Bigelow Tea has done it again; they’ve teamed up with Arizona to bring you a sensational new taste treat. If you’ve already tried it and loved it, you will want to come out to help spread the word and, if you haven’t had your sample yet, you are definitely going to want to join Bigelow Chai and the “Beach Patrol” For Summer Fun with KC101!!

There’s Going To Be A Party
 
Bigelow Tea joins forces with KC 101.3 Radio this summer for “Beach Patrol 2008”, a summer Bigelow Chai weekend sampling tour at the local CT beaches on now and continuing through Labor Day, Monday, September 1st from Noon to 2:00 PM.  Visit the Bigelow Intranet/Connecticut Announcements/Beach Patrol 2008 for the Event Calendar.

The KC101 promotional van will feature the Bigelow Tea Logo and will stop at various beaches from Norwalk to Madison and Old Lyme every weekend through Labor Day, passing out samples of the new Bigelow Chai to help us to build product and brand awareness, hand out coupons and help us to “BUILD THE BIGELOW BUZZ”.

So bring your sunblock and your enthusiasm and come on down to a beach near you to show your support and help

“BUILD THE BIGELOW BUZZ”.

A recent article in TODAY  provides more evidence about the benefits of green tea.  A new study, conducted at the University of Arizona, looked at the antioxidant properties of green tea.  Researchers studied 42 healthy individuals who were given four capsules of green tea extract every morning for a month.  The results were very favorable. 

Participants who began the study with the lowest levels of the detoxification enzymes known as glutathione S-transferase or GST saw the greatest results.  For these individuals, GST levels increased by 80%.  This is important because GST helps the body defend itself against toxic and cancer-causing compounds found in both a person’s genetic makeup and in the environment.

Green tea contains catechins that also contain antioxidant properties, according to dietitian Charles Lew from Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s Department of Nutrition and Dietetics.  Catechins may help the free radical damage often associated with certain cancers and cardiovascular disease.

The article goes on to cite green tea as a healthy beverage choice because it contains six times less caffeine than coffee and is virtually calorie free.  More good about the green?  Additional recent studies have also shown green tea catechins to have anti-inflammatory properties, which in turn, may help people who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis by reducing inflammation and slowing cartilage breakdown.

Go for the green…green tea! 

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