I came across Abaji in browsing the music section of NPR, and could not resist sharing this video with you. Having been exposed to both eastern and western forms of music (as is the case of most immigrants from east to this country, I suppose) I am a big fan of musicians who introduce me to a different musical tradition. Abaji is an ambassador of world music to all of us being an exponent of Greek, Turkish, Armenian and French music. Here is what NPR had to say about Abaji.

Abaji’s work spans many cultures and languages. With roots in Greece, Turkey, Armenia and France, he’s at home strumming a twangy bouzouki, blowing into a breathy duduk or bowing a soft-toned kamancheh. When recording his latest album, Origine Orients, he played 10 different instruments, many of them simultaneously, with no second takes or overdubs. It took him just two days

Enough said about the musician. If you want to know more about Abaji, please play the Tiny Desk Concert video, and to visit his website (parts of which are in French and unintelligible to me). But there are english language translations in many places.

Weekly Special!

And another thing - we have a sale going on at the moment on Tigerhill Tea - 20% off until the end of the month. We have a small stock of this wonderful tea left which will be gone soon, so order some if you would like to have some. Once its gone, it will be gone! The tea is available in both 100 gm pack and 500 gm pack which at $43, is a great steal!

Question: What disease is the largest killer of women?
Answer: A. Breast Cancer, B. Diabetes, C. Osteoporosis, D. Heart Disease

If you answered A, B or C, you were wrong. The biggest killer of women in America is Heart Disease. According to CDC, ~29% of deaths in women are caused by Heart Disease. However the awareness of this is low among women. To raise the awareness of hear disease among women, American Heart Association has started a tradition of wearing Red “Go Red For Women” on Feb 5. But there is no reason we should think of heart disease only on February 5th - we need to raise awareness of the disease everyday. Just look at some of the shocking numbers quoted on CDC website:

Although heart disease is sometimes thought of as a “man’s disease,” … women account for nearly 50% of heart disease deaths. In 2006, heart disease was the cause of death in nearly 316,000 females.

Often the women are misinformed about the specifics of the disease. For instance, there is a misconception that heart disease is an older woman’s disease, which is absolutely not true. In fact, heart disease is the third leading cause of death among women aged 25-44 years and the second leading cause of death among women aged 45-64 years.

Clearly there is a need to raise awareness among women about not only the heart disease, but also about how to go about preventing it. As mothers and daughters and sisters, we owe it to our families to take better care of ourselves including changing our diet to a more heart healthy diet. For instance, one of the largest sources of calories in our diet is carbonated beverages. Simply substituting the carbonated beverages with tea will help you reduce a significant amount of calories from your diet thereby reducing the risk of heart disease.

But drinking tea is just one of many things many things one can do to reduce the risk of heart disease. Look through the links below that will provide you with great information on the disease itself and how to go about preventing it.

CDC webpage on February is the Heart Disease Month
WebMD - Top 5 Health Concerns of Women
Miami Hearld interviewed a cardiologist on Heart Disease
Go Red For Women website

The combined RR for ever drinkers vs non/lowest drinkers was 0.85 (95% CI, 0.77–0.94). Compared with non/lowest drinkers, the summary RR was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.78–0.98) for low to moderate drinkers and 0.75 (95% CI, 0.64–0.88) for high drinkers. An increase in tea intake of 2 cups/day was associated with a 25% decreased risk of endometrial cancer. In subgroup analyses, tea consumption was significantly associated with reduced endometrial cancer risk in Asian studies and studies using interviewing techniques. Furthermore, the protective effect of green tea on endometrial cancer seemed more evident than that of black tea.

You can read more about this study here.

Naina Lal Kidwai, Head of HSBC Bank India

When it comes to India, there are a lot of stereotypes. For instance, I get asked time and again about treatment of women in India, often in a wistful, lamenting tone. Granted there is a huge issue of female illiteracy, and every now and then one hears of the tragic stories of female infanticide, but that alone doesn’t tell the whole story. By and large Indian women, unlike their counterparts in neighboring countries like Iran, Afghanistan or Pakistan, participate in the society in a very big way, often taking on leadership roles not only in social (eg. Medha Patkar of Narmada Bachao Movement) and political realm (eg. Indira Gandhi), they also occupy great positions of power in the world of business. So, I am very glad that NY Times decided to do a feature on the success women have achieved in the tony world high finance. Here is a quote…

HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS and Fidelity International in India are run by women. So is the country’s second-biggest bank, Icici Bank, and its third-largest, Axis Bank. Women head investment banking operations at Kotak Mahindra and JPMorgan Chase and the equities division of Icici. Half of the deputy governors at the Reserve Bank of India are women.

If you would like to read the whole story, simply click on this link. Let us celebrate the success of these Indian women and recognize the Indian society for creating such opportunities. I have two daughters - Jaya and Jiya, and although they live here in US, it is very important to me that they should know of the success Indian women are enjoying within India.

And, oh don’t forget to get your purchases in by the end of the month. As you know, Jaya Teas will donate 25% of the proceeds from all the sales from January 16th to the end of the month to International Red Cross to support our neighbor Haiti’s rebuilding efforts. Read more about it here.

If you are like me, you have probably been deeply affected by the tragedy that struck the island of Haiti just a few days ago. While natural disasters are never a desirable event, when they impact the poorest of poor, the impact is felt many folds more. Over 70% of Haiti lives on less than $2 a day, so when for the average Haitian, this earth quake is nothing short of complete devastation of their life!

While this tragedy is going on we cannot sit on our hands and do nothing. This is why, Jaya Teas is announcing a unique program to help the victims of this tragedy. From now until the end of January, Jaya Teas will donate 25% of all the sales made through our website to American Red Cross, to help the Haiti relief effort.

If you would like to do something for Haitians, one way to do so would be by buying your tea needs before the end of January. We will donate 25% of your purchase value to American Red Cross. If you are not a tea drinker, or if you are well stocked with your teas, we encourage you to help out by donating directly to American Red Cross.

Here is a brief video from our First Lady Michele Obama explaining how you can help.

Please join Jaya Teas in helping our neighbor in her hour of need.

Madhulika Joshi

Tea & Coffee World Cup Europe and Alles fûr den Gast-Wien will take place simultaneously in adjacent halls at the Reed Messe, April 25-27, 2010. The two leading trade fairs in their fields, serving the same industries but in different sectors, will complement each other and add value to both exhibitor’s and visitor’s experiences.

Are you planning to go to the Tea & Coffee World Cup Exhibition? Please scroll down and answer the poll on the right side.

Both 100mg packs and bulk 1lb bags are on sale at 25% off

Upon from the high elevations of Nilgiri Hills comes this delicious green tea, raw in its power, yet smooth as it can be! This tea is certified organic green tea and the longish withered leaf turns in to bright green upon steeping. It produces a light green liquor upon a steep time of 1-1.5 minutes. Recommend upto three steeps out of one tea spoon, with subsequent steep times increasing by 30 seconds each.

The pictures below will tell you just how enticing this tea is!

Grade: Superfine
Season: Second flush
Leaf: Longish black
Liquor: Bright pale yellow
Infusion: Bright green

Please click the images below to enlarge them. Click the right edge to advance to next image

Net weight: 100 gms (3.5 oz)
Typically one 100 gm pack can make up to 100 cups of tea, with each cup costing less than 9 cents. With this sale, your per cup price drops to less than 7 cents! Now that is some savings!

Canned and bottled tea, the largest component in RTD, slowed from growth rates exceeding 20% in both 2006 and 2007 to less than 1% growth this year, Packaged Facts estimates. Meanwhile, sales of bags and loose tea, which had been in decline for two years, are projected to show 3% growth this year.

Read more here

Enjoy!

Dear Customer:
SALE! SALE! SALE!
I am pleased to inform you that we have following teas on sale until 29 September:
1) Gopaldhara First Flush Tea: 15% off regular price of $15.95, now only $13.56. Few quantities remain, so hurry while the stock lasts
http://www.jayateas.netfirms.com/nfoscomm/catalog/gopaldhara-firstflushtea-p-130.html

2) Jaya Reaserve Handmade nut tea: 25% off regular price of $11.95 for 100 gms, now only $8.96.
http://www.jayateas.netfirms.com/nfoscomm/catalog/jaya-reserve-handmadenuttea-p-135.html

3) This tea is also available in 1lb bags. 1 lb bags are 30% off the original price: $40.85, now only $28.60
http://www.jayateas.netfirms.com/nfoscomm/catalog/jaya-reserve-handmadenuttea-p-136.html

4) Mangalam Estate Assam Tea: 20% off regular price of $8.95, now only $7.16
http://www.jayateas.netfirms.com/nfoscomm/catalog/mangalam-estate-p-137.html

5) Woodlands organic Green Tea; 100gms 10% off original price of $8.95, now only $8.06
http://www.jayateas.netfirms.com/nfoscomm/catalog/woodlands-organic-greentea-p-141.html

Prices of products on sale have been revised, so you do not require any coupon code to be entered during checkout.

FREE SHIPPING
As always, all tea and tea accessory purchases above the value of $75 are shipped free.

LOYALTY POINTS
And all your orders earn you loyalty points which can help you reduce the future cost of your tea purchases even further.
Did you know that there are two other ways in which you can earn points?
1) By referring our website to your friends and family you can earn $2.50 worth points when they make a purchase using the referral code sent by you
2) You can earn $1 worth points by simply writing reviews on our site.

MONETIZE YOUR BLOG
We also compensate people for writing review of Jaya Teas products on your blogs. If your weblog has a page rank of 5 or above, you can earn as much as $10 for each review! So monetize your blog by putting a link to our website on your blog. For more information, please visit us at http://www.jayateas.com/payment-for-links/

Please visit us online to review our large catalog of teas. www.jayateas.com

SALE ENDS ON 29TH SEPTEMBER!

Kind Regards,

Madhulika Pareek-Joshi
Jaya Teas, LLC
A woman owned business