Private Label Tea Packaging

The government is annually losing Rs 152 million in revenue due to tea smuggling through Afghanistan, sources in the tea trade said.

Pakistan has a 170 million kg tea market. About 40 million kg of tea is smuggled into the country through Afghanistan under the garb of Afghan Transit Trade.

Sources said price of one kg bag of the imported tea is $2 while same quantity of smuggled tea is sold at a price of $1. The reason of this 100 percent difference is that the legal importers have to pay 15 percent sales tax, six percent income tax and 10 percent customs duty, while illegal tea traders pay nothing to the government, they added. Pakistan Tea Association chairman Hamid Saeed told Daily Times that the business of tea importers was badly hurt due to smuggling of tea.

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Tea is one of those ingredients you don’t often consider cooking with.
And that’s a shame, because it is a nearly effortless way to add or accentuate flavours in both sweet and savoury dishes.
A tea brine imbues shrimp with a succulent flavour and tender texture, and the salt helps the shrimp absorb and hold moisture.

TEA-BRINED SHRIMP

(Makes 2 main-dish servings or 4 servings as a starter.)

1 1/2 cups (375 mL) water
3 bags oolong tea
1/2 cup (125 mL) kosher salt
1/4 cup (50 mL) sugar
2 cups (500 mL) ice
1 lb (500 g) shrimp, veins (and, if desired, shells) removed
3 Tbsp. (45 mL) olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 F (230 C).
2. In a small saucepan over high heat, bring water to a near boil. Remove pan from heat and add tea bags. Steep for 5 minutes or until tea is dark and fragrant. Remove and discard tea bags, then add salt and sugar and stir until dissolved.
3. Add ice and stir until melted and tea mixture is cool.
4. Place shrimp in a large bowl or self-sealing plastic bag. Add tea mixture, then cover or seal the bag and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
5. Drain shrimp and return to bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and add garlic. Toss to coat evenly. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and arrange in a single layer. Season with pepper to taste. Bake for 8 minutes or until shrimp are bright pink. Serve immediately.

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eeeew. -Jake

The company sees the establishment of local manufacturing and distribution presences as its biggest hurdle in places like China and India, Lenny said, having already worked to adapt flavors to match cultures. For instance, it introduced green tea Kisses in China last year.

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Cute caterpillars climb to reach the very top tea leaves, only to discover that somebody has gotten there first. Will their psychic powers save them?

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Private labels have been around for a long time. A&P with its Eight O’Clock Breakfast Coffee has been purveying own brands for more than a century. Yet, private labels were seen as poor cousins to the manufacturer brands, with a small share of the overall market that was considered unlikely to become significant.

Manufacturers of branded products therefore have been taken aback by the unexpected and continued increase in private label share since the 1970s. Private labels have outperformed manufacturer brands in all but one of the last ten years. They now account for 20 percent of sales in supermarkets and mass merchandisers as well as a healthy share of sales in department stores, category killers, specialty stores, and convenience stores….

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What keeps brand manufacturers awake at night? How should they combat the large retailers and this new reality of private labels? Is there anything manufacturer brands can do to stop the onslaught of store brands?

Some companies, as they observe the continued growth of private label share, wonder whether their future lies in producing private labels in order to profitably employ their capacity. Rather than trying to beat private labels, perhaps it is better to join the party. For most brand manufacturers, producing private labels is at best a peripheral activity.

One may argue that it only tightens the noose. Their central mission is to sell their brands profitably and grow their market share. They want to beat private labels with their brands and want to know how to do it.

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People who unwind with a cup of tea every night may have a lower risk of two common forms of skin cancer, new research suggests.

In a study of nearly 2,200 adults, researchers found that tea drinkers had a lower risk of developing squamous cell or basal cell carcinoma, the two most common forms of skin cancer.

Men and women who had ever been regular tea drinkers — having one or more cups a day — were 20 percent to 30 percent less likely to develop the cancers than those who didn’t drink tea.

The effect was even stronger among study participants who’d been tea fans for decades, as well as those who regularly had at least two cups a day, according to findings published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

However, the findings do not mean it’s okay to bake in the sun as long as you have a cup of tea afterward. The researchers found no evidence that tea drinking lowered skin cancer risk in people who’d accumulated painful sunburns in the past.

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UK spending on private_label products will leap by 24% in the next four years, according to a study published today (18 April).

Industry analysts Datamonitor said UK expenditure on such products will reach GBP52bn (US$104bn) by 2011 - up from GBP42bn last year.

The study said spending on private label goods will exceed 40% of total consumer packaged goods in four years, consolidating the UK’s position as the largest market in Europe for retail own-brand products.

The next largest market is Germany, where expenditure on private label products accounts for 26% of spending on consumer packaged goods. By 2011, that level will rise to just under 31%.

Datamonitor said the dominance of the top five UK supermarkets, compared to the rest of Europe, is a key factor in the popularity of private label products.

The analysts also said the UK grocery retailers had also fuelled the boom in the category by expanding into sectors beyond groceries.

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European private label food and beverage brands are likely to increase their penetration in most markets over the next five years, says a new report, but lessons could be learned from the UK, where the potential has been most extensively exploited in recent years.

Private label brands - also known as ’store brand’ and ‘own label’ - are exclusive to a chain of stores (although they can be carried across various stores owned by the same corporation). For stores, they are a useful way of spreading their brand into households, as well as attracting consumers to stores with the promise of lower-price goods.

UK leads the way in Europe’s private label market

I have never seen a news story like this one… how odd. -Jake

Even though previous researches have authenticated about the beneficial aspects of tea, scientists have now pointed out the dangerous side effects it poses.

Scientists have earlier shown that antioxidant properties found in green tea could help prevent coronary artery disease. They had also said that drinking tea could help fight against autoimmune disease - when the immune system attacks itself by mistake.

Some earlier studies have also shown that substances in tea and other foods could help fight cancer.

But in the new study, Rutgers University researchers announced that drinking tea could cause chromosome damage and fetal leukemia, reported the online edition of The Washington Times.

Diet derived compounds are generally regarded as safe, based on their long history of use in the diet or as traditional medicines.

But the phytochemicals, which are compounds in plant-derived foods and found in tea extracts, could have biological activity in the body. It could cause dangerous side effects, said Joshua Lambert, the lead author of the study and a chemist at the university.

His findings reveal that a well-meaning self-remedying public is in danger of overdosing on the compounds, particularly through concentrates and supplements that tout their healing or weight-loss powers, or their lack of caffeine.

One commercial brand of green tea extract, for example, claims to contain more than 700 milligrams of polyphenols, or plant-based antioxidants. A typical cup of green tea provides about 80 milligrams.

Dangerous Side Effects of Tea Exposed

Assam tea, Darjeeling tea or Palampur-Kangra tea—we are well aware of these flavours. Ever heard of Meghalaya tea? You may soon if the efforts of the state government and daring-to-be-different farmers bear fruit…err… leaves.

Horticulture is being thought of as a viable alternative to the ecological menace of shifting cultivation (Jhum, or bun, in local parlance) that is the mainstay of agriculture in Meghalaya. Shifting cultivation is a primitive method where a patch of forestland is cleared, crops are grown with whatever little expertise exists and then a farmer moves on to clear another patch.

As an alternative, tea gardens will mean settled cultivation and more revenue could be generated through diversification.

Meghalaya has started experimenting with tea cultivation and tea gardens are coming up in the so-called non-traditional areas. At present the state has more than 500 small tea-growers. The numbers are likely to swell.

Rakesh Kumar, District Agriculture Officer, Jowai, says, “Tea plantation is picking up gradually in Meghalaya. It is because the state is gifted with lowlands as well as highlands. That translates into the fact that both Assam and Darjeeling varieties, famous for flavour and colour, respectively, are successful here. I can assure you that once the state takes the lead, the quality of tea produced in the state will be better than any other because of the right blend.”

This crop can provide attractive investment opportunities along with processing. Farmers taking to tea plantation are being given Rs 15,000 over four years as incentive by the state to shift from traditional crops and methods of cultivation (jhum and bun) towards more cash-crop-oriented and settled cultivation.

“As much as 508 hectares of agricultural land in Meghalaya has come under tea plantation. Small farmers are being given incentives and till date we have had 530 beneficiaries under the Rs 15,000 scheme. Under this scheme, besides monetary benefit, we provide tea seedlings and technical guidance to farmers. State government tea centres have been established in Nongstoin and Ronprom (Tura),” says P. Gogoi, Joint Director, Meghalaya Horticulture Department.

Besides the government-run establishments, two private factories have also come up at Nongpoh and Tura. One farmer from Sosrangkhram is exporting fine-quality tea to Australia.

However, critics and a few technical experts are taking these success stories with a pinch of salt. They say Assam employs more than 5,00,000 workers and has thousands of acres under tea cultivation. Meghalaya will not be able to compete with it even nationally, leave aside export-oriented units.

“This industry is passing through a severe recession. Tea gardens in established states like Assam are facing closure due to legislative issues, bonus concerns and labour problems. How can Meghalaya bear the brunt of such political issues where tea cultivation has not even taken roots?” asks K.M. Bujarbaruah, Director, North-East Region, ICAR.

Another senior government official, on the condition of anonymity, says that since tea cultivation involves ‘importing’ cheap labour from other states, the whole issue may get politicised. “That is why the Meghalaya Government is keeping a low profile in the whole affair,” he says.

Meghalaya has a good potential for tea cultivation although processing through large-scale plantation activities has not been taken up on an organised scale as yet, barring a few state-run and private units. In this state that is the ‘abode of clouds,’ the best one can hope for is that the whole issue doesn’t come under one.

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Golaghat: Tea plantation workers linked to separatist groups in the northeast have banded together in an extortion racket, kidnapping at least 13 senior estate managers in the last two months, officials said.

The All Adivasi National Liberation Army (AANLA) has been formed in the last six months by powerful separatist groups in Assam state as a new front while India’s renewed anti-insurgency efforts have begun to cripple their activities elsewhere.

The AANLA has more than 100 undercover militants working on estates, mostly in the Golaghat region in southeastern Assam. The group has brought around 40 tea estates into its racket.

“Our managers remain terrified and even their families are suffering from fear,” said one tea estate owner in Golaghat, asking not to be identified for his safety.

All 13 kidnapped managers and tea estate executives were safely returned after ransoms were paid.

The extorted money is passed on to larger rebel groups in the northeast, including a faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) and the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa), security officials said.

These rebel groups are fighting for independent homelands for indigenous people in the region.

“We can hardly move freely in our own tea gardens nowadays,” the estate owner said.

“If the situation continues like this we will have no option other than to close down our business.”

The new racket has emerged at a time when the tea industry has been hit by rising wage and employee welfare bills. Large tea companies are opting out of the plantation business in favour of the more lucrative marketing of tea.

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As the hostess poured a cup of tea for a middle-aged man at her party, she asked him if he took sugar. “No,” he said. “Yes,” said his wife at the same moment. Then she turned to him. “But I always put sugar in your tea!” “I know,” the man said, “I used to remind you not to. Now I just don’t stir.”

Between the tea bushes on a lush mountainside more than a kilometre above China’s south-east coast, migrant worker Tao Ming Xiu shifts the weight of the infant son she is carrying on a sling on her back and stares in disbelief.

‘How much did you say?’ the 25-year-old from Guizhou province asks. ‘That can’t be right. I don’t believe that anyone could afford to pay 310 yuan [40 dollars] for a pot of tea.’

Tao earns the equivalent of 2.50 dollars a day tending bushes and picking tea from the steep mountain terraces of Fuding. The idea that in genteel shops in European and Asian cities, people pay as much money as she earns in a fortnight on a small pot is almost impossible for her to grasp.

But this is no ordinary tea. This is silver needle white tea, the world’s most expensive tea and a drink that has suddenly captured the imagination of health-conscious Westerners who are being told it can stop the ageing process and prevent cancer.

The result of the hype is that a tea revered in China for more than 1,000 years but virtually unknown outside the mainland until three years ago has suddenly become the drink of choice for wealthy Westerners.

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A compound found in green tea appears to reduce the inflammatory responses associated with autoimmune diseases, say researchers from the Medical College of Georgia in the journal Autoimmunity.

The researchers have been working with animals modeling primary Sjogren’s syndrome (also known as dry mouth), which damages the glands that produce tears and saliva. While around 30 percent of elderly Americans suffer from dry mouth, only around 5 percent of elderly people in China do. Dry mouth is also seen in patients undergoing radiation treatment.

Sjogren’s syndrome causes the body to attack itself and produce extra antibodies that mistakenly target the salivary and lacrimal glands. In his study, researcher Stephen Hsu found significantly less salivary gland damage in a group of animals treated with green tea extract.

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HANOI — Police blocked dissidents’ wives from attending a tea at the U.S. ambassador’s house, creating a scene that he feared “was at risk of spiraling out of control,” the diplomat said yesterday.

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Black tea has existed in Thailand since before anyone even thought of green tea.

And after three golden years for green tea, the market for it suffered a downturn last year. Could this be a chance for black tea to emerge once again as the dominant force?

Last year, the slump in green-tea sales saw the overall tea market shrink to Bt3 billion, from Bt5 billion in 2005, said Charlie Jitcharoongphorn, marketing director of Pepsi-Cola (Thai), which distributes Lipton tea.

To Charlie, it was an opportunity.

He said the health-conscious trend that had emerged in recent years was a great advantage for black tea, which currently only accounts for 20 per cent of the overall tea market. Last year, the black-tea market grew 10 per cent.

Pepsi-Cola has repositioned its Lipton tea from a refreshing brand to one with natural ingredients. It has also launched new packaging - PET bottles - in addition to its traditional cans.

The company has set a Bt100-million budget for marketing the new image of its tea, with flavours like lemon, honey lemon and highland.

As a way of driving the black-tea market, more marketing campaigns are planned.

Back in the time when green tea emerged, players in the market created a wide awareness by promoting its benefits and creating a perception of it as a fashionable beverage for modern people.

The most obvious campaign was Oishi’s “30 Caps, Bt30 Million”, which drove both its sales and the green-tea market. The market used to have more than 40 players until many left in the middle of last year.

Major current brands include Oishi; Kirin, by Siam Kirin Beverage; Unif, by Uni-President (Thailand); Zenya, by TAC Beverage; ShiZen; by Coca-Cola (Thailand); and Moshi, by the Singha Group.

Lipton has continued launching new products, including its latest Red Tea. It also advertises through various media channels and holds marketing activities and campaigns.

Players in the black-tea market expect it to achieve good growth. Yet Charlie realises it will be difficult for the market to experience the same high growth that green tea once enjoyed.

There are few major players to help drive the market. The dominant forces seem to be Pepsi-Cola (Thai) and Uni-President (Thailand).

Companies will need to be very good in launching any marketing campaigns or new products that really catch consumers’ minds in the same way that green tea once did.

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Volunteers are being sought by Stafford’s hospice to serve refreshments at two of their fundraising tea bars.

The voluntary services department at Katharine House Hospice is appealing for helpers to serve cups of tea and light refreshments at both Stafford and Cannock Magistrates Courts.

The tea bars generate £6,000 a year for the Weston Road based charity which relies almost entirely on voluntary donations.

Myra Sayer, spokeswoman for the voluntary services department, said: “We have hundreds of volunteers who fulfil many different roles both in the Hospice and in the community.

“Currently we are appealing for people who have a couple of hours spare a week who are happy to man the tea bars.”

She added: “The tea bar volunteers provide a valuable contribution to both the hospice and members of the community who patronise the tea bars.

“We pride ourselves on the variety of voluntary roles available and urge anyone who like to help the hospice in any capacity to get in touch.”

The voluntary services department offers a diverse range of roles for its volunteers ranging from patient drivers through to administration assistants.

For more details contact voluntary services at the Hospice on 01785 254645 or email msayer@khhospice.org.uk
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no idea who this is, but here you go- jake

Beirut-born singer Mika refuses to travel anywhere without his favourite brand of tea because only he can brew up a perfect cup.

The Grace Kelly singer, who was brought up in England, is very particular about his Earl Grey tea - and hates what is served up to him in cafes around the world.

He says, “When you don’t drink coffee, you’ve got to get your tea right.”

But he admits that even when he packs his own tea, he can’t get a decent cup in Los Angeles.

He adds, “Los Angeles water makes the worst tea in the world.”

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nice article… -jake
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I’ve been enjoying the snarky articles at Slate.com recently focusing on the commoditization of Eastern traditions, such as yoga. As someone who purchases but never uses yoga clothing, mats, and accessories, I can truly appreciate the hypocrisy in the American tendency to turn something that is supposed to be purifying and healthy into something that is really a money-making scheme.

I have to take issue with Jacob Weisberg’s recent article that more or less tries to dismiss the trend that is green tea, mostly by linking to the myriad of products that use green tea as an ingredient. I’m bothered by a few issues that he raises, mostly because, well, I really freaking love green tea.

Now, I long ago discarded the notion that the East has much to teach us about metaphysical stuff. Don’t get me wrong - I’m an Asiaphile. But it’s not because I find any deep and inherent wisdom in the cultures that make up “the Orient”. I like Asia because the land is stunning, the languages are fascinating, the history is long, and the men are handsome.

That said, Easterners are as messed-up as as Westerners. Sure, there are some lovely traditions to be had all across Asia, both found in extinct rituals and current practices. But there are lovely traditions to be found in Portugal, too. Only we don’t categorize the Portugese as particularly deep, whereas I think that Asians get put on a spiritual pedestal that isn’t fair to anyone.

Commercialism and greed are rampant everywhere in the world, and I don’t think that someone who grew up in, say, Vietnam, has any more to teach the world than someone who grew up in Alabama. So my defense of tea-drinking isn’t stemming from any illusion that the West is merely a commercial shell of a place with no soul, and Asia is the land of enlightenment or anything.

There’s no Ganesh on my bookshelf at home, get it?

OK? Good. Now that that is out of the way. Green tea.

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