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Valorie for Bigelow Tea

“People ask me what I do in the winter when there's no baseball... I stare out the window and wait for spring.”
—Rogers Hornsby, St. Louis Cardinals

Life-long Pittsburgh Pirates fans and baseball enthusiasts greet spring training with conflicting emotions: sweet and sour.  The Pirates, whose record has been negligible since the early 90’s, have actually had a good start to their Grapefruit League season. There’s always a sense of optimism that accompanies teams in the spring with the return of Major League Baseball.

As mentioned in this post,  this will be the first season the Dodgers will not hold spring training in Vero Beach Florida.



Vero Beach Dodgers logo compliments of Wikipedia

Dodgers Manager Joe Torre played for the St. Louis Cardinals during the prime of his major league career. While his numbers do not quite match those of two-time Triple Crown winner, Hall of Fame Cardinals outfielder Rogers Hornsby, Torre was no slouch; he was a nine-time All-Star, and won the National League MVP in 1971, the year the Cardinals finished second in the NL East to the eventual World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates. And of course, Joe is a great fan, and friend of Bigelow Tea!

Now Torre manages the Dodgers, who have recently re-signed run-producing outfielder, Many Ramirez. Ramirez’s former team, the Boston Red Sox, are led by another great Bigelow Tea drinker, Manager Terry Francona. Come October it would come as no surprise to see a Red Sox-Dodgers World Series. It’s doubtful that the opposing players would get together for a cup of Bigelow Green Tea during this hypothetical match up, but their managers might.


Phil Simms (former quarterback for the NY Giants and TV sportscaster for CBS), Cindi Bigelow (President Bigelow Tea), Terry Francona (manager Boston Red Sox), Bob Kelly (SVP Bigelow Tea) and Joe Torre (manager LA Dodgers)

Image provided by the City of South Gate, California

Bigelow Tea helps celebrate both spring and the flowery arts with a special participating booth and activities at the 45th Annual Azalea Flowers Festival, held in the city of South Gate, California on March 20th and 21st. The delight that comes from a great cup of Bigelow tea fits right in with the City of South Gate, who has sponsored this dazzling Azalea Flowers Festival since 1966. It has become the City's annual celebration of the springtime blooming of its official flower, the Azalea. Bigelow Tea is proud to participate in this 45th Annual Azalea Festival, which expects up to 20,000 participants for both days.



Image compliments the 45th Annual Azalea Flowers Festival

Azaleas are called "the royalty of the garden" by flower lovers; and the many thousands of named varieties can thrive in several growing conditions across the United States. Bigelow Tea (also know as Royalty to tea lovers everywhere!) knows something about growing too — and so it’s a natural fit for Bigelow Tea at the Azalea Flowers Festival. And lucky visitors who stop by our Bigelow Tea hospitality booth will enjoy selected samples.



Image compliments the 45th Annual Azalea Flowers Festival

Festival participants will also have a flurry of activities to choose from, including a golf tournament, car show and talent search. But perhaps best of all will be our Bigelow Tea product samples…hot samples of Bigelow Green Tea or Cozy Chamomile, and the warm-weather-is-here Chamomile Mango will be served up for visitors at the famous two day Azalea festival. We will also hand out 2-teabag samplers, and coupon for more great tea products. Beautiful Azaleas, exceptional Bigelow Tea samples, and that warm Southern California sun team up for a great “first week-end of spring” event!

The history of Saint Patrick is a blending of mythology and fact so intertwined that separating reality from fantasy could prove to be as difficult as removing the tea from Ireland. But one thing is for sure, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day is an opportunity to recognize “all things Irish” in ourselves, and maybe enjoy an extra cup (or two) of Green Tea from Bigelow Tea for your morning or afternoon!

Fifth century Ireland is a lost world, virtually closed to both historians and archaeologists, and what little is known about the life and work of Patrick comes from his own writings in Latin. Saint Patrick was an Irish apostle who as legend has it, banished snakes from the shores of his country, and suffered much persecution. On his way to sainthood, Saint Patrick is credited with establishing many churches and schools in his homeland while gaining his place in Irish History, and helping free his country from religious persecution.



On St. Patrick’s Day it is tradition to take part in the “wearin’ of the green”; something green in honor of the day and in honor of Ireland and the good deeds of St. Patrick. Fortunately for Tea Lovers, Bigelow Tea has a few suggestions for a grand St. Patrick’s Day celebration at home.

• Enjoy a cup of Bigelow Green Tea
• Attend a Saint Patrick’s Day Tea Party
• And if you are planning your own St. Patrick’s Day tea party, Bigelow Tea offers a variety of Green Teas, and a delightful recipe for a Greenie Mar-Tea-ni.
• The Greenie Mar-TEA-ni:

Ingredients:
6 Bigelow® Green Tea tea bags
1¼ cups boiling water
1 tablespoon sugar
4 ounces vodka
Garnish with a twist of lemon

Yield: Serves 4

Instructions:

Place Bigelow® Green Tea tea bags into a measuring cup and add 1¼ cups boiling water. Let brew for 3 minutes. Remove tea bags.

Add sugar and stir until it dissolves. Chill.

To make a martini, take two ounces of the cooled sweet tea and mix it with one ounce of the vodka. Shake with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Photo Courtesy of Healthy Hollywood

Make-up maven, Bobbi Brown, started her first line of lipsticks in 1991.  The line debuted at Bergdorf Goodman.  Brown has since expanded her empire to over 400 stores and 20 countries around the world.  So what does it take to keep a CEO/international make-up artist/wife and mother of three running?  Green tea!  In the January issue of In Style magazine, Brown admits, “I will never give up….green tea soy lattes.”  For more on what makes this female icon worth the admiration, read her story!

Two hours across the western Canadian border in a little mom and pop cafe was the first time I drank hot tea for anything besides an upset stomach or menstrual cramps. I was 20 years old, and the owner of the place refused to serve me Pepsi for breakfast. He muttered something about sacrilege and his eggs and (Canadian) bacon served with soda over his dead body. So he brought me a pitcher of hot water and a little basket of Bigelow teas. I picked the Earl Grey because I liked the name, and I had to admit. It DID make breakfast taste better.

After many campfires and hiking trips that same summer I'm convinced that it's impossible to enjoy nature, or to shake off a cold rainy day as effectively with anything but tea. I'm hooked now. Fewer calories than coffee with the flavored creamers I so love...and I can carry a package in my pocket and find hot water anywhere!

I noticed Earl Grey is the first tea to disappear when I go to conferences or hotels that serve continental breakfasts, so I know I'm not the only one who loves it. Thanks for giving me a chance to share how much I love this tea!

Becky B.
Virginia

More good news for tea lovers everywhere — new research from UCLA indicates that drinking three or more cups of green or black tea a day may reduce the risk of stroke by an astounding 21%. And the more tea you drink, the greater the cuts in stroke risk according to data analysis, involving 4,378 strokes among 194,965 individuals. The lead author of this new study, Lenore Arab, tells us that "What we saw was that there was a consistency of effect of appreciable magnitude…by drinking three cups of tea a day, the risk of a stroke was reduced by 21%. It didn't matter if it was green or black tea."

Arab and her co-workers pooled data from nine studies — all of which reported stroke occurrence and tea consumption in humans. Compared to people who drank less than a cup of tea a day, those participants drinking three cups a day were associated with that 21% reduction in the risk of stroke. The researchers also report an association with an additional three cups reducing stroke risk even further. The study and findings were presented at the American Heart Association's annual International Stroke Conference in San Diego, California and published in the journal Stroke.

All of Bigelow Tea is rich in polyphenols, which are a type of antioxidant. Whether green or black, tea has about eight to 10 times the Polyphenols found in fruits and vegetables. A new parallel study to the UCLA report was published in the journal Nutrition in February 2009 by US scientists, and it reports that the daily supplements of green tea extracts could reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressures, as well as total cholesterol levels; the control of which are major dynamics in the ongoing management of stroke prevention.

My father, David, just finished writing a book about my grandmother (his mother) Ruth Campbell Bigelow.  It is such a lovely tribute to her and all she did to get Bigelow Tea, the company, started.

We often talk about how fortunate we all are that she decided back in 1945 to create a unique tea, “Constant Comment.”  This book does such a terrific job taking the reader through the early years.  Of course, it does not really share all that my mother and father did to grow the business to where it is today.  My father’s 50 years of dedication and hard work is why we are thriving today!  Still it recounts the beginning years perfectly!!

I highly recommend you consider reading this book if you want to see what it took 64 years ago to get Bigelow Tea up and running…it is a quick read and very endearing.

Bravo David, Bravo

Cindi Bigelow

(Note, you can buy this book soon on www.bigelowtea.com)

What does a 23-year-old heartthrob do in his down time?  Drinks tea!  Chace Crawford of Gossip Girl was recently spotted drinking tea at an Urban Golf event in London.  Crawford, who didn’t even pursue acting until his sophomore year of college, has quickly become the obsession of teen girls and Gossip Girl fans alike.  However, unlike many young stars that quickly rise to fame, Crawford has managed to maintain a scandal-free and healthy image.  No doubt that his tea drinking has helped him out with this.  Check him out again, having a light lunch and iced tea, while shopping in London!



Photo Courtesy of Wicked Youth

In 1784, Benjamin Franklin composed his “Essay on Daylight Saving,” proposing a law that would require Parisians to get up an hour earlier in the summer to put daylight to better use. He reasoned that they’d save a good deal of money on buying candles! Today Daylight Saving Time, or DST, still is meant to conserve energy by changing clocks by an hour to gain more waking sunlight hours in the spring and summer, and fewer in the winter. It begins on the second Sunday of March, which this year falls on March 8th.

So, early in the morning of March 8th at 2:00 a.m., clocks are set ahead one hour, which then becomes 3:00 a.m. local daylight time. Simple…it may be easier to remember to always “spring” forward one hour in March, and then “fall” back one hour in November. As a tool for reducing energy consumption, DST reportedly saves 10,000 barrels of oil each day in force, due to reduced power needs by businesses during daylight hours. So we "lose" an hour during the night — to a tea lover that is just “springing ahead” to that first hot cup of Bigelow Tea in the morning!

Standard time zones were instituted in the US by the powerful railroads in 1883 to help maintain train schedules, and DST was developed later during World War I, to help with war production costs. After modifications over the years, we now recognize DST in its current form, except for Arizona Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, who do not observe DST. Even with the benefits, DST causes stress or consternation for some people and their busy schedules. All the more reason to enjoy an extra cup or two of calming Bigelow Tea.