I’m still just thinking about getting ready for summer, creating new blends for a customer, and thinking about green tea – a lot.

So, if truth be told, I’m a recipe junkie looking for inspiration this Monday.  It is true – I do love a good cookbook, but it’s the recipes that do me in…    Way back when I lived off just off the Portobello Road, I went to the markets all the time looking for bargains.    It’s time to dust it off this recipe for a ‘green tea punch”, I found in at the market.

Try this recipe with our Chinatown Green Passion Tea either in pyramid sachets or in our Tear and Pour™ Pouches.  This green tea is refreshing and tropical made e with organic green tea, organic calendula/marigold petals, and organic flavors perfect for our Regent Cocktails.

A bit of history:  Early 1796, saw English and American cooks were writing about using Green Tea with alcohol.  Regents Cocktails was a popular drink at gatherings all during the year.  It wasn’t until late 1884 that we find the first printed recipes referencing ‘black’ tea – and it took a world’s fair to make black tea famous when combined with lemons, sugar and iced.

For my personal taste, I’m not at all too keen on lots of sugar in this cocktail.  Add with care, and taste each step of the way until punch is sweetened the way you like it.  My assumption on all the sugar is purely speculative.  I believe most household cooks were still experimenting with ingredients from the Far East as little was known about the subtleties of green tea.   As most recipes advised cooks to ‘boil and stew’ the tea for long periods; it is this very technique that resulted in the need for LOTS of sugar and lemons to balance the astringent nature of green tea.

 Purchase Green Tea from our Sponsored Fundraiser:  Bike & Build

Make the recipe:

MAKES approximately 3 QUARTS

 (contact us for kid-friendly version)

This tea-infused champagne cocktail makes an elegant centerpiece for any festive occasion this spring.

Arrack is a distilled alcoholic drink produced in South Asia.  It is sold in stores throughout USA.  I’ve listed some brands I’ve worked with over the years.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar, water & pineapple to make a simple syrup.
1 cup cubed pineapple
2 lemons
2 oranges
1 Seville orange (also called bitter or sour orange)
2 Chinatown Green Passion Pyramid Sachets (or 1 Tear & Pour™ Chinatown Green green tea leaves)
1 cup brandy, preferably VSOP cognac
1⁄4 cup dark  rum
1⁄4 cup arrack liquor, ( Batavia-Arrack, van Oosten, cachaça, VSOA
2  750-ml bottles Brut or rose sparkling wine or  champagne, chilled

Garnish with star fruit and lime twists and a dash of grated nutmeg

1. MAKE YOUR OWN SIMPLE SYRUP: In a 1-qt. saucepan, combine 1⁄2 cup sugar and 1⁄4 cup water. Stir over high heat until sugar dissolves; transfer to a bowl along with pineapple. Allow to macerate in refrigerator for at least 8 hours to make a pineapple syrup. Strain and reserve; discard solids.  EASY METHOD:  add simple syrup with tropical or pineapple flavors.

2. Using a peeler, peel lemons, oranges, and seville orange, taking off as little white pith as possible. Transfer peels to a heavy bowl; reserve fruit. Add remaining sugar; use a muddler or a wooden spoon to vigorously crush sugar and peels together until sugar turns faintly yellow and slushy.

3. In a medium bowl,  steep tea in 2 cups of hot water (150-160F )for 2 minutes. Strain tea over lemon and sugar mixture; stir until sugar dissolves. Juice reserved fruit into tea mixture. Strain through a sieve into another bowl; discard solids. Stir in pineapple syrup, brandy, rum, and arrack. Chill mixture. To serve, combine mixture and champagne in a punch bowl along with a large block of ice . Garnish with nutmeg

ith the current economic conditions, it is vital that companies find new ways to differentiate themselves against their competitors.  Increasingly companies are looking to personalize products to increase brand awareness amongst their target audience.

Pyramid Sachets are available in a single sachet per envelope or multiple sachets per bag.  Ideal for hotels, restaurants, quick service applications, or business looking for a quality product to add to the their line.

Whisk and Spoon can create a personalized tea line for your hospitality organization,  food service establishment or business.

Contact:  Sally Hampton, Sales 610 624 3680 | sales@whiskandspoon.com

Meet Erica Rosset, our new sponsor rider with Tea for Support: Bike & Build.     Recently, Erica helped us out big time by creating & fixing some illustrations we needed for our sales team, managed by Leslie Bushby of Hospitality Reps Inc.

What made this work so so unique was that Erica wanted her payment in the form of a donation!

Erica and I got to thinking about how we could create a new revenue stream for her fundraising that would avoid the dreaded ‘fundraiser fatigue’.   Here is the link to Support with Tea: Bike and Build.   For an extra pledge of $15.00, you’ll enjoy delicious tea, help raise funds AND get Erica in condition for the long journey ahead this summer.

If you would like updates on the life altering journey – please use our contact sheet  and put Bike in the subject line.  We’ll let you know how to follow Erica.

Bike & Build, Inc., which is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization committed to fighting the affordable housing crisis in the U.S. through cross-country bike trips. Each summer, young adults bike from the Atlantic to the Pacific along eight different routes. Along the way, these groups stop at several different build sites and volunteer with affordable housing organizations like Habitat for Humanity and Rebuilding Together.

Erica  taking the Northern Route with a team of 33, starting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and ending with a swing up to Vancouver, B.C. to help build houses all along the Northern states of the U.S.

Bloomin’ Bouquet

Whisk and Spoon offers amazing teas that will appease all your customer’s palettes.  We  pay special attention to our teas and make sure each one provides a unique flavor.

In addition to our Bloomin’ Tea, you’ll find organic chai, organic dessert, organic earl grey, organic green tea and herbal organic and fair trade  teas are our specialty .

Whether these teas are served hot, iced or as delicious cocktails, these clean and pure tasting organic teas offer a tasteful way to relax and decompress.

Low in caffeine or caffeine-free and an excellent source in antioxidants, which naturally makes them a healthy alternative to artificially flavored drinks.

Bloomin’ Tea

Two of  products that will definitely make a statement in any store, whether you are a florist or gift shop are our Bloomin’ Tea and Bloomin’ Bouquet. Their Bloomin’ Blooms is their newest and coolest gift and floral accessory. What do they do?

Your customers actually put a tea bulb into hot water and watch the action happen right within their tea-pot or glass.

The bulb actually blooms into what looks like a beautiful bouquet. It’s simply a wonder to watch.  Add these to gift baskets and even bouquets to make something truly extraordinary. Imagine having a basket full of gourmet food, and topping it off with these Bloomin’ teas to make an amazing gift.

Tasteful Tea

Organic Tea

All of our  teas are simply delicious. Organic teas will be a wonderful addition to your store that your customers will have to have on a daily basis. This tea will be their relaxation after a stressful day at work and on the weekends when they want to stay in and relax.

When wanting to offer wonderful products in your store, choose Whisk and Spoon.  Our delicious teas and unique Bloomin’ Teas are all delicious and make wonderful gift items that will truly be unforgettable, especially when your customers watch a floral bouquet bloom right in their tea.

What a unique way to experience tea!   Contact Sally on sales@whiskandspoon.com or call 610 624 3680.

All orders for Bloomin’ Teas will generate a donation for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society which sponsors the Philadelphia Flower Show – March 4 through March 11, 2012.

We are experiencing rapid growth for our organic teas and teaware.  This position is ideal for a seasoned representative looking for another line.

Whisk and Spoon, LLC

Provides organic, fair trade teas, tea ware and specialty culinary products to many vertical markets.  We are looking for enterprise sales professionals to help  close more business. Headquartered in Pennsylvania, Whisk and Spoon is a PA Preferred Company creating teas and products for USA, Canada, Ireland and Australia.

New Ideas for Fall Fundraising

Whisk and Spoon is launching  tea gift sets for fundraiser for schools, corporations, and charities.  Profits can start at 30% on select teas and can go upwards in excess of 50%.

EASY, Healthy and Convenient

Fundraising and tea time go hand in hand.  Help your club raise money for your favorite cause with a new delicious teas for your fundraising ideas.

Raising money is usually unappealing especially when it’s the junky food kits year after year!

“Fundraising fatigue” isn’t a national trend that you can’t fight. It’s a problem that can be addressed by rethinking the way you conduct fundraisers.

The reality is that fundraising provides essential funds for the extras that turn schools from piles of bricks with teachers inside into magical places of discovery and learning and community.  These are the essentials of fundraising.  This year is an exceptionally difficult one with cuts to the educational budgets from the federal, state, city and local levels.   Fundraising will make a difference this year.

Let’s be honest, no one gets fatigued from smiling faces and playgrounds and creating special memories for kids and families.

The key is using excellent grades of  Sencha & Matcha Teas

Good quality organic Sencha has both a  lemoney, fresh as well as a  brothy flavor.  Little Green World’s Organic Matcha gives another depth and  level of flavor.  Both teas are frothy and delicious when combined  with alcohol.  Your  Tea Martini will have  striking green presentation without any artificial anything.

Shochu is the perfect compliment

Shochu is a popular Japanese liquor. It has a flavor similiar to a fine Vodka, but it is a bit smoother and sweeter with not as much of a alcohol “bite.” This is the perfect compliment to the fresh, lemony flavor of Sencha.

What you will need

• 4 oz brewed and cooled organic Sencha tea (For purchase go to  littlegreenworld.com)
• 1/2 teaspoon of Matcha – great taste while adding bright green color to the drink base
• 2 oz Shochu (or organic RAIN Vodka)
• ½ oz agave or some local honey
• Ice
• Cocktail Shaker (or a glass with a lid)
• Martini glass

Make that drink!

• Pack the cocktail shaker with ice
• Add the Schochu, Sencha, Matcha and sweetner
• Shake until it becomes frothy
• Serve in a Martini Glass

Respite from the heat!

To beat the heat and the  dog days of summer chill with our special cocktail.  . When you combine the smooth vodka with the rich, lemony Teas you get a cocktail that is truly magnificent. And to top it off, it looks so good that your friends will line up to drink them!  They may be green with envy…

Whisk and Spoon has the largest TEA collection available to distributors, wholesalers and gourmet retailers.

Whisk and Spoon’s specialty TEAS are organic, fair trade, bloom (flowering)  along with hundreds of non-organic single estate and traditional teas.

Available in our easy Tear and Pour ™ pouches, Whisk and Spoon makes Premium Gourmet Teas available to distributors, wholesalers, gourmet café and retailers.

Whisk and Spoon Tear and Pour ™ Teas can be used with many brands of infusers and french presses. We have several pouch sizes available to work with 16, 20 and 32 ounce infusers.

Benefits:

Gourmet Retailers and  Cafés now have a new product offering, without added any more expensive equipment.  Stores and Cafés now becomes a destination for consumers of quality tea.

Features for Whisk and Spoon Tear and Pour ™ Teas

• Delivers superior and fresh flavor
• Your customers can easily try premium varietals and blended teas
• Provides a superior flavor to everyday tea bags
• Is a  fun and engaging tea drinking experience  for customers
• Eliminates expensive tea loss from Bulk Tea Inventories
• Saves time and money for  training new staff
• Easy to use in busy café operations with demanding customers

Over the past few months,  Westin Hotel selected Whisk and Spoon for Certified Organic private-label signature White  Tea.  Joining the ranks of upscale spas and hoteliers that have been working with Whisk and Spoon, the Westin now joins a number of high-end independents and resturants that have Whisk and Spoon creating  signature certified organic teas.

The emerging trend toward showcasing proprietary-label teas offers a number of advantages for chain operators, experts say, not the least of which is the ability to enjoy a higher profit margin on sales by the cup sales.

Showcasing Certified Organic private-label Teas enables companies to further differentiate their brands from the competition, they add.

“A lot of hotels have created private-label Teas,” said Angie Ecklels, a marketing manager who works with Whisk and Spoon private label tea  innovation team. “Restaurants seem to be moving this way too.  We are getting a lot of serious inquiries for our individually single cup Tear & Pour Teas™ that work with both infusers and presses.  Also the  organic pyramid tea bags with custom labeling remain popular.”

“It’s a unique, organic and kosher – a  signature certified organic tea  that’s  special  to your guests,” Eckels said. “Whisk and Spoon developed a signature tea for the Weston; and offers a simple, yet comprehensive program industry wide. Our Certified Organic PL Tea program is geared towards  hotels, spas, resturants  who are branding their companies  with an organic tea and realizing profitable center.  Many conventions centers are also utilizing our services for specialty events.

Eckels wanted a program that can give clients  a unique offering – Whisk and Spoon responded to the need.  Once a chain gets our program they realize the potential an move to our more sophisticated products offered by Whisk and Spoon.  Our latest project involves working with the a chain spas located in Southern USA – we are creating a new customized line of  Signature Spa Teas specifically for this chain.

“Working with such diverse clients like stadiums,Trade Shows,  hotels, small business to wedding planners”, Angie stated, “Whisk and Spoon  makes  a lot of premium products for private label.”  ”It’s such a bonus to be manufacturing their organic premium introductory tea line in the Tri-State Area – which  makes going local easy!

If you are a business and would like to hear about the Whisk and Spoon PL Certified Organic Tea Program – Please contact us 610 624 3680/sales@whiskandspoon.com  We will be happy to discuss our program with you.