on it and the tea pot in front of the tea caddies. Now, start collecting the mesh fabric around the caddies and the tea pot and collect it at the top. Staple it together with your home office stapler, or simply tie it together with a string. Tie a nice little bow with a ribbon to hide the stapler or the string, and attach a card to it.
If you want, you can tie thinner ribbons such that they stream down the gift pack.

There - the whole thing should set you back by may be $20 at the most.

As a variation, you can use shrinkwrap cellphane wrapper instead of a mesh fabric with the same effect. In the photo instead of the cardboard you see a basket. A basket will cost you a few more dollars at Walmart.

Jaya Teas will be participating in the Coffee and Tea Festival in NY City. You are invited to the upcoming Coffee and Tea Festival to be held at: Metropolitan Pavilion, 12f West 18th Street, New York, NY on Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th from 11am onwards. Print this coupon for a $5 savings on your entrance fees.

Look forward to seeing you there…