An Oolong Obsession Part I

I'll just come out and say it: I'm addicted to Organic Osthmanthus Huang Guan Yin. I can't get enough. I keep telling myself, I should try something new, but this osthmanthus oolong 3 day bender continues and I see no foreseeable end! The sweet nectar-like delight of the osthmanthus flowers perpetuates the fresh floral taste of the oolong, and with that beautiful golden infusion, makes me oh-so-weak in the knees.

Photo featuring Rishi's new two-person glass teapot with infuser.

xoxo,
Ghazal

Fair Trade Talk & Tea Tasting

Celebrate Fair Trade Month in Milwaukee - the First Fair Trade City in the US!

Join Rishi Tea and Four Corners of the World on Thursday, October 23 from 7-8:30 pm at 5407 West Vilet Street in Milwaukee, WI for a Fair Trade tea tasting and presentation by Sean O'Leary, Art Director and Tea Buyer for Rishi Tea. Sean has traveled as a photojournalist and tea buyer to many tea producing countries and witnessed first hand the benefits of Fair Trade.


Students attend class at a new school funded by Fair Trade premiums from the sales of Rishi Tea's Ancient Tree teas. Yunnan, China.

In July of 2007, Mayor Tom Barrett signed a resolution introduced by Alderman Tony Zielinski establishing Milwaukee as the first Fair Trade city in the United States.

Fair Trade is making a huge impact in the world by empowering farmers and artisans with the business capacity necessary to compete in the global market. Fair Trade promotes economic justice by honoring a fair price for products, fair wages, safe working conditions, direct trade, environmental sustainability and community investment in developing countries worldwide.

Learn more about Fair Trade.

For a list of national Fair Trade events, visit TransFair USA.

Please Support Clean Energy: Co-Op America Editorial

Now more than ever we need to make a stand for clean energy. As a member of Green America (formerly known as Co-Op America), we take pride in their efforts to clean up our world.

Taken from Co-Op America's Newsroom-

Clean Energy for America: It's Possible Now
September 11, 2008

Next January, a new president will take office, confronting a multitude of serious issues, including rising fuel costs, energy security, climate change, and rising unemployment.

When you evaluate the candidates based on their proposed solutions for reinventing the way America produces its energy, do you know what to look for?

Here are three real solutions that are more than just good suggestions. They are essential components of a successful energy policy, which, when deployed together, create an impact much greater than the sum of their parts. Each one is an achievable, affordable step that won’t demand major sacrifices in the way Americans live their lives.

STEP ONE: Invest in energy efficiency: Many people mistakenly believe that energy efficiency is simply a personal virtue and not a policy issue. Nothing could be further from the truth. Increased energy efficiency sets the stage for success in meeting our energy needs with cleaner sources.

In fact, a 2007 report facilitated by the US Department of Energy states that sound energy efficiency measures can reduce our nation’s energy demand growth by 50 percent by 2025. More ambitious studies by the Rocky Mountain Institute report we can achieve 75 percent by 2020.

But don’t just take the experts’ words for it. Consider Juneau, Alaska, a city cut off from its power supply last April after an avalanche destroyed several major transmission towers. In response, the city cut its energy use by 30 percent in a matter of weeks. What Juneau did in a few weeks this spring, the nation can (and should, and will… with the right leadership) do over the next ten years.

STEP TWO: Invest in clean energy: Critical to any serious energy policy, wind and solar energy represent homegrown sources of electricity that can do the job now. Already, in several markets, wind energy is cost-competitive with natural gas, and for both wind and solar, prices are coming down.

Many people mistakenly assume that solar power can’t do the job due unpredictable weather, or that a full-scale conversion to solar power isn’t cost-effective. Neither assumption is correct. Consider Germany, a country that shares more latitude with Canada than with the US. Germany is now the leading producer of solar energy not only in Europe, but in the world (and this with only half as many sunny days as southern European countries, like Portugal). A good deal of Germany’s success is due to sound energy policy, passed in 2000, requiring old-fashioned utilities to support solar start-ups.

As to the cost misperception, a 2008 Solar Catalyst Group study shows that solar energy will become cost-competitive in most areas of the country by 2015. The same report shows how solar energy, with the right commitment, could easily make up 50 percent of the US power supply by 2050. Others are even more ambitious. A January 2008 Scientific American article put the figure closer to 70 percent by 2050.

STEP THREE: Invest in cleaner cars: With fuel economy standards remaining virtually unchanged for 30 years, the time is long past for our leaders to pass laws favoring cleaner cars. If we had adopted President Carter’s energy policy, automobile fuel efficiency would be nearly 45mpg today. We wouldn’t be importing foreign oil, and gasoline price increases wouldn’t be so painful.

On the road today are the first generation of plug-in electric hybrid vehicles getting up to 100 mpg, with all of the major auto manufacturers preparing to bring a PHEV to market in 2010.

Unlike corn ethanol (which generates greenhouse-gases in its production, and appropriates cropland necessary for growing food), PHEVs represent a true solution for how to power our cars responsibly. What’s more, in combination with an investment in renewables, PHEVs can be powered primarily by the wind or the sun (a PHEVs battery recharges by plugging into the electricity grid). A PHEV powered by the sun today costs its owner the equivalent of $2.30 a gallon.

These three solutions should be part of any leader’s platform, and each comes with an embedded bonus – the good jobs that come with producing this technology here in the United States.

Buildings can’t be made efficient by workers overseas, solar energy can’t be outsourced, and all Americans benefit when a clean energy policy delivers jobs, energy security, and a clean environment all at once.

--Andrew Korfhage

New Rishi Blend benefits Clean Water Fund

Limited Holiday Blend: Organic Cinnamon Plum

25% of profits to benefit Clean Water Fund

Tea will only be as good as the water used to prepare it. Rishi Tea recognizes the fundamental importance of clean water, not only for tea, but for our health and the well-being of our environment. Join us in our efforts to improve water quality. With every purchase of Organic Cinnamon Plum, Rishi Tea will donate 25% of the profits to Clean Water Fund, a grass-roots organization working to protect and restore America’s waters.


Organic Cinnamon Plum is rich with currants, succulent hibiscus, hints of plum, and accented with notes of cinnamon and naturally sweet licorice root. Warm and soothing, Organic Cinnamon Plum is deliciously fruity and full-bodied with a deep red infusion. Perfect served hot, iced or brewed as mulled cider.

For more information on Clean Water Fund, visit www.cleanwaterfund.org.

Available mid October through select Whole Foods Markets and direct from our website.