The history of Saint Patrick is a blending of mythology and fact so intertwined that separating reality from fantasy could prove to be as difficult as removing the tea from Ireland. But one thing is for sure, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day is an opportunity to recognize “all things Irish” in ourselves, and maybe enjoy an extra cup (or two) of Green Tea from Bigelow Tea for your morning or afternoon!

Fifth century Ireland is a lost world, virtually closed to both historians and archaeologists, and what little is known about the life and work of Patrick comes from his own writings in Latin. Saint Patrick was an Irish apostle who as legend has it, banished snakes from the shores of his country, and suffered much persecution. On his way to sainthood, Saint Patrick is credited with establishing many churches and schools in his homeland while gaining his place in Irish History, and helping free his country from religious persecution.

On St. Patrick’s Day it is tradition to take part in the “wearin’ of the green”; something green in honor of the day and in honor of Ireland and the good deeds of St. Patrick. Fortunately for Tea Lovers, Bigelow Tea has a few suggestions for a grand St. Patrick’s Day celebration at home.

• Enjoy a cup of Bigelow Green Tea
• Attend a Saint Patrick’s Day Tea Party
• And if you are planning your own St. Patrick’s Day tea party, Bigelow Tea offers a variety of Green Teas, and a delightful recipe for a Greenie Mar-Tea-ni.
• The Greenie Mar-TEA-ni:

Ingredients:
6 Bigelow® Green Tea tea bags
1¼ cups boiling water
1 tablespoon sugar
4 ounces vodka
Garnish with a twist of lemon

Yield: Serves 4

Instructions:

Place Bigelow® Green Tea tea bags into a measuring cup and add 1¼ cups boiling water. Let brew for 3 minutes. Remove tea bags.

Add sugar and stir until it dissolves. Chill.

To make a martini, take two ounces of the cooled sweet tea and mix it with one ounce of the vodka. Shake with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Photo Courtesy of Healthy Hollywood

Make-up maven, Bobbi Brown, started her first line of lipsticks in 1991. The line debuted at Bergdorf Goodman. Brown has since expanded her empire to over 400 stores and 20 countries around the world. So what does it take to keep a CEO/international make-up artist/wife and mother of three running? Green tea! In the January issue of In Style magazine, Brown admits, “I will never give up….green tea soy lattes.” For more on what makes this female icon worth the admiration, read her story!

Two hours across the western Canadian border in a little mom and pop cafe was the first time I drank hot tea for anything besides an upset stomach or menstrual cramps. I was 20 years old, and the owner of the place refused to serve me Pepsi for breakfast. He muttered something about sacrilege and his eggs and (Canadian) bacon served with soda over his dead body. So he brought me a pitcher of hot water and a little basket of Bigelow teas. I picked the Earl Grey because I liked the name, and I had to admit. It DID make breakfast taste better.

After many campfires and hiking trips that same summer I’m convinced that it’s impossible to enjoy nature, or to shake off a cold rainy day as effectively with anything but tea. I’m hooked now. Fewer calories than coffee with the flavored creamers I so love…and I can carry a package in my pocket and find hot water anywhere!

I noticed Earl Grey is the first tea to disappear when I go to conferences or hotels that serve continental breakfasts, so I know I’m not the only one who loves it. Thanks for giving me a chance to share how much I love this tea!

Becky B.
Virginia

More good news for tea lovers everywhere — new research from UCLA indicates that drinking three or more cups of green or black tea a day may reduce the risk of stroke by an astounding 21%. And the more tea you drink, the greater the cuts in stroke risk according to data analysis, involving 4,378 strokes among 194,965 individuals. The lead author of this new study, Lenore Arab, tells us that “What we saw was that there was a consistency of effect of appreciable magnitude…by drinking three cups of tea a day, the risk of a stroke was reduced by 21%. It didn’t matter if it was green or black tea.”

Arab and her co-workers pooled data from nine studies — all of which reported stroke occurrence and tea consumption in humans. Compared to people who drank less than a cup of tea a day, those participants drinking three cups a day were associated with that 21% reduction in the risk of stroke. The researchers also report an association with an additional three cups reducing stroke risk even further. The study and findings were presented at the American Heart Association’s annual International Stroke Conference in San Diego, California and published in the journal Stroke.

All of Bigelow Tea is rich in polyphenols, which are a type of antioxidant. Whether green or black, tea has about eight to 10 times the Polyphenols found in fruits and vegetables. A new parallel study to the UCLA report was published in the journal Nutrition in February 2009 by US scientists, and it reports that the daily supplements of green tea extracts could reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressures, as well as total cholesterol levels; the control of which are major dynamics in the ongoing management of stroke prevention.

My father, David, just finished writing a book about my grandmother (his mother) Ruth Campbell Bigelow. It is such a lovely tribute to her and all she did to get Bigelow Tea, the company, started.

We often talk about how fortunate we all are that she decided back in 1945 to create a unique tea, “Constant Comment.” This book does such a terrific job taking the reader through the early years. Of course, it does not really share all that my mother and father did to grow the business to where it is today. My father’s 50 years of dedication and hard work is why we are thriving today! Still it recounts the beginning years perfectly!!

I highly recommend you consider reading this book if you want to see what it took 64 years ago to get Bigelow Tea up and running…it is a quick read and very endearing.

Bravo David, Bravo

Cindi Bigelow

(Note, you can buy this book soon on www.bigelowtea.com)

What does a 23-year-old heartthrob do in his down time? Drinks tea! Chace Crawford of Gossip Girl was recently spotted drinking tea at an Urban Golf event in London. Crawford, who didn’t even pursue acting until his sophomore year of college, has quickly become the obsession of teen girls and Gossip Girl fans alike. However, unlike many young stars that quickly rise to fame, Crawford has managed to maintain a scandal-free and healthy image. No doubt that his tea drinking has helped him out with this. Check him out again, having a light lunch and iced tea, while shopping in London!

Photo Courtesy of Wicked Youth

In 1784, Benjamin Franklin composed his “Essay on Daylight Saving,” proposing a law that would require Parisians to get up an hour earlier in the summer to put daylight to better use. He reasoned that they’d save a good deal of money on buying candles! Today Daylight Saving Time, or DST, still is meant to conserve energy by changing clocks by an hour to gain more waking sunlight hours in the spring and summer, and fewer in the winter. It begins on the second Sunday of March, which this year falls on March 8th.

So, early in the morning of March 8th at 2:00 a.m., clocks are set ahead one hour, which then becomes 3:00 a.m. local daylight time. Simple…it may be easier to remember to always “spring” forward one hour in March, and then “fall” back one hour in November. As a tool for reducing energy consumption, DST reportedly saves 10,000 barrels of oil each day in force, due to reduced power needs by businesses during daylight hours. So we “lose” an hour during the night — to a tea lover that is just “springing ahead” to that first hot cup of Bigelow Tea in the morning!

Standard time zones were instituted in the US by the powerful railroads in 1883 to help maintain train schedules, and DST was developed later during World War I, to help with war production costs. After modifications over the years, we now recognize DST in its current form, except for Arizona Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, who do not observe DST. Even with the benefits, DST causes stress or consternation for some people and their busy schedules. All the more reason to enjoy an extra cup or two of calming Bigelow Tea.

We recently launched a new video in which I walk the streets of New York City asking if people know of Bigelow Tea. I had so much fun doing it; I cannot even begin to tell you.

Part of the fun was actually finding someone that did not know our teas…how does that work when you are supposedly the number one tea in NEW YORK CITY? I was so delighted that people were even willing to talk to me let alone tell me about their thoughts on drinking tea.

After we put the video up on our website and blog a second amazing thing took place…I received the most fantastic emails from people who saw it (and again some were not even Bigelow Tea drinkers!!). The fact that I put in the video all the “no never heard of it” people really resonated with the readers. They thought how unusual.

Well for me, how real…and more importantly how fun. It became more like a treasure hunt after a while…can’t wait to do it again. Who knows where I will show up next.

Cindi Bigelow

Thanks to Rushing for Life for the Image

Between your sweetheart and your own heart, February was a busy month. The American Heart Association wants you to keep your heart healthy and so do we! According to a study by the Boston University School of Medicine, “A new study finds a strong link between drinking black tea and arterial health in people who have heart disease.” We’ve even mentioned before that black tea has been shown to reverse abnormal functioning of blood vessels.

Need even more proof that you should be drinking tea? According to studies, hibiscus tea is also associated with some cardiovascular benefits. “Data supports the idea that drinking hibiscus tea…may play a role in controlling blood pressure.” Check here for a full list of our teas that contain hibiscus.

As the leading cause of death in both men and women, cardiovascular disease will cost an estimated $475.3 billion in 2009! These terrifying statistics are what make it so important to take care of your body from the inside out. We’ve talked a lot about heart-healthy lifestyles and the important role tea can play. The list of health benefits associated with drinking tea continues to grow without any known side effects that come along with most medications.

If you want to take a more active role in keeping your ticker ticking (and really, who wouldn’t?) check out the American Heart Association’s Heart Profilers service! Now, think with your heart and go pour yourself a cup of black or hibiscus tea! Or even better, share some with a loved one. Your heart will thank you!

As the sharp spine of winter gives way to the burgeoning green of spring, spring training begins for teams in the Cactus League. Major League Baseball’s west coast teams began their exhibition season on February 25th, a welcomed sign of spring foreshadowing lazy summer evenings spent listening to games on the radio with the smell of fresh cut grass and infield dirt hanging on the words of the color commentator.

But as sure as winter will melt into spring, baseball still clings to a sense of purity as seen with Ted Williams and Roberto Clemente  that remains as timeless as the dimensions of the diamond: 60 feet 6 inches, ninety by ninety. Always.

Photo of Ted Williams Courtesy of AllPosters.com

Beneath the icy contract disputes and the uncapped salaries, there lies a pastime as beautiful and simple as it was when Willie Mays roamed the cavernous outfield of the Polo Grounds, and the Dodgers still played in Brooklyn.

Photo of Roberto Clemente Courtesy of Presidential Medal of Freedom

2009 marks the Dodgers first spring in the Cactus League; the team will hold camp in Glendale, Arizona.  Despite leaving New York in 1957, the Dodgers spring training facilities remained on the east coast, in Vero Beach, Florida — their spring home from 1949 to 2008.

Photo of Willie Mays Courtesy of JBRASH

Bigelow Tea lover Joe Torre is entering his second season as Dodgers Manager. Last year he led the Dodgers to within two games of the World Series.  He has enjoyed Bigelow Green Tea since his days as the Yankees’ skipper, as you can see in our video:

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