Private Label Loose Teas vs Private Label Tea bags

More choices, options, colors and kinds can make any decision difficult. Though this choice may seem relatively simple as there are a growing list of companies that can supply a line of private label teas, as the number of companies grow, so to does the difficulty. Though this choice may seem relatively simple as there are a growing list of companies that can supply a line of private label teas. Though this choice may seem relatively simple as there are a growing list of companies that can supply a line of private label teas.

In a rapidly growing tea industry, a variety of companies are looking to expand their product base by adding a line of private label teas.
But now with the rise of Gourmet tea bags, where a high quality loose tea is included in the tea bags, all of the sudden this is a very real, and potentially better option. Though originally the choice was private label loose teas, now many companies are looking to add a line of private label tea bags was far lower than the private label loose teas.
This is where a vast majority of competition is. Either high quality loose teas that are green tea, black tea or oolong tea, or regular tea bags with low quality green tea and black teas in them. For those looking to enter into the tea industry, and have done their research have found that there are a vast number of "standard" teas on the market.

One of the reasons that the market is growing so fast however, is the nearly endless number of possibilities; differentiation. An industry such as tea is rapidly growing, which means the number of competitors is also, rapidly growing; a barrier to entry.
And as non tea drinkers are looking to improve their health, but have been turned away by the bitter taste of green teas, your Private Label Herbal Teas will be their to save them. Also high health benefits of the herbal teas and smooth taste makes them a favorite among tea drinkers as well as chunk of the population, non-tea drinkers. The reason is due to a significantly lower number of competitors and a potentially endless number of herbal blend options.

This is where a high percentage of growth in the tea industry can be found. If a company is interested adding Private Label Loose Teas to their product base, the best option would be to have loose Organic Herbal Teas, and Organic Herbal Tea Blends. But now, we can look at the options.
So if we could mix the two, High quality Loose Tea (either herbal or standard) and the easy use of a tea bag, then this would allow the company to differentiate their product whether using "Standard" teas or unique herbal blends, instead of with loose teas where only the unique herbal blends will allow your Private Label Tea to truly stand out. This is large reason why commercial tea bags have become so popular despite their general low quality. Loose tea takes more time to make, special tea utensils, all of which may not work well in this every day reality. But for any tea drinker, and especially non tea drinker, who lives in the modern day reality of a hustling and bustling business world, loose tea may not be the best option.
And overall, which is best for you ? Which part of the industry do you see fits with not only today's market, but also tomorrow's ? Which part of the industry do you see the most growth and most potential?

This is a very important part of the decision tree when looking to either add a new product to your already established company, or looking to start a company from scratch.

What are the Essentials of High Quality Loose Leaf Tea?

Critical elements in the process include: Demand for high quality loose leaf tea is experiencing strong growth and for those interested in high quality loose leaf tea is experiencing strong growth and for those interested in high quality loose tea, more information will aid in decision making.
Source of the Tea
Manufacturing Processes
Purchasing, Quality Control and Customer Service
Source of the Tea
All tea comes from the plant Camellia Sinensis but there is where the similarity between high quality loose leaf tea and other, lesser quality ends. From the time the tea leaves are plucked until the time the consumer tastes the brew, a number of critical events affect the tea experience.
High quality loose leaf teas are carefully selected as only the finest of these rare orthodox teas, which are processed slowly and hand-crafted with extreme care.
Tea, like wine, is harvested and processed into the final product on the grounds of the garden or estate. The taste and quality of any tea varietal depends upon the specific growing conditions. Factors such as altitude, climate, soil, weather, and plucking season all affect the final product.
To produce just one pound of quality loose leaf tea, it takes approximately 3,000 hand plucked leaves. Only the most tender leaves and young buds are selected. After the leaves are picked, the precise art of tea making begins.
Manufacturing Processes
Tea is manufactured by two different processes.
Most ordinary tea is machine processed by the C.T.C. method (crush, tear, curl). The resulting small, broken pieces are used in tea bags or iced tea concentrates. Less than 2% of the world's tea is of superior quality, hand-processed in the classic, time-honored method known as orthodox manufacture.
And, of course, only the finest. Connoisseurs will find no soggy paper tea bags and no trendy herbals from high quality loose tea suppliers; only real tea from the Camellia Sinensis bush. The highest quality loose teas are hand-plucked and meticulously crafted to enhance leaf character, aroma, color, clarity, body, complexity, and above all, flavor.

Whole-leaf varietals retain the subtle nuances of flavor so prized by discriminating palates throughout the centuries. High quality suppliers are dedicated to offering outstanding, whole-leaf teas of the greatest quality and finesse.
Purchasing, Quality Control and Customer Service
Nevertheless, quality tea is easily available through e-commerce outlets on the internet. Most loose leaf teas are not available in retail outlets. Access to high quality loose leaf tea is the final element.
Loose leaf tea is ideally suited to e-commerce because it is light and easy to transport. Increasingly e-commerce over the internet has proven to be an efficient and easy way to purchase quality products and those e-commerce sites that are customer friendly also offer convenient and low cost home delivery.
When evaluating e-commerce sites, the consumer should consider those sites that are interactive, easy to use and offer rich features such as auto shipping, multiple destination shipments, gift shipments and delivery flexibility.
The loose leaf tea experience is all about quality and quality does not end with manufacturing. Those suppliers that are truly dedicated to quality will maintain quality control over each shipment received from the producing tea garden.
Since almost all quality loose leaf tea comes from other countries such as China, India, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and others, choose a supplier who cups or tastes each shipment before acceptance. This measure of quality control will guarantee consistent quality but most loose leaf tea suppliers skip this important step. Check with a potential supplier to determine their cupping commitment.
Since the purchase of high quality loose tea tends to be a long term relationship, consideration of the needs of the customer and customer satisfaction is paramount. In addition to quality control, customer service is a critical element in the loose tea relationship.
The best suppliers have a culture of customer service, open lines of communication to customer service personnel and solicit feedback from customers as a way to maintain consistent quality.
Golden Moon Tea's website is found at Stout is Chairman of the Board of Golden Moon Tea is a supplier of high quality loose leaf tea and high quality tea ware. Jon M.
http://www.Goldenmoontea.com

Cooking With Tea Gives Holiday Recipes A Healthful Boost

What easier way to reap its benefits than by adding some to your cuisine, especially during the hectic holidays? It provides antioxidants [which prevent damage to cell tissues], has less caffeine than coffee, and calms the soul. It's no secret that tea is good for you.
The ones I like to use are Celestial Seasonings Blueberry Tea, or Lemon Ginger Green Tea," she says. "Infusing vegetables this way adds a delicate flavor to the food. The quickest way to get started is to grab a few teabags and throw them in the water when steaming vegetables, according to Ying Chang Compestine, author of *Cooking With Green Tea* (Avery/Penguin Putnam, 2000). Incorporating tea into your cooking is easy, and you don't have to know a lot to start experimenting.
It just depends on what I'm cooking," she adds. For chicken or fish I use green or white tea. "I have all kinds of tea next to my spice rack.

When using tea in this way, you add the dry tea leaves to the heated oil as you would any other spice or seasoning. "It's also very easy to use tea as a spice when stir frying," says Ying.
Just snip the teabag open and use the tea." "For most cooking, bag tea is much easier. "Don't worry about getting loose tea or knowing about loose teas," Ying advises. Most people have teabags in their cupboards, but may not have full leaf teas.
It's lovely." "One thing I love to do is to cook rice with jasmine green tea," says Donna Fellman, Director of the Tea Education Alliance and author of *Tea Here Now* (Inner Ocean Publishing, 2005) "For a heartier, savory meal use oolong [a tea that is considered in between green and black] to make your rice.
Turn down to a simmer and look forward to the delicate aroma that will soon fill your kitchen. Bring the brewed tea to a boil and add the rice. Remove the spent leaves and set aside to use again later.

Steep about three minutes. Heat the water to almost boiling and pour over the leaves. Put a teaspoon or two of leaves per cup of water in a teapot or other vessel. Donna recommends using loose tea leaves for this recipe.

To prepare rice this way, start by making the tea.
"When I cook with tea I make the brew stronger by adding more tea to it." "Any kind of tea is going to get bitter if you over brew it," says Lenny Martinelli, Owner and Executive Chef of the Boulder Dushanbe Tea House in Colorado. Making tea stronger is not a result of longer steeping. It's important not to over brew tea whether you intend to use it in a recipe or drink it.
Consider serving chai during holiday meals, which naturally lends itself to the season with its cinnamon and clove.
Just play with it." It's important to treat it like an ingredient. You're not trying to make a full tea flavor. "A nice holiday roasted chicken with dried fruit sauce, de-glazing the pan with orange juice and letting the tea and spices come out." He adds, "I think sometimes people expect too much from the tea leaf when they cook with tea.

"I put some green tea leaves in the filling, maybe with some spinach." For a tea-inspired holiday recipe, he creates a chicken rub with spiced black tea, cumin, coriander and cinnamon. The adventurous cook can experiment by combining tea leaves with other vegetables as Lenny does in his potstickers [a type of Chinese dumpling].
What about dessert?
How easy is that? Try Ying's quick green tea ice cream: Stir 1/2 teaspoon of matcha [Japanese powdered green tea] into 1 cup of softened vanilla ice cream and refreeze it. Teas flavored with jasmine, rose, lemon or fruit are used to make cookies, pudding, ice cream, cake, smoothies and shakes.
The tea will prepare you to cook in a mindful way and will infuse your food with that calmness, which gets passed along to your family and guests." "You will get more of tea's health giving and soul nurturing properties. "Make sure that while you're busy preparing delightful holiday food that you take time to sit and enjoy a cup of tea," says Donna. In the end there is nothing like taking time out for yourself so that you can enjoy the holidays.
Lenny Martinelli's cooking classes and other tea events are listed at www.boulderteahouse.com. Donna Fellman and Bodhidharma Tea Company can be reached at 303-402-9576. More information about her and her books is available at www.yingc.com. Ying Chang Compestine is spokesperson for Celestial Seasonings.

Loose Tea in the American Marketplace

The American tea market
Traditionally, the marketplace for tea drinkers in the United States has been limited.
Although loose tea was extremely popular in colonial times, the consumption of loose tea gradually changed and recently the American market for tea has been generally confined to iced tea and tea in bags.
Loose tea was introduced to America at the same time of introduction to Europe. As early as 1650 Dutch traders were active in the tea trade and Peter Stuyvesant, as an early governor of the New York colony, brought the first tea to New York. Loose tea was so popular in colonial New York that at one time the small colony consumed more loose tea than all of England. This popularity was equally evident in the other colonies.
America made two unique contributions to the tea world in the form of bagged tea. Gradually however, the American tea market changed.
There is growing resurgence of demand for loose tea in the United States however, driven by a greater awareness of the health benefits and quality of the loose tea experience. As demand increases, new opportunities arise for the entrepreneur who wishes to market and sell loose tea.
How do loose tea and tea bags compare?
Most experts compare loose tea and tea in bags in four ways:
1. Most of the tea that goes into bags in not high quality. Tea bags usually contain broken grades so infusion takes place quickly
2. Whole leaf loose teas come in a larger number of varieties than bagged tea and some higher quality teas are only found in loose offerings
3. Bags are semi-nonbiodegradable additions to biodegradable tea leaves with implications for the environment
Generally speaking, tea bags have historically offered greater convenience although e-commerce now offers tea drinkers the convenience of on line ordering and home delivery 4.
Is loose tea more costly than tea bags?
Many advocates of bagged tea in believe that loose tea costs more than tea in bags. Actually, most good tea is not very expensive and can be very cost effective. When you buy tea in bags, most of what you pay for is the process of putting the teas in the bags, and the brand name advertising. Fancy tea is generally sold loose, and the price per cup is often lower than for commercial bagged tea.
High quality loose leaf tea is typically not available in supermarkets; but a good mail order web site will accept and process orders rapidly and offer the convenience of home delivery. When one considers that most loose teas support multiple infusions the prices drop dramatically. Some truly fine teas retail in the United States retail for less than US$20 per pound, which means less than 10 cents per cup.
E-commerce and affiliate programs
Opportunities for sale of loose tea are particularly attractive when combined with effective e-commerce through affiliate programs.
The affiliate arrangement is a way for a company to sell its products by signing up individuals or companies ("affiliates") who market the company's products for a commission.
Affiliate programs afford a small entrepreneur the ability to leverage the website of the tea manufacturer through their own affiliate site. Through this technique the affiliate can minimize their investment and maximize their return. An affiliate relationship is established by agreement between the affiliate and the manufacturer whereby each party benefits.
Most good affiliate programs share a number of characteristics: The affiliate must be provided with marketing support, account feedback and prompt payment of earned commissions. There is more to an affiliate relationship than a simple agreement however.
• Real-time reporting statistics
• Real-time email alerts upon each sale
• Payment on a consistent monthly basis for initial and repeat orders
• High price-point products that are easy to sell and allow for substantial affiliate commissions
• A comprehensive package of rich content articles and banner advertising that the affiliate can reprint and use for marketing
Of special note for marketing support is the availability of banner ads that are high quality and effective. These are particularly useful affiliate marketing tools.
The customer service issue:
Tea drinkers are very loyal but demand high quality products and premium customer service. As a result, customer service in the form of rapid and correct order processing and fulfillment, notification of orders and shipments, proper pricing and an emphasis on customer satisfaction is a necessary part of the affiliate relationship.
If customer service is inadequate then this will severely impact affiliate business and the affiliate reputation. Conversely, if customer satisfaction is high, a steady stream of repeat orders will be ensured and the affiliate will share in the additional revenue.
Choose a loose tea supplier that has a rich affiliate program, a reputation for consistent high quality products, an e-commerce site that is powerful and allows easy ordering and a company with a reputation for excellent customer service.

An Organic Herbal Tea Blend

Though sales have been mainly rooted in the standard teas stemming from the Camelia sinensis plant (Green tea, Oolong tea, and Black tea), a vast increase in herbal and natural medicines in the western world has brought upon a virtual explosion of Organic Herbal Tea Blend, releasing any confinements there may have previously been. Tea bags, loose teas, tea shops, and gourmet teas are only a few examples of the outlets for this ever increasing number. With US$5 billion market in the United States alone in 2003, a 500% increase in 10 years, tea is a well established industry that is quickly growing.
Now it is not only Big Business that is apart of this industry as the infinite number of herbal tea blends are combing with the free commerce of the internet. This conception is creating new life in an industry that had been patiently waiting. New companies are forming, new mixtures are being created, and now even new tea bags are being designed.
The machine manufactured tea bags are still standard in market where cost is being put before quality. A metal staple is used to close a bag filled with low quality tea dust, which is known to have very low health benefits and give a more bitter taste than its whole leaf loose tea counterpart. Due to the manufacturing techniques used by these production factories, tea dust is the only filler able to be injected with the machines used to mass produce these bags. As the general size of each organic herbal tea blend is larger, they are unable to be used with these processed bags.
Also, most bags are filled with green and oolong loose teas, as opposed to organic herbal tea. Though higher in quality than the stapled standard, problems of this style include a large shape and size that makes bulk packaging difficult. A more spacious bag allows for a free floating of the loose tea that is inside. Second in popularity is a relatively new pyramid shaped tea bag.
Fortunately as the number of companies is increasing, and more money is entering into the market, handmade gourmet tea bags are being created, better matching the ingenuity behind each organic herbal tea blend could be your gateway to differentiation in a busy tea industry. With the combined short falls of these two bags, the ever increasing number of organic herbal tea blends and home based companies are in desperate need for a tea bag to match their unique nature.

Tea Parties for Grown Ups

Tea Parties for Grown Ups
by Dawnya Sasse
Adults, just as much as children,
enjoy a tea party
that
celebrates any sort of occasion. Serving loose leaf tea
is a healthy alternative to any party option and with
the wide range of teas available, you can incorporate
any theme or celebrate any occasion.
From birthdays to anniversaries or other events, tea is
a fun, unique and
easy way to create a party
.
Use the event (is it a birthday or anniversary?) to
determine the best types of tea to serve or, consider
hosting a themed party. A
theme
can be based on
anything from a book character to the time of year.
Your party can be as
simple
or elaborate as you like.
Just use your imagination, because you are sure to find
a tea that is perfect for the occasion!
Activities
Depending on the celebration, activities may range
from traditional to unusual or even none at all! In the
fast-paced world we live in, many adults will welcome
the chance to sit and enjoy a hot cup of tea and good
conversation. Sometimes people need a reason to

relax
, and a tea party can be just that.
However, if you want to incorporate activities, these
can easily be based on the reason for the gathering.
Consult with your local
party
supply store or do a quick search online.
You can incorporate a
"tea twist"
on many common
games, for example. Bridal and baby shower games
can include a tea theme (such as word scrambles or
searches), and tea gifts make wonderful party favors
for your attendees.
Package loose teas in festive netting and tie it with a
beautiful ribbon.
Love bingo? Try
Teago
and let your guests learn about
tea and its customs while competing in a familiar game.
(
www.teago.com
)
Decorations
Decorations will depend on the activity, such as a

birthday
, anniversary, or baby shower. Create a theme
for the party, such as a vacation getaway for an
anniversary.
Decorate the room with beach balls, beach towels and
have guests sit in outdoor lounge chairs (or if the
weather is nice, take the party outside!). A "famous
babies" theme for a
baby shower
is much more
interesting than decorations that are all green and
yellow.
Try filling the room with photos of actors who got their
start in "pampers." The key is to
put a twist on your
party
, and then, of course, offer a twist on the tea you
serve such as a fruity tea for the beach party or bubble
tea for a baby shower.
Music
Music selections for your parties can vary greatly. To
make it
easy on yourself
, look for compilation CDs that
incorporate the theme.
A CD of soft love songs is a great choice for an

anniversary
, for example, or an orchestrated mix of
lullabies for a baby shower.
Visit your local music retailer for specific suggestions or do an online search for CDs that pertain to your theme.
Invitation Ideas
Use your theme to determine the types of invitations
you will use.
Get creative
and make your own using specialty papers, or throw in a few loose tea leaves for a scented and enticing invitation (although some people may not appreciate tea leaves falling out, so consider some type of mesh envelope!).
Because you'll be centering your
party
on tea, think of
using naturally colored invitations and alternative
papers.
A traditional birthday invitation may not be quite
what you're looking for, so look into blank cards as well,
as you can then add your own words.
Foods
What should you serve at a tea party? Again, your
theme will have a lot to do with the food selections.
If your theme is an anniversary beach party, for example,
serve
exotic fruits
and finger sandwiches.
If you are hosting a famous baby tea try collecting and
serving favorite
recipes of the stars
then let your
guests vote on the best appetizer.
Teas
Many parties lend themselves well to lighthearted and

fruity
teas and tisanes. Consider offering teas that your
guests may not encounter otherwise.
This is a fun way to introduce new teas and enjoy
the
festive atmosphere
.
Creativity is a fountain of youth
. Now grab a pencil,
jot down your ideas and get started.
(C) Dawnya Sasse
Dawnya Sasse is the creator of the ultimate tea business
training school allowing students to discover the secrets
of the tea industry, "quickly and easily" without ever leaving
home.
Why do some people succeed in the tea business?
Discover how to "Unlock the Secrets of the Billion Dollar
Tea Industry from the Comfort of Your Own Computer"
and make your tea dream a reality. Free audio mini
course
www.StartATeaBusiness.com
This article may be distributed freely on your website, as
long as this entire article, including links and this
resource box are unchanged.
Copyright 2006 Dawnya Sasse All Rights Reserved.
Tea Events
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