Sunday, August 19, 2007. A blazing sun was in stiff competition with the brightness shining in the faces of the over 1500 guests at the SGI-USA LA North Region Family Fun Festival. SGI-USA is one of the largest Buddhist lay organizations in the United States, practicing the teachings of Nichiren, a 13th century Buddhist reformer. Fortunately, Art of Tea was there to help quench the thirst of this happy throng!

My involvement with the Family Fun Festival was extensive. Over 100 amazingly dedicated, creative, generous and energetic Bodhisattvas worked tirelessly to plan and execute this festival and in just six weeks, pulling off what I believe was the most explosively joyful and truly successful event in Los Angeles this summer. The 1500+ attendees had a wide range of exhibits to explore. Two stages featured performances ranging from traditional Japanese fan dancing to rock bands, beautiful musical numbers and youth bursting with raw joy and confidence, krumping their hearts out.

The surrounding festival’s theme was “Transform Myself, Transform the World.” Our goal was that every single person who attended would come away from the day inspired by their ability to transform their lives. I can tell you, without a doubt in my mind, we achieved total victory! Everyone was so unbelievably happy!

Last, but certainly not least, there was FOOD! You would not believe the spread we had, all of which was contributed by the members. This year, I chaired the Food Committee, which was no small task, let me tell you! Our committee’s theme was “Happy Tummies, Happy Families” and if you could have seen the smiling faces, you would know we lived up to our theme!

For me personally, it was an extraordinary experience of personal growth. I know that growth is a life-long process, but I feel more capable now than I ever have in my life, and I’m certainly the happiest I’ve ever been. This joy stems not only from the main event itself, which was spectacular, but also from all of the effort, care, determination and unity that went into its creation. I am filled with gratitude for this opportunity to expand my capacity and to contribute to the happiness of so many people.

What good fortune that Art of Tea was able to contribute to the Art of Happy!

Late summer is the perfect time for iced tea – a refreshing way to get all the benefits of your favorite tea. I’ve lately been playing around with making sun tea – different quantities of tea, changing the time in the sun, etc. – and I’ve been pretty happy with the results. Then I was talking with one of our partner restaurants about the “tea-cocktails” they make. The bar manager said that he puts the leaves in the liquor, lets the mixture sit overnight and strains it the next day. This led me to start experimenting with making non-alcoholic tea the same way.

I found that brewing iced tea in my refrigerator works really well. I also found various articles supporting the fact that this method could be safer than leaving the tea in the sun for a few hours. The fear is based on the notion that the method may breed bacteria (kind of like deviled eggs at a summer picnic). Scientific research aside, the cold filtered iced tea tastes good and is very easy to make.

I use the same ratio of tea to water that we recommend for all of our iced tea pouches. Most commercial machines brew 3 gallons of tea at a time. The teas that we sell are portioned between 3 and 4 ounces of leaves for each batch. The black tea based choices, like our award winning “Organic Classic” is closer to 3 ounces. The green tea and botanical based items are closer to 4 ounces. At home I use a 1 gallon glass jar for brewing, and to that I add about 1.25 ounces of tea leaves such as “Green Pomegranate”, fill with cold clean water, cover and put in my fridge overnight. Twelve hours seems to be the perfect amount of time. Once it is done, I pour it through a strainer to remove the leaves, and enjoy my iced tea.

One benefit of this method is that the tea is already cold when it is finished. Now I’m no scientist, but I think there’s something going on here that is making the tea less astringent. It seems as if by not boiling the water the tannins in the leaves are not released, so the end result is flavorful without having an acidic finish. Some people may find it not to their liking but I have been really enjoying it as the days are still pretty hot here. Give it a try, and let us know what you think. I’d also recommend our “Paradise Cove” for making this UN-SUN Tea.

Michelle is one individual who understands the power of packaging. She’s been working with Art of Tea for some time, helping with packaging and design. Michelle is also about to get married, which, as anyone who’s recently been through the process can attest to, can be a particularly expensive time. For my wedding a couple of years ago, I remember being at a complete loss when it came to favors. It seemed appropriate that there be something sitting on the tables for our guests, but what? In the end, I succumbed to buying individual chocolates. By that point my creative energies were zapped (I put off favors until two days before the wedding, and paid for it) and I was looking for a quick fix.

Fortunately, Michelle did not make the same procrastination-based mistake that I did. Instead she let her inner Martha Stewart come out (and really, don’t we all have just a little of the Martha waiting to burst forth). In fact, the idea was based on a suggestion from our lady of all things elegant. Using Art of Tea’s loose-leaf tea, Michelle created unique individual tea bags for her wedding guests.

The process is fun, simple and even something a soon-to-be-husband could help with. Here are Michelle’s steps:

1. Get yourself some tea bags. She used bags by T-sac purchased online from Paper Street Teas. These are perfectly sized for one serving and require a single teaspoon of loose-leaf tea each.

2. The tea’s the thing! She used Organic Breakfast, because they’re having a brunch wedding, and Amore – for the love! But you could use any tea that speaks to you.

3. How much tea? Each tea is a little different when it comes to the weight per teaspoon. For example, Organic Breakfast is composed of small back leaves that pack a punch, whereas fuller white leaves and rosebuds comprise Amore.

The folks here at Art of Tea can help you figure out just how much you’ll need based on how many bags you’d like to make.

4. Additional Supplies: you’ve got the bags and tea, so now it’s time to get really creative. Michelle used chocolate and white baker’s twine, which she bought online from Broadway Paper.

5. Make those tags! If you’re computer literate like Michelle (she is a graphic designer after all) you can use a computer program like Adobe InDesign, or if you’re a little more comfortable in the analogue world – nice handwriting or calligraphy will also be lovely. Either way, her tags were printed to be 1 inch by 2 inches when cut out, and 1×1 when folded in half.

6. Assemble: Using a teaspoon, load 1 teaspoon of tea into each bag. Trim excess paper from tea bag with Scallop or Ric Rac scissors. Using the baker’s twine, tie the bag closed. Fold tag in half, and using a glue stick or hot glue gun, adhere baker’s twine to tag.

That’s it! See how easy it is? And even better, you can match the colors of your twine and tag to the colors of your wedding.

Of course, you’ll want to make these tea bags as close to the event as time allows so that the tea remains fresh. Michelle made hers two months ahead of time and stored them in a dark airtight container. Just make sure you don’t get tempted to use these delicious samples before the big day!

It’s a fun word: Biodynamic. Break it down and it seems to mean life force or life energy, and in a way it definitely does. Biodynamic is a word that’s been popping up a lot lately around those in the know (people who recognize the importance of eating organically), and some are calling biodynamic “beyond organic” when it comes to how our food, or in this case tea, is grown.

It all goes back to this fellow named Rudolf Steiner, who in 1924, gave a series of lectures to local farmers in Poland who were frustrated that their soil quality was declining along with the health of their crops and livestock. Steiner recognized the interrelated nature of a farm. There is a fundamental link between soil, plants and livestock and when in balance, this closed circuit does not need the aid of fertilizers and chemicals. Sounds like organic right? No pesticides, no chemical fertilizers, none of that bad stuff that’s been proven to harm us at the end of the food chain.

This is where Steiner took the ideas a step further. His practice of biodynamic agriculture includes a certain degree of spirituality and mysticism. Seeds are planted at certain lunar phases, for example, because not only is the cycle between soil, plant and animal important, so too is the link between growth and the life force of the moon and sun. Biodynamic is a sort of stepping back to see the whole forest, rather than felling the whole forest to save a tree (which is kind of what contemporary standard agricultural practices look like from that distance).

On a biodynamic farm or estate, all of the fertilizer is made organically on the farm itself. Old bullhorns and vermiculite are added to the compost in a series of recipes cooked up by Steiner. One way to describe it is as a closed circuit of input and output. Sustainable, is another, perhaps more trendy, way to put it. Either way, it’s good for the land and good for the crops.

Biodynamic agriculture is about healing the earth. And healing is the one thing this planet and its inhabitants are in desperate need of. We at Art of Tea like to think that we’re saving the planet, one cup of Biodynamic Bai Mu Dan, First Flush Darjeeling and Biodynamic Breakfast Tea at a time.