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Monday, January 02, 2012
Reminder about your invitation from Daya Constance
Monday, December 19, 2011
Closing Post
The Indonique Tea web site has gone the way of the cafe. We're closed for business. We are keeping the brand alive in the event we decide to open another cafe when the economy improves. Until then, thank you all so much for your past support.
Feel free to post comments and send suggestions through this blog. We're also open to business proposals.
George
Feel free to post comments and send suggestions through this blog. We're also open to business proposals.
George
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Jonas Hanway (1712-1786) from "Georgian London" Blob
Jonas Hanway (1712–1786) is an unsung hero whose kindness and eccentricities deserve a more prominent place in history than they have enjoyed until now…
To many, Hanway will always be remembered as the first man in London to carry an umbrella. This attracted much ridicule in the 1750s, especially from the city’s coach-drivers, who were worried they would lose trade on rainy days if the idea caught on. The umbrella, or ‘portable roof’, was a common sight in Paris, and Londoners regularly bombarded Hanway with cries of ‘Frenchman! Frenchman! Why don’t you call a coach?’ Umbrellas were a curiosity in England, and because Daniel Defoe’s popular character, Robinson Crusoe, fashioned one for himself from skins, they were often referred to as ‘Robinsons’ in both England and France. Hanway got the idea in Persia while travelling on business. The Persians had been using parasols for some time, since they were imported by Chinese merchants on the Silk Road. In addition to protecting himself from the inclement British weather with an umbrella, Hanway sported several layers of stockings, and wore flannel underwear to ward off ill-health, which he worried about a great deal throughout his seventy-four years.
read the rest here:
http://www.georgianlondon.com/guest-post-by-adrian-teal-philanthropy-umbrel
To many, Hanway will always be remembered as the first man in London to carry an umbrella. This attracted much ridicule in the 1750s, especially from the city’s coach-drivers, who were worried they would lose trade on rainy days if the idea caught on. The umbrella, or ‘portable roof’, was a common sight in Paris, and Londoners regularly bombarded Hanway with cries of ‘Frenchman! Frenchman! Why don’t you call a coach?’ Umbrellas were a curiosity in England, and because Daniel Defoe’s popular character, Robinson Crusoe, fashioned one for himself from skins, they were often referred to as ‘Robinsons’ in both England and France. Hanway got the idea in Persia while travelling on business. The Persians had been using parasols for some time, since they were imported by Chinese merchants on the Silk Road. In addition to protecting himself from the inclement British weather with an umbrella, Hanway sported several layers of stockings, and wore flannel underwear to ward off ill-health, which he worried about a great deal throughout his seventy-four years.
read the rest here:
http://www.georgianlondon.com/guest-post-by-adrian-teal-philanthropy-umbrel
Monday, October 25, 2010
5 Reasons the Tea Party Should Change Their Name
1. 'Cause every time I google "TEA" the damned Texas Educational Agency pops up.
2. Some of my more liberal customers are switching to coffee hurting sales
3. I'm afraid their gonna throw my tea into a harbor or lake or puddle or something
4. I don't think many of them drink tea anyway
5. Tea requires boiling water and someone's gonna get carried away and throw it at a politician. OK maybe that wouldn't be so bad, but a bystander might get hit.
2. Some of my more liberal customers are switching to coffee hurting sales
3. I'm afraid their gonna throw my tea into a harbor or lake or puddle or something
4. I don't think many of them drink tea anyway
5. Tea requires boiling water and someone's gonna get carried away and throw it at a politician. OK maybe that wouldn't be so bad, but a bystander might get hit.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Cheap Chinese Labor
Nothing Seems to Have Changed
A few years ago, while traveling in India, I met with a merchant who complained about competition from cheap Chinese labor. I had to laugh and welcome him to the developed world. Recently I discovered this text in Robert Fortune's "A Journey to Tea Countries of China":
"Of late years some attempts have been made to cultivate the tea-shrub in the United States of Ame rica, and also in our own Australian colonies.* I believe all such attempts will end in failure and disappointment. The tea-plant will grow wherever the climate and soil are suitable, and, were it merely intended as an ornamental shrub, there could be no objections to its introduction into those countries. But if it is introduced to be cultivated as an object of commercial speculation, we must not only inquire into the suitableness of climate and soil, but also into the price of labour. Labour is cheap in China. The labourers in the tea-countries do not receive more than twopence or threepence a day. Can workmen be procured for this small sum either in the United States or in Australia ? And if they cannot be hired for this sum, nor for anything near it, how will the manufacturers in such places be able to compete with the Chinese in the market ?"
Labor costs are extremely low in China. Fortunately there appears to be signs of improvement starting with labor unions in Hing Kong. Better paid Chinese labor, I believe will be good for everyone around the planet. A little investment in Chinese infrastructure might be a good idea as well. Improved transportation routes and efficient utilities would serve to keep prices down as labor increases.
A few years ago, while traveling in India, I met with a merchant who complained about competition from cheap Chinese labor. I had to laugh and welcome him to the developed world. Recently I discovered this text in Robert Fortune's "A Journey to Tea Countries of China":
"Of late years some attempts have been made to cultivate the tea-shrub in the United States of Ame rica, and also in our own Australian colonies.* I believe all such attempts will end in failure and disappointment. The tea-plant will grow wherever the climate and soil are suitable, and, were it merely intended as an ornamental shrub, there could be no objections to its introduction into those countries. But if it is introduced to be cultivated as an object of commercial speculation, we must not only inquire into the suitableness of climate and soil, but also into the price of labour. Labour is cheap in China. The labourers in the tea-countries do not receive more than twopence or threepence a day. Can workmen be procured for this small sum either in the United States or in Australia ? And if they cannot be hired for this sum, nor for anything near it, how will the manufacturers in such places be able to compete with the Chinese in the market ?"
Labor costs are extremely low in China. Fortunately there appears to be signs of improvement starting with labor unions in Hing Kong. Better paid Chinese labor, I believe will be good for everyone around the planet. A little investment in Chinese infrastructure might be a good idea as well. Improved transportation routes and efficient utilities would serve to keep prices down as labor increases.
Chinese Tea Coolies
The following images were taken from "A Journey to the Tea Countries of China" by Robert Fortune the explorer. They illustrate the two primary methods of transporting tea from fields deep in China to the coats. Thousands of coolies followed well worn paths through steep forbidding mountains, swollen raging rivers and every terrain in between. The first method illustrated shows the common method for transporting most tea. The second was reserved for the most expensive teas. The sticks attached to the tea chest was designed to allow the coolie to stand the chest against a vertical surface so that the chest never touched the ground and limited the risk it could be wet or soiled.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Music Widget Has Been Added to Sidebar
Really cool music widget from Amazon.com has been added to our side bar. It allows us to add all of our favorite ethnic music to the site for preview and quick purchase. This is the same music Daya and I listen to at home and played at our New Orleans Cafe. For a really relaxed and sensuous evening, download some of the tunes, fire up the kettle and steep some Indonique Tea.
Give it a go!
Give it a go!
Great History & Tea History Read
Great well-written read if you're into history and tea history in particular. This is the definitive work on the might molecule. I use it for entertainment as well as a resource for lectures. Learn all about caffeine chemistry, it's origins, products that carry it and the empires they created and destroyed. Amazing how a seemingly mundane subject can be made so enthralling! Visit Indonique.com to get your fix! |
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tea values and Tradition
I like tea. Duh. I own a tea company. But I really like tea, its taste, its enormous diversity and, more than anything, the associations it has. For me, tea still has the traditional Red-Hat Lady association, yes. But more so, the aroma of an Irish Breakfast or rich Assam Black tea conjures images of Indian Riflemen patrolling the frontiers of Empire. Heavy bergamot-infused Earl Grey sends me to well appointed studies where gentlemen sip this timeless infusion while reading the exploits of intrepid traveler, explorer and spy, Robert Fortune. There's an equally rich and nostalgic association with every tea I've encountered transporting me back to a simpler time.
Truth is those times were hard and harsh. No penicillin, half your children died before attending grade school and that's just the start of it. If you could, as I imagined, speak to someone from that era I'm sure they'd think you nuts to want to return to their world. Asked their advice, they'd tell you to transport their values and perhaps some of their lifestyle forward into our world. So I, like my ancestors couldn't, took to the internet and found others, too many to list, that were doing just that. Steampunk and retro lifestyles. Men and women in Victorian clothes taking the subway to work. Handle-barred mustaches peering over laptops. Less television and more reading. Fewer "activities" for the kids and more one on one time at home. Work schedules re-arranged for family time first. Special attention and resources dedicated to social seating areas and less on wide screen bedroom audio visual appliances. Sofas and chairs that face each other and not the wide screen. Tea and biscuits with kids.
I think tonight, after dinner with the wife and kids, we'll, together, watch a little Sherlock Holmes on television. And over a Russian Black Cherry tea with maybe a dram of cognac. The kids, with some Caffeine-Free Honeybush Herbal, will tell me about the latest writing exercise that they're proud of. After they're asleep I'll read, "Travels to the tea Countries of China" by Robert Fortune on my iphone.
I think tonight, after dinner with the wife and kids, we'll, together, watch a little Sherlock Holmes on television. And over a Russian Black Cherry tea with maybe a dram of cognac. The kids, with some Caffeine-Free Honeybush Herbal, will tell me about the latest writing exercise that they're proud of. After they're asleep I'll read, "Travels to the tea Countries of China" by Robert Fortune on my iphone.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Calming Ethnic-Themed Tea Music
Music that was Played Late Nights at the Indonique Tea & Chai Cafe. Find someone special, fire up the tea kettle, and warm the pot with some Moroccan Mint and lets us take you there.
Purchase Authentic Moroccan Mint Green Tea Here
Some MP3 Downloads of Selected Songs:
You and I  | > Together |
Purchase Authentic Moroccan Mint Green Tea Here
Top 5 Reasons to Believe TEA is an Aphrodisiac
1. Tea was invented in China - There are 1.3 billion Chinese
2. The second nation to grow tea commercially was India - There are 1.15 billion Indians
3. India is the largest producer of Tea in the world, but not the largest exporter. They consume most of their own tea crop - did I mention how many of them there are?
4. The Kama Sutra was written in India
5. Tea is a national obsession in Japan and is the most densely populated nation in the world
Honorable mention: Brazil's national drink is an herbal tea (See 5 Reasons to Believe Mate is an Aphrodisiac)
2. The second nation to grow tea commercially was India - There are 1.15 billion Indians
3. India is the largest producer of Tea in the world, but not the largest exporter. They consume most of their own tea crop - did I mention how many of them there are?
4. The Kama Sutra was written in India
5. Tea is a national obsession in Japan and is the most densely populated nation in the world
Honorable mention: Brazil's national drink is an herbal tea (See 5 Reasons to Believe Mate is an Aphrodisiac)
Monday, March 08, 2010
Dyeing Green Tea
19th century Chinese merchants regularly dyed green teas bound for the west with a mixture of gypsum and Prussian blue. The reasoning for this is best taken from a contemporary, Robert Fortune, botanist, explorer and spy, in his published journals "A Journey to the Tea Countries of China" by Robert Forutne:
"One day an English gentleman in Shanghae, being in conversation with some Chinese from the green-tea country, asked them what reasons they had for dyeing the tea, and whether it would not be better without undergoing this process. They acknowledged that tea was much better when prepared without having any such ingredients mixed with it, and that they never drank dyed teas themselves, but justly remarked that, as foreigners seemed to prefer having a mixture of Prussian blue and gypsum with their tea, to make it look uniform and pretty, and as these ingredients were cheap enough, the Chinese had no objection to supply them, especially as such teas always fetched a higher price!"
"One day an English gentleman in Shanghae, being in conversation with some Chinese from the green-tea country, asked them what reasons they had for dyeing the tea, and whether it would not be better without undergoing this process. They acknowledged that tea was much better when prepared without having any such ingredients mixed with it, and that they never drank dyed teas themselves, but justly remarked that, as foreigners seemed to prefer having a mixture of Prussian blue and gypsum with their tea, to make it look uniform and pretty, and as these ingredients were cheap enough, the Chinese had no objection to supply them, especially as such teas always fetched a higher price!"
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