For many, the new year is a time for getting in shape. For over 40 years, Weight Watchers has been helping people get active and lose weight in a healthy way. Recently, it seems that they too have taken an interest in tea and its many benefits. In one section of their site, “The Skinny On…”, they offer some wonderful information about tea.

For starters, it helps to know the basic differences between tea. There are true teas like white and green, coming from the same ‘Camellia Sinensis’ plant, and herbal teas like chamomile, which is an infusion of herbs and tea in hot water. Of course, the possible health benefits of tea are in there as well. Oolong tea has been all the rage lately and has been linked to longevity, and in keeping with the goal of Weight Watchers, green tea has been linked to weight loss.

Another benefit of tea is that it has about half the caffeine as a cup of coffee, so it won’t keep you up at night. However, for some people, any caffeine at all is too much. Check out this great video by Cindi Bigelow, President, on how to decaffeinate your own tea:

The many possible benefits of tea are constantly being discovered. For even more potential New Year Tea-lutions, click here!

A recent study from Japan and the UK concluded that chamomile tea may prevent blood sugar increases and other complications associated with type 2 diabetes. In the study, diabetic rats that were fed chamomile tea exhibited lower production of sugar alcohol sorbitol from glucose, which has been linked to eye and nerve cell damage as well as kidney damage.

Researchers from the University of Toyama in Japan and the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in the UK reported “The results (of this new study) clearly suggested that daily consumption of chamomile tea with meals could contribute to the prevention of the progress of hyperglycemia and diabetic complications.”

Future studies on humans will need to be conducted to see whether the results can be repeated. As a dietary approach, this may well mean chamomile tea may be added to the expanding list. This is promising news for those with type 2 diabetes…

If you are just looking for “comforting” and want to learn more about herbal teas in general go here. Curious which celebs are drinking chamomile tea? Look here. Or maybe you’re hankering for some chamomile tea yourself?

Well our year is coming to a close….and what a year it has been!  Our official year end is June 30 so I might be slightly premature in sending out this entry BUT what a record year.  We sold more teabags than ever before.  Our older more established teas did well like “Constant Comment”, Earl Grey, Chamomile and Green but our new teas did gang busters as well.  We feel so blessed in this company right now-we try and do the right thing every day-work hard, make great tea, be creative and stay focused….all I can say is it is great to see that the consumer noticed.   The fact that we recently became the number one Specialty Tea Company in this country is not something we take lightly and it is only because of you all that we did it!!  THANK YOU for an extraordinary year.

Cindi Bigelow, President