We are proud to be the exclusive tea sponsor for L’Oreal Fashion Week, Canada’s largest and most prestigious fashion event. Fully Loaded Tea blends will be handed out in the official gift bags for the show and distributed to VIP show attendees and some of the largest names in Canadian media.

We want to continue to differentiate our brand from traditional tea companies by supporting events like Fashion Week and staying on top of the latest trends – this is reflected not only in our blends, but also in our participation with numerous arts and cultural events across the country.

The event will take place on March 17th-22nd, 2008 in Toronto, ON. To view the L’Oreal Fashion Week schedule and  find out more information, please click here!

We often get asked about Decaf Tea - especially how it’s made and if it still has all the health benefits of regular tea. Here’s the scoop:

How it’s made

The plant species that tea is made from Camellia sinensis, is part of a group of plant species that contain caffeine naturally. A cup of black tea contains anywhere from 40-50 mg of caffeine, roughly half the caffeine in a cup of coffee. Decaf tea is produced by steaming mature tea leaves and then treating them with either Ethyl Acetate or carbon dioxide. Ethyl Acetate is a naturally occuring chemical compound that is used as a solvent in nail polish removers, in paints as an activator or hardener and industrially to decaffeinate coffee beans and tea leaves. Tea leaves are essentially washed in ethyl acetate, which binds to the caffeine molecules and removes them from the leaves.

The carbon dioxide method involves extracting the aroma and flavor from tea leaves first by treating them with carbon dioxide. The leaves are then treated with more carbon dioxide at a higher pressure to remove caffeine from the tea leaves. After this step, flavor and aroma are added back to the leaves.

(more…)

The food editor at Ottawa Citizen tasted our teas and had this to say:

“Fully Loaded, Tea With Flavour

Our taste testers love the Fully Loaded Tea in various flavours made with whole fruit, berry and vegetable blends sold in a pyramid-shaped mesh bag. Teas are harvested from around the globe, available in eight bold flavours (and I do mean bold). Unlike so many other herbal and flavoured teas, these ones pack flavour. Packaged in Vancouver, the teas are available at selected stores in Western Canada; Ottawa customers can order online at $7.99 for a pack of 14 at www.fullyloadedtea.com. Flavours are: Citrus Spiked Black Tea, Orange Peel, Tomato Rebel Black Tea, Gogi Force Green Tea, Naked Strawberry Green Tea, Cucumber Mojo White Tea. I could go on … Every one of them is delicious. ”

Source: Ottawa Citizen, February 14th edition. To see the article online: Click here!

We’re proud to announce that Fully Loaded Tea will be participating in the 2008 EAT! Vancouver festival:

“Eat Vancouver is Canada’s largest consumer food, beverage and cooking show, expo, festival. This Vancouver food festival will take place at BC Place Stadium, downtown Vancouver, BC on May 23, 24 and 25, 2008. The food expo features hundreds of food, beverage and kitchen goods exhibitors, wineries, breweries, restaurants, chocolatiers, cooking demonstrations, wine and cheese seminars, cookbook authors, chef competitions and barbecue and chili cook-offs.”

The Fully Loaded Tea crew will be in booth #619, serving all 8 blends of our premium whole leaf teas with attitude and introducing a brand new product! Come visit us - to register for the festival: Click Here!

Coca-Cola Co. bought a 40% stake in Honest Tea for $43 million recently. Honest Tea was an independent ready-to-drink tea company started in 1998 by Seth Goldman and his university professor. “Coke plans to expand distribution of the company’s drinks into grocery stores, restaurants and other outlets. Coke will have the right to purchase the remainder of the company, currently valued at about $110 million, after three years.” - Betsy McKay - Wall Street Journal

What does this mean for both ready-to-drink iced tea companies and others who sell tea in teabags, loose leaf tea, etc. in North America? A lot more money spent on advertising tea in the U.S. will generate even more consumer interest in our products! Coca Cola will be spending their enormous resources to educate people on the benefits of tea, including health benefits which is great news for us! Coca Cola is competing with Pepsi’s Lipton product which is a top seller in the iced tea category in the U.S.

I would compare this development to the reason why our blends like the Goji Force Green Tea are such good sellers. The reason is the large amounts of resources spent on promotion of superfoods like goji berries, açai, and other superfoods. When a big player in the food/beverage industry decides to promote a single ingredient, the benefits are felt with every small business that has any stake in that particular market. In our case, other companies promoted goji berries so well, we don’t need to sell them to our customers - they have been educated on the benefits through the media and promotional materials from other brands.

Our blends include superfoods in every single blend: goji berries, seabuckthorn, blueberries, lingonberries, strawberries, blackcurrant, apples, etc. To view a list of our blends: Click Here!

- Katya Popoff