“There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Letters and Social Aims

Some of the world’s greatest writers have expressed a special fondness for tea. Now, with poetry lingering in the air, we wanted to share their verse with tea lovers like you. Enjoy! And pass these tea poems along to your Valentine and friends:

O’ peppermint tea –
two delights per sip
as steamy hot as passion
cool as a wintry lake dip
~ Astrid Alauda

Tea does our fancy aid,
Repress those vapours which the head invade
And keeps that palace of the soul serene.
~ Edmund Waller, “Of Tea”

We had a kettle; we let it leak:
Our not repairing made it worse.
We haven’t had any tea for a week …
The bottom is out of the Universe.
~ Rudyard Kipling

tea leaves
tea loves
loves tea
lives tea
leaves tea?
never.
~ Uniek Swain

What better way to celebrate Hot Breakfast Month than with a nice warm plate of french toast?  Vanilla & Cinnamon Baked Challah French Toast combines the classic flavors of French toast – cinnamon and vanilla – using Bigelow Cinnamon Stick tea and Bigelow French Vanilla Tea.  And, you can even make it ahead of time.  February is a short month so don’t let Hot Breakfast Month come to a close without trying this great breakfast.  It is sure to become one of your favorites.

Breakfast and Brunch
Vanilla & Cinnamon Baked Challah French Toast

Ingredients:
12 slices of Challah bread, cut in half on the diagonal
½ cup of hot water
5 tea bags – 3 Bigelow® Cinnamon Stick™ and 2 Bigelow® French Vanilla
6 eggs
1 cup skim milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 – 8 oz package cream cheese, cut into small cubes
Non-stick cooking spray (preferably plain or butter flavor)

Instructions:
This do-ahead dish makes a perfect breakfast for overnight guests. It can be completely assembled the night before, and will bake while you’re brewing the morning tea. Serve with a fresh fruit salad for a delicious start to your day.

Lightly coat the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Steep 5 tea bags in ½ cup of water for 5 minutes, and allow to cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs and salt. Add cooled tea and whisk to combine.

Arrange a layer of Challah bread in the prepared baking dish, and evenly distribute half of the cream cheese cubes on top.

Add a second layer of Challah bread, and slowly pour egg mixture over the top, allowing it to completely soak all the bread.

Top with remaining cream cheese cubes, cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight (or at least 2 hours).

The next morning, remove from refrigerator and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the dish is completely set and lightly browned.

Cut into squares and serve with maple syrup if desired.

Yield: Serves 6-8

In trying to make our facility even better, a question came up the other day about the floor and glass cleaners we are using in the corporate offices.  One of the members on the Bigelow “Green Team” had heard about some cleaners that are more environmentally friendly and supposedly clean just as well. 

So more investigation occurred and we invited a person to come in and explain their product and its benefit.  The product is formulated using natural or naturally-derived ingredients that are non-toxic and biodegradable.  We were impressed enough that our next step is to test the new product against our current cleaners.  This natural product has been chosen for many hospitals and schools because of its cleaning and health benefits so we think we will be changing to it soon. 

You never know where the next great idea will come from and that was the reason we created our Green Team so we have more eyes looking for solutions and improvements to make Bigelow the best it can be.

Dean

It’s no secret that actress Megan Fox has “a passion for green tea ice blended drinks and rock music.” Word has spread from the ABC network where she stars as Sydney in the Hope & Faith comedy to numerous celebrity and fan sites agog over the star. 

While currently working with Kelly Ripa, Faith Ford and other cast members in the ABC comedy, Fox isn’t new to acting.

Previously she co-starred with Lindsay Lohan in the film Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. And in 2007 she won several award nominations for her role in the highly rated movie, Transformers.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that Megan likes her tea green. She also owns a rare a green Dean electric guitar and is currently engaged to actor Brian Austin Green according to a Megan Fox fan site.

We now know that tea is good for us in so many ways. But who could have guessed that this healthy drink could be used around the house? It’s true! Tea can be used to help you maintain carpets, plants and more.

For use as a carpet freshener, Diana Smith at Associated Content suggests sprinkling a thin layer of dried tea leaves – either an herbal or fruity variety – over carpet. [Remove the tea from the Bigelow bags first.] Leave it there for 20 minutes or longer, and then vacuum. “As an added bonus, the tea in the vacuum will deodorize the vacuum cleaner as well!”

To keep houseplants healthy during long dry winters, just bury a few tea bags in the soil around the base of your plants. When you water, the bags will retain the moisture longer, “thus keeping the soil from drying out too quickly in dry, cold weather. Additionally, the nutrients from the tea leaves will slowly and steadily give nourishment to your plants, giving them a healthier look and it will keep the leaves from wilting.”

Of course, if you still have more tea bags to put to a second use, keep in mind the beauty tips we shared with you back in December, because tea bags can be used for skin care as well!

The painful process of discontinuing a tea….not fun but unfortunately a necessity.  Each year we have the wonderful opportunity to create new and exciting flavors for our tea consumers.  The receptivity to our new flavors over the years has been outstanding, whether it was with our Pumpkin Spice, Green Tea with Pomegranate or one of our newest AriZona teas that has the powerful antioxidant Acai in it.   Our tea consumers have come to know that when we put our name on a tea, it is the most flavorful, freshest tea possible. 

However, with all the fun work in creating and introducing new teas, we have to occasionally let go of our slower moving/slower selling teas because when a tea flavor reaches a certain point of sales, it becomes almost impossible to run a very limited quantity of teabags on our equipment.  Then comes the hardest part of all…we have to share news with our wonderful consumers that a tea will not be produced any longer.  Of course, with that decision, we make lots of really lovely people very unhappy.  The letters, the phone calls, the emails come flooding in pleading with us to reconsider.  We try very hard to take care of our faithful consumers and provide some of the discontinued tea through the website but eventually we get to a point where the tea is not longer available. 

The reality is, we cannot make those passionate fans happy and that is not fun…We have over 80 beautiful teas and with that our warehouses would explode and our machines would revolt if we did not eventually let some of our slower moving teas retire to the Bigelow Tea “pasture.”

So for all you amazing fans that we cannot satisfy 100% by taking away one of your favorite teas…we are very sorry.  Please know if we could, we would love to supply you with every tea you ever wanted from us, but that is not truly possible.

Thank you for loving those teas and I can only hope that you might find a wonderful substitute somewhere in our array of teas that makes you just (or at least close to “just”) as happy.

At least I can dream…

Cindi Bigelow

Over one million women worldwide are diagnosed with breast cancer every year.  In fact, the US and the Netherlands have among the highest incidences of breast cancer.  In the US,  the National Cancer Institute estimates that 13 percent of American women will develop breast cancer during their lives.  Yet, there is good news…

Now, a new study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, provides evidence that women with diets rich in flavonoids, a class of antioxidants found in tea, red wine, soybeans, fruit ant vegetables, lowered mortality among postmenopausal U.S. breast cancer patients.  Interest in flavonoids is growing as research continues to support their cancer-fighting potential.  Additional studies are underway to examine whether increased breast cancer survival associated with flavonoids applies to age groups.

Think pink and drink tea…

And what a great day it was for all at the Super Bowl. What a performance by both teams with terrific entertainment from Tom Petty and Jordan Sparks.

The Giant victory brought back memories of the outstanding Super Bowl performance by our friend Phil Simms in Super Bowl 21. He set a record for pass completion percentage that still stands today. I’m sure with all the Bigelow Green Tea that Phil drinks regularly he could probably go out and set the record again!

Just think opening day is right around the corner for all you baseball fans and Joe Torre is settling in with the Dodgers and all of the Bigelow Green tea drinkers on the West Coast.

Bob

Our solar array has now been up and running for three months and has been producing power each and every day.  Now some days have been a bit brighter and sunnier than others but if you go to this link you can see how we are doing each day or for the week/month/year.

The solar project has been a great success not only in the power produced but in the interest it has generated.  From showing the array to other companies who are interested in solar to just recently being contacted by a 13 year old that is doing a paper on solar for a school project, the amount of interest is amazing.   When our project was brought on line we were the 2nd largest solar array in the state of CT and that gave us some bragging rights.  Today I am very happy to say we have dropped to probably the 4th or 5th largest in the state. That means more and more companies have taken steps into green power and overall that is the best thing for everyone.

Dean

Actor Hugh Grant may be most known for his role in the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral co-starring Andie MacDowell or 1999′s Notting Hill opposite Julia Roberts. But Grant distinguished himself among his peers much earlier. Some twenty years ago, during his years at University of Oxford, Grant was known to host formal tea parties, say writers at Despardes.

There, “an Oxford contemporary recalls him dressing in a tweed jacket and brogues, to hold traditional tea parties where egg and cress and cucumber sandwiches and Earl Grey tea were served from college crockery.”

Grant graduated from Oxford in 1982 with a degree in English.

For information on other famous Earl Grey lovers, revisit our September 24th post, Earl Grey Fans Include Celebrities.