In the video below Cindi Bigelow, President of Bigelow Tea, dissects a few tea bags and shares her findings so we don’t have to.

Video Highlights:

• Bigelow Tea’s original recipe (which is not found among these recipes) has not changed since the company was founded by Ruth Campbell Bigelow in 1945.
• A look inside a bag of our Constant Comment tea reveals pieces of real orange peel added for a more robust flavor.
• Contrasting Bigelow’s Earl Grey and other Black Teas with a competitor’s, Cindi gives insight into what makes Bigelow Tea the best selling flavored tea on the market.
• For sixty-three years, Bigelow Tea has been hand picked from elevated tea gardens in the mountains, where the conditions are most conducive to growing quality tea leaves with concentrated and complex flavor.
• Bigelow Tea does not use filler, or “tea dust,” a compound used for artificial tea bag enhancement by some competitors.

As Cindi Bigelow points out,“a tea bag is not a tea bag is not a tea bag.”

You might have read how your leftover tea bags can be used for the skin and eyes (if not, see our December 5th post). But did you know that tea also has some unexpected beauty applications for the hair?

According to Shirley Bragg at About.com, some herbal teas can be used to add shine to your tresses. But that’s not all. Bragg has, herself, witnessed that tea can be used to create highlights or darken hair. She offers the following advice: “If you have red hair, green tea is the color of choice. Chamomile tea will add blonde highlights, black tea will add a glow to dark hair and for gray hair, try ginseng.”

Perhaps your hair color isn’t the problem. Maybe excessive hair is. If so, you’ll want to follow up this study reported by the BBC. In February they noted that one specific herbal tea may control unwanted hair. “Spearmint tea may help to control excessive hair growth in women,” according to Turkish researchers. Thus far results are modest, and additional research is needed, so while you may not want to pin your hopes on this as a solution for hirsutism, keep your eyes open for more word on the potential of this and other herbal tea uses.

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!

Some things you just take for granted, you have milk in the refrigerator, the light will come on when you turn the switch, and at work your computer will work and there is paper in the copy machine. When these things don’t happen as expected your day is slightly disrupted but you recover without much issue.  If your car does not start and you cannot get to work then that can have a bigger impact on how well your day turns out. Today we had a concern with our inventory of string for our tea machine being a bit low; in fact we had the possibility of running out.  Now that is more in line with the car not starting, it could ruin the day.  We were scheduled to receive delivery of more string on Monday but issues arose and the shipment was moved out to Thursday.  Typically we carry a higher inventory during our busy time but it was lower than normal so this delay just made it a bigger issue.  We have worked for many years with the same suppliers and have built a good relationship that makes us both committed to each other’s success.  When the supplier found out our situation they sent string on a special currier to tie us over until the scheduled delivery. We should never have run out of string in the first place or even been this close because we have reports, checks, and people making sure we have enough inventories but I guess it was not enough.  Now that we know the tea machines will not run out of string we need to go back through our process and find out what we can do to improve it so we do not have this issue happen again.  

Dean

Back in November we noted how you can keep trim with tea. But, as it turns out, tea has other hidden beauty benefits to boot! According to writers at ForAHealthyWoman web site, “Your eyes’ beauty depends on tea.” As a low-cost alternative to expensive creams, warm or cold tea bags are a natural remedy for those of us who wake with puffiness or bags under the eyes. Just reuse the same “black tea bags you place into your favorite mug” for immediate relief.

If that weren’t enough, tea bags are also a healthy solution for blemish control and as a lip toner, says Cait Johnson at Care2 Healthy Living Channels. In addition to tea’s skin-friendly antioxidants and vitamins A and C, tea is a natural astringent. Simply place a warm teabag on skin blemishes for several minutes or help prevent pimples by using tea as a facial rinse. For a lip toner, just apply a warm teabag to clean lips for five minutes.

Johnson cautions that “very strong black tea can cause tan-like staining of skin.” To avoid this, be sure to enjoy your favorite Bigelow tea as a beverage first. Then, reuse the tea bags in your beauty regimen.