T might just be our favorite letter of the alphabet at Bigelow Tea… and today we’re going to talk aboutT cells. Why? Because research is showing that green tea may increase the body’s number of T cells! T cells are a type of white blood cell that helps a body’s immune system. Medicine.net defines them as “soldiers who search out and destroy the targeted invaders.” So the more of these guys, the better!

We’ve reported before that an amino acid found in tea, L-theanine, is said to boost the capacity of gamma delta T cells, the body’s first line of defense against infection. Now new research suggests that “a compound in green tea has a powerful ability to increase the number of ‘regulatory T cells’ that play a key role in immune function.”  The study, published in Immunology Letters, says that this increase in regulatory T cells “may be one of the underlying mechanisms for the health benefits of green tea, which has attracted wide interest for its ability to help control inflammation, improve immune function and prevent cancer.”

For those of us who love green tea, finding out about added health benefits really is icing on the cake! Now, as we sip our Jasmine Green or Green Tea Chai we feel optimistic that our army of T cells is nice and strong … and ready to keep us healthy!

Image by leojmelsrub via Flickr.com

Join Bigelow Tea this September, as we bid a fond farewell to the sizzling days of Summer and usher in the colorful and cool season of autumn! What better way to celebrate than with some mouthwatering roasted chops (pork chops that is!) some tasty plantains, and our very own antioxidant-packed Bigelow Pomegranate Pizzazz Tea®!

Bon appétit!

Roasted Pork Chops Pomegranate Pizzazz ® over Mashed Plantains

Ingredients:

4 cups of water
¼ cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons honey
3 garlic cloves, mashed
3 sprigs of rosemary
1 tablespoon peppercorns
10 Bigelow Pomegranate Pizzazz® teabags
4 (¾ inch thick) rib pork chops 8-10 ounces each (about 2 pounds total)
1 cup of boiling water
½ cup orange juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Olive oil
4 large yellow plantains, rinsed and sliced into 2-inch chunks with peel on
1 tablespoon canola oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 large shallots, diced (about ½ cup)
Salt and pepper

Yield:   Serves 4

Instructions:

Combine water, salt, honey, garlic, rosemary and peppercorns in a large pot, cover and bring to a fast boil. Remove from heat. Add 5 Bigelow Pomegranate Pizzazz® teabags. Steep 20 minutes. Remove teabags from brine, extracting as much liquid as possible. Allow to cool and chill until ready to use. The brine should be completely cold before adding the pork chops.

Combine pork chops and brine solution in a large plastic bag, Chops should be completely submerged. Place the sealed bag in a large glass bowl or container and refrigerate, at least 2 hours or up to 4 hours.

Plantains Directions:

Put plantains in a heavy saucepan with enough cold water to cover. Bring to a rolling boil. Lower to medium heat and simmer covered until the plantains are tender and peeking out of the peel, about 20 minutes. Drain plantains, reserving cooking liquid. When cool enough to handle, peel and mash the plantains until smooth, adding cooking liquid as needed. Set aside.

Remove the pork chops from the brine, rinse and pat dry. Discard brine solution. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Working in two batches, carefully add pork chops to skillet and brown, about 3 minutes on each side. Transfer seared pork chops to a baking pan and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Add 5 Bigelow Pomegranate Pizzazz® teabags to boiled water. Steep 5-8 minutes. Remove teabags, extracting as much liquid as possible. Add brewed tea, orange juice and brown sugar to the skillet and simmer until reduced by about half. Pour sauce over pork chops and place the baking pan in preheated oven. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally registers 150°F, 7-9 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to rest 5 minutes before cutting.

While the pork chops roast, wipe the skillet clean and heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté about 3 minutes. Add the plantains and sauté until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the pork chops over the mashed plantains. Pour sauce over pork and garnish with a sprig of rosemary.

The Tea lyrics, below, are quite literally music to our ears at Bigelow Tea! British musician and songwriter Eric Clapton sang about green tea in “You Better Watch Yourself,” a song he recorded in 2010.

Why don’t you drink some hot green tea, sonny boy?
Why don’t you drink some hot green tea, sonny boy?
Oh, it’ll be better for you, better for your sweet tooth
Hey, you better stop drinking that wine, sonny boy.

-You Better Watch Yourself, Eric Clapton

 Don’t these lyrics put you in a tea frame of mind? The legendary guitarist does in fact enjoy a cup of tea, and has been known to have tea nearby at rehearsals and performances.

Eric Clapton in rehearsal: keep the tea near! 

Then there’s the lyrics to “Slow Down Linda,” which Clapton co-wrote with Eric Patrick, which are further indication that Clapton has been a tea lover for quite some time (or at least since 1983 when the song was released on his album Money and Cigarettes)! Not only does the song state “you know I can brew my tea,” but a line later in the song goes as follows: “And you can wolf down your dinner in the time it takes to drink my tea.”

Perhaps now, as you listen to some of your favorite Clapton songs like “Layla“ and “I Shot the Sheriff“ you will sip a cup of tea as you appreciate this all-time great guitarist, writer and performer’s music even more! Bigelow Tea rocks!

Image One by PedalFreak via Flickr.com

Image Two via myspacecdn.com/images

Honey has a special place in our hearts here at Bigelow Tea, as just a touch enhances any of our teas! September is National Honey Month … a great time to highlight honey’s many uses and benefits. With more than 300 varieties of honey to choose from, each American consumes 1.3 pounds of the sweet stuff annually!  We’re doing our part at Bigelow Tea – check out our Honey Spoon Gift Set. Each honey-dipped spoon is ready to stir into your favorite cup of Bigelow Tea!

Honey Spoon Gift Set

And here’s a wonderful chicken dish, pairing honey with Cozy Chamomile Herb Tea for a great recipe. Yum!

Chamomile Braised Chicken

Ingredients:

8 Bigelow _® Cozy Chamomile Herb Tea Bags
1 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon agave nectar or honey
8 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup baby carrots diced
1 medium onion diced
1 celery rib diced
¼ cup chives diced

Yield: Serves 4

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Using a small saucepan, bring chicken broth to a boil. Turn off heat and allow tea bags to steep in broth for 5 min. Discard tea bags. Add agave nectar or honey and stir to dissolve.  Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper.

Heat a large, oven proof sauté pan on med-high. Add olive oil. Once oil is heated, add chicken thighs, skin side down. Once skin is golden brown (5 min), turn chicken over and allow to cook for an additional 5 min.

Remove chicken from pan and place on a plate. Using the same pan, reduce heat to medium and add carrots, onion and celery. Sauté vegetables for 3 minutes. Add ½ cup of the Chamomile Tea broth to deglaze the pan and allow liquid to reduce by ½ (5 min). Place reserved chicken back in pan over the sautéed vegetables. Pour remainder of reserved broth over chicken. Place uncovered pan in oven. Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Serve on warm plates. Garnish with chives.

Photo by WWarby, via Flickr.com

September 24^th is Family Health and Fitness Day, and Bigelow Tea suggests that as a family you get outside and have fun as a family during the day and have dinner with your kids that night! We’ve all heard about the benefits of family dinners, which include everything from enhanced health and communication, to improved grades in school! So what better way to celebrate family wellness and health than by cooking something nutritious and eating it together?

Because Family Health and Fitness Day falls on a Saturday, there’s plenty of time for a day of active fun along with your culminating meal. The goal of the day is “to promote family involvement in physical activity, one of the goals of the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health.” To that end, consider a bike ride or a walk as a family…or maybe you can visit a zoo, park or playground where walking, playing and family time come together. Whatever activity you choose, remember to make “fitness” fun. Instilling in young children a love of physical activity might just get them started on a lifetime of physical fitness.

And when it’s time for dinner, how about foregoing the fast food and French fries for something more wholesome? Bigelow Tea has a wealth of recipe ideas, including fresh veggies like acorn squash. And for a treat try Bigelow Tea’s fantastic Orange Spice Carrot Cupcakes!  Serve it all with some herbal tea selections, and you’ve got a nutritious, delicious family dinner!

There are many ways to celebrate Family Health and Fitness Day. Bigelow Tea hopes you find the time to enjoy your family, and to get active too! 

Image by Lee J Haywood, via Flickr.com

From our production facilities in Boise and Louisville, to our Fairfield, CT headquarters, you know that Bigelow Tea is committed to Sustainabili-TEA!  Our employees are way ahead of the curve on such things as composting, use of recyclable materials, and energy-saving changes. Their efforts have allowed Bigelow Tea to reduce waste by 125 tons since 2007, achievements that make everyone at Bigelow Tea proud.

So we were thinking: you might want to hear directly from our dedicated Bigelow Tea employees about how they are driving environmental initiatives into every aspect of the Bigelow Tea enterprise. Their dedication is exciting … and so is this video which was produced by Hayden Stebbins, Sustainability Intern at Bigelow Tea!

Here at Bigelow Tea, it’s great fun to keep track of all the ways to use tea outside the kitchen: as a mouthwash, an eye compress, and a hair conditioner to name just a few. So when we heard that actress Raven-Symoné uses tea to dye her tights the perfect shade for red carpet appearances, we just had to share her ingenious idea – passed down by her mom!

You may remember Raven as adorable Olivia on “The Cosby Show” and later as star of “That’s So Raven” on the Disney Channel, but she’s all grown up and now starring in a new ABC Family show called “State of Georgia.” She’s still got that spunky smile and lots of attitude!

She revealed her tea-and-tights trick on the CBS show “The Talk,” explaining that she places sheer stockings in a tub with tea bags to darken them to match her skin tone (we can only imagine that Bigelow Tea bags are her top choice)! Raven says the stockings cover what she calls her “strawberry legs” caused by dark pores. Flesh-colored tights allow her to forego body makeup when wearing a short dress or skirt. Raven’s approach certainly gives new meaning to the term “tea-stained”!

We say bravo to Raven for being so open with her fans about her beauty regimen, and for reminding us of tea’s amazing versatility. Do you have a creative way to use tea? Tweet us or give us a shout on Facebook!

Image via People.com

At Bigelow Tea we love the fact that our tea drinkers are made up of people of all nationalities, ethnicities and genders. After all, tea is the “universal” language! This month we’d like to acknowledge the Hispanic tea fans who love their cup of tea, as it’s Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 through October 15!

Tea is an important part of so many world traditions, and we’re delighted that the Hispanic community embraces Bigelow Tea. As Cindi Bigelow said, “The Hispanic community are a very important part of our consumer base and the research clearly shows that, as consumers, they remain loyal to brands based on taste and quality, both areas where Bigelow Tea differentiates itself.” In order to make it easier for Spanish-speaking individuals to become familiar with our products, Bigelow Tea has also developed bilingual packaging on many products.

Hispanic Heritage Month is replete with events and celebrations throughout the nation. We hope that you make Bigelow Tea a part of the fiesta too! So, whether our Hispanic customers are drinking a cup of Vanilla Y Caramelo with friends or making one of our Spanish-inspired recipes for the family, we look forward to being a part of the celebration!

Image via Socializr.com

Bigelow Tea—and countless tea lovers and music fans—already know that our annual First Flush FesTEAval is a blast, but now the entire nation is going to know it! Our Charleston Tea Plantation’s First Flush FesTEAval has been selected by the American Bus Association as one of the 2012 Top 100 Events in North America!

The ABA’s experienced tourism selection committee has been choosing events for their “top 100” for thirty years. Our tea-lover’s event, which takes place annually on a Sunday in May on Wadmalaw Island in the heart of South Carolina’s Low country, was selected from thousands of nominations across North America!

“The attractiveness of the First Flush FesTEAval as a don’t-miss entertainment value is only part of why its selection this year is such a distinction for the First Flush FesTEAval,” said Peter Pantuso, ABA’s president and CEO. “The real news here is that the First Flush FesTEAval has been recognized…at a time when reenergizing domestic tourism is so important to our spirit and our economy. The honor gives the First Flush FesTEAval an important boost in visibility among professional tour planners.”

The outdoor festival, which celebrates the first tea harvest at our Charleston Tea Plantation, features great music, fantastic foods and the incomparable American Classic iced tea, served in biodegradable corn cups! Last year we were lucky enough to have Grace Potter & the Nocturnals headline the event.

Bigelow Tea is thrilled and honored to have our First Flush FesTEAval named one of 2012’s Top 100 Events – and we look forward to seeing you there next year for the Sixth Annual celebration!

Bigelow Tea is really falling for apples! With this delicious fruit spilling forth from the produce aisle and farmers’ markets in such an abundant variety, how can we resist? It’s only fitting, then, that the apple gets its own day of recognition: September 17^th, International Eat An Apple Day! In honor of that day we’d like to share a few of our favorite apple-inspired recipes enhanced by – what else? – signature Bigelow Teas, of course!

Although it’s hard to beat the sweet-tart crunch of a fresh apple, cooked apples are truly sublime. These two recipes offer a slightly different take on the traditional apple pie. Bon appétit!

Roast Pork Loin with Spiced Apple Cider Apples

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups (975mL) boiling water, divided
1 box Bigelow Apple Cider Herb Tea Bags
2 ½ lb (1kg) pork loin roast
1 clove garlic, sliced
¼ cup (50 mL) olive oil
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper

Serves 8

Apple Garnish:
4 large firm cooking apples, peeled and cut into slices
(example: Fuji, Granny Smith, Cortland)
1 cup (250mL) reserved (from above) Bigelow Apple Cider tea
2 tablespoons (30mL) brown sugar

Instructions:

Boil water and add 20 tea bags. Let steep for 5-8 minutes. Remove bags by squeezing well and discard. Make slits in the roast and insert garlic slices.  Combine 2 ½ cups Bigelow Apple Cider Herbal Tea with olive oil, bay leaves and salt and pepper in a large plastic bag, add pork roast and marinate for 8 hours or overnight in refrigerator.

Refrigerate 1 cup reserved Bigelow Apple Cider Herbal Tea for Apple Garnish.

When ready to roast pork, preheat oven to 350ºF. Remove meat from marinade, place meat in roasting pan and put into oven and roast for approximately 60 minutes or until meat is no longer pink inside and thermometer reads 160ºF.  Meanwhile, prepare apple garnish by combining reserved 1 cup Bigelow Apple Cider Herbal Tea and brown sugar, place in large skillet, add apple slices and cook on medium heat until liquid has reduced and apple is tender and flavored with tea.  Serve slices of pork with apple garnish.

Bigelow® Cinnamon Stick® Baked Apples

1 ½ cups hot water
4 Bigelow® Cinnamon Stick® Tea Bags
6 medium apples (Cortland, Granny Smith, or any other slighlty tart baking apple)
3 tablespoons, plus 6 teaspoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400ºF and place rack in middle of oven.

In a measuring cup, steep tea bags in hot water for 5 minutes. Thoroughly squeeze tea bags into cup before discarding. Add 3 tablespoons brown sugar to tea and stir until dissolved. While tea is still hot, add butter and stir to combine. Set aside.

Horizontally slice the top of each apple off and reserve. Using a melon baller or spoon, scoop out the core and seeds of the apple, making sure not break through the bottom.

Place the apples in an 8×8 inch (or 7×10) glass or ceramic baking dish and spoon 1 teaspoon of brown sugar into each cavity.

Gently pour prepared tea over the top of the apples and bake for about 40 minutes, or until apples are soft.

Image (top) by iMaffo via Flickr.com