JANUARY 2015 TEASE

Hello From Sashee!

Happy new year to each one of you!

One of my new year's resolutions is to give you more behind the scenes insight as to what's going on here at Tea Drops. Part of that goal stems from my belief in transparency, and part of it stems from the fact that running a business from the ground up is quite frankly interesting! There are so many uplifting things (and challenging things as well) that happen on a daily basis. This work helps me uncover more about myself and life on a daily basis. The daily battles and victories keep us on our toes, keep us grateful, and make us vulnerable. I want you to join us on this journey as we grow and learn! 

I'll be giving you monthly updates of what we've been up to, and the progress on some of the big goals we're trying to tackle. I hope our journey helps you through the maze of your own. May it entertain and inspire.

2015 Begins

California & Beyond

One of the biggest things I'm tackling this week is finalizing our show calendar for the year. One of the most effective ways we've built this community is simply getting our teas in people's mouths. It's always delightful to get see people's eyes light up upon first sip, it never gets old! We spend a lot of time planning and attending community events, college campuses, artisan shows, trade shows in order to share our teas directly with the community.

This year, we're headed beyond California and plan to show up across the country.  If you have a show/event that you think we should be a part of, we'd love to hear them. Once I have a final calendar I will be sure to share it with all of you. 

Enhancing the Tea Experience

The second big focus is expanding our tea offerings. There is SO much we plan to do here this year. We hear regular feedback from you of selections you'd like to see (keep it coming), and we also have a ton of tea inspiration ourselves! Our core belief is that tea is an experience, and that tea should help foster connection and community. To that end, we are continuously in our test kitchen crafting new tea blends and we are constantly focused on how we can elevate the Tea Drops experience. A key example of this is our Natural Healing Experience teas we launched this week -- focused on wellness. We spent months learning about herbs with proven healing attributes in order to craft these unique blends handcrafted with organic coconut sugar. 

A Humbling Experience

And finally, not a focus but interesting "firsts" is that we received our first "negative" review on one of our teas -- 2 star review to be exact. Well, the review wasn't about the tea itself but a mis-understanding in how our mini-box teas are packaged. Why would I share this directly with you? Well, because frankly it's part of the journey and brings up two things worth sharing: 1) There is always room to improve. I went back to the description and realized some user flow improvements that could be made on how customers select teas and 2) Critical comments are part of the life -- not just in business. Though you can strive for your best, others may still see flaws. Be humble and accept criticism, but do not let it be a reason to not give your 100%! 

As always, I love hearing from you directly. Feel free to reach out to me if you have a question, piece of feedback, or simply want to say hello at sashee@myteadrop.com.

Tea Drop on,

Sashee Chandran

Wedding Season Is Coming!

Wedding season is one of our favorite times of year, where we get the chance to be a part of one of the most intimate and meaningful days in a couple's life. Since our inception, we have helped many brides customize their unique wedding experience as they have chosen to make Tea Drops a part of their refreshment as well as favor and bridal party gift options. It is such an honor to be a part of such a meaningful experience and we look forward to many bridal showers and weddings full of love and tea!

Favors and fun

Taking a peek around Pinterest, you'll see that giving tea as the wedding favor is not only popular but an incredibly unique (and healthy!) way to thank your guests for being a part of your special day. We see lots of photos features vials and boxes of loose leaf tea adorned with the monogram or date of the happy couple. 

With its beautiful and fun shapes, Tea Drops make excellent favor offerings. Not only that, but our tea morsels, which are all pre-sweetened and seasoned with organic ingredients, are perfect for travelling guests. All they need to enjoy a cup of tea is with Tea Drops is a cup and hot water!

Bridal Party Gifts

What better way to thank the people who stood by your side and made your special day a reality than with a very special cup of tea? Your bridal party will be sure to love the pampering and delicious experience of Tea Drops, especially when packaged in our personalized boxes (both full size and mini Tea Drops boxes are available with this add-on). For just an additional $5 per box, you can have a personlized and custom message emblazoned on the inside lid of each of your bridesmaids' or maid/matron-of-honor's box. Plus, even after the tea has been enjoyed, the beautiful and personalized box provides a meaningful and useful keepsake that will remind your bridal party of a cherished memory for years to come.

The Tea Drops experience is truly yours

We believe that anything is possible with Tea Drops! Whether you are looking for a custom blend that speaks to your unique theme (or the one-of-a-kind couple that you are!) or venue, Tea Drops is here to make your tea dreams a reality. We are also open to collaborating and creative custom wrapping or tea morsel shapes especially crafted for your wedding. 

Above all, we hope that your wedding (and any wedding you attend!) is a beautiful, joyous, and monumental moment for all in attendance!

The Natural Healing Experience

As we re-evaluate our health and wellness goals in the new year, we are always looking for holistic and reliable ways to improve our mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. As a fellow tea lover, too, you'll agree that there is little else more therapeutic than enjoying a warm cup of tea in your favorite spot. With this in mind, we have carefully created the Natural Healing Tea Drops experience, a curated line of teas infused with the best and most effective herbs, spices, plants, and healthful wonders that all work in synergy to serve your health and wellbeing. With the goal of releasing a new blend every week in the month of January, we currently have two offerings available for our community to enjoy and assimiliate into their daily routine.

The Turmeric Tea Drop

Renowned for its amazing antioxidant properties and beloved for its radiant marigold-saffron color, Turmeric helps promote mental aptitude, skeletal health, and digestive health. Turmeric has been used as a holistic approach to combating everything from Alzheimers, types of cancers, to the common tummy ache. This delightful root packs quite the punch both nutritionally as well as flavor-wise and makes a wonderful addition to both your tea tastes as well as savory dishes (check out our Turmeric Coconut Chicken Curry recipe featuring Tea Drops here). 

Here are some of our favorite benefits to adding turmeric to your daily routine:

• Turmeric encourages the growth of a crucial and useful growth hormone: Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factorlines, which gives this root its memory-boosting power.
• Curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, is good for your heart health and may even help prevent heart disease.
• Turmeric is a natural anti-inflammatory and so many arthritis sufferers turn to this for relief.
• Among pre-diabetics, curcumin capsules can delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.
• Curcumin supports bone health and overall skeletal system well-being. 

Our Turmeric Tea Drops are both richly flavorful and sweetly creamy. With an entire teaspoon of raw organic turmeric in every Tea Drop, you can harness the full power of its antioxidant properties. It is also sweetened with coconut sugar, complementing the spicy flavor and soothing it to create a comforting and delicious experience for the drinker. 

The Yerba Mate Tea Drop

With a taste reminscent of green tea, yerba mate is a particuarly popular beverage in Brazil, which derives its name from the leaves and stems of the plant of the same name. A wonderful and light-tasting option for those who dislike the bitter tannins that other teas possess, yerba mate helps promote metabolism and is a natural source of caffeine that is sure to power you through your day. Like turmeric, it also encourages overall digestive health. 

Here are some of our favorite benefits of yerba mate:

• Yerba mate possesses 90% more antioxidants than green tea! Praised for doing everything from detoxifying the blood, to reducing signs of aging, when it comes to antioxidants, the more the merrier!
• With 24 vitamins and 15 minerals to its name, this superplant is a great way to get you charged and keep you focused and thriving throughout the day. Not to mention, the average 8oz cup of yerba mate delivers approximately 85 mg of caffeine (steeping times and quality of the plant considered, of course!) without any of the downsides of coffee--no jitters or tummy upsets here.
• It is a metabolism booster and helps process carbohydrates more effectively in the body while cutting into one's natual fat supply.
• Yerba mate also helps prevent the build up of lactic acid in muscles helping maximize your workouts and speed up post-workout recovery.

Yerba Mate Tea Drops are made with raw organic yerba mate and raw coconut sugar to create a light, refreshing, and creamy treat that is perfect for waking yourself up in the morning, perk yourself up in the afternoon, or as a post-workout treat. It can also be enjoyed either hot or cold.

We hope that the Natural Healing Tea Drops Experience will not only be a delicious but an easily accessible way to enjoy the benefits of some of the greatest health resources that mother nature has to offer. We are so devoted to your overall health and hope that this will help you embrace your goals for 2015!

The Tea Drops in the Natural Healing Experience are $12.00 with compostable packaging or $14.00 with our wooden keepsake boxes.

Warm Up Your Valentine's Day With Tea Drops

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, you may be searching for the perfect, thoughtful, and unique gift to give anyone special in your life. One of the most intimate and age-old ways of connecting with loves ones is over a cup of tea and so, may we suggest that this year you give the gift of Tea Drops?

To celebrate this season of love, we are offering a personalization add-on when ordering with our wooden box options. Crafted from lightweight balsa wood, our boxes are beautiful and can be easily repurposed for years of use. For a modest $5 add-on, you can have a special message carefully wood-burnt and lovingly inscribed on the inside lid of a Tea Drops box, creating the perfect keepsake for that special someone. 

Need tea suggestions for this special day? Our creamy, decadent Chocolate Earl Grey, made with raw organic cacao and fairtrade Earl Grey makes for a wonderfully romantic treat. Meanwhile, our lively Cardamom Spice is always a favorite. Feel free to use your imagination and capture the tea experience that best embodies your relationship for that extra personal touch.

Engraving is even available on our Mini Tea Drops boxes, which would slip perfectly into a bouquet of roses. (our light and sweetly floral Rose Earl Grey would be perfect here!) Each mini box comes with a pair of Tea Drops of your choice so that the two of you can enjoy tea together whenever your romantic pursuits take you. (Just remember the hot water and mugs!)

 Mini Tea Drops Available Blends:

• Citrus Ginger
• Cardamom Spice
• Sweet Peppermint
• Rose Earl Grey
• Chocolate Earl Grey
• Golden Amber
• Pumpkin Spice 

Tea Drops housed in wooden boxes are $12.00-$14.00 depending on the collection, plus (amount for personalization). Mini Tea Drops are offered at $12 for two boxes, plus $5 for personalization. As always, all orders come with a free gift-wrapping option and shipping is on us.

Turmeric Ginger Colada Smoothie

So, it's the middle of winter. This is the perfect time to dream of summery weather and sandy beaches. What better way to kick back and relax like you're laying out in the sun amidst a tropical paradise than with a delicious but healthy smoothie? Featuring our favorite natural remedy of the moment--turmeric--this drink is sure to get your mind and body in the happiest place you can imagine.

Serves: 1 

Ingredients:

1 Turmeric Tea Drop
1 inch piece peeled fresh ginger
1 frozen banana
1 C fresh pineapple chunks
1 C coconut mlik
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Blend Turmeric Tea Drop, ginger, banana, and pineapple in the mixer until smooth. Add in the coconut milk and vanilla extract and blend until smooth.

 Recipe Source: Connoisseurus Rex

   Tea Drops of Wisdom from the TeaJourneyman

 "Everything about tea helps me to feel better physical and mentally. When I need a moment to slow down, reflect, and calm my mind, I steep and watch a good quality oolong tea open, then appreciate the aroma before taking the first sip. When I need something to energize me in the morning or afternoon, the Uva Seasonal black teas widen my eyes the moment that the liquid hits my tongue. The bright red color of the tea liquor also has energy to it." - Kevin Craig

Visit Kevin, read his tea review, and shop his teas at the TeaJourneyman.

Stay Well, Live Well This Winter

By Erin Schwartz

This winter's cold season was pretty brutal. Whenever I'm in line at the drugstore or taking my two young children to the doctor, I feel like everyone is sharing the same story: As soon as we get over one cold, we get hit with another nasty bug. I also work at a school with elementary-aged children and I can't tell you how many sneezes and sniffles I've heard this winter with my class roster rife with "absent-sick" written next to names and vacant seats. 

We want to be a key player in your happiness and your wellbeing here at Tea Drops HQ and so we've decided to put together some of our favorite and most useful ways to stay healthy this cold and flu season. 

Let yourself rest: In this fast-paced world of deadlines and constant connection to work with our cell phones and other devices, it may seem wrong to check out of the office for a day or even take a night off, but your body needs the rest. When we sleep, we produce the hormone cortisol, which stimulates the growth of immune system-boosting cells. Not only that, but when we give ourselves the chance to rest we will feel more energized when we get back to work. Remember, strength is also about remembering that you are only human and we humans need some rest every once in a while!

Get Out Into Nature: Moderate (30-90 minutes of medium-intensity activity, including brisk walking) exercise throughout your week encourages healthy immune systems, too. Not only that, but being able to unplug, get out into the beautiful natural world around us, and into the fresh air (and away from close quarters with our fellow cold-bearers) will keep you positive and centered.

Stock up on Vitamin D: This also helps regulate the immune system and those deficient in it find themselves more apt to catching colds. Additionally, vitamin D is a great anti-inflammatory. Salmon, milk, and sunshine are great and easy ways to make sure you're getting enough and experts are now suggesting 1,000 IU daily for adults.

Of course, our favorite way to stay well or feel better if you're currently sniffling is enjoying a warm cup of tea. When I found myself struggling with a cold, I whipped myself up a cup of Turmeric tea from our Natural Healing Experience. Not only did the warmth really soothe my tired spirit but the antioxidant properties in turmeric truly did get the pep back in my step. I was back and ready to take on the world the next day!