Tea Biz News and Insight - January 28, 2022

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Intestinal Bacteria Tied to Low COVID Deaths | Food Inflation Eases | Trade and Tariffs Boost Globalization, a TEAIN2022 forecast | PLUS BRÜ Debuts at CES | ISTA Specialty Tea Standards | NEWSMAKER – BRÜ Maker One inventor Bogdan Krinitchko | GUEST – Andrew McNeill, International Specialty Tea Association | FEATURES – This week, Tea Biz travels to Zurich, Switzerland, where BRÜ co-founder Bogdan Krinitchko describes the Consumer Electronics Show debut of his award-winning specialty tea brewer…and then to Tucson, Arizona, where the International Specialty Tea Association announced it has developed evaluation protocols and assembled a panel of tasters who share a common lexicon and have calibrated their sensory expertise to consistently judge tea quality, based on the skill of its makers. BRÜ Maker One Debuts at CES –In November 2019, Kickstarter donors pledged 500,000 Swiss Francs to finance a startup specialty tea brewer designed by Swiss engineer Bodgan Krinitchko. Bodgan partnered with Filip Carlsberg to create BRÜ Maker One, an (internet of things) IoT device powered by smartphones that memorized settings for brew time, temperature, and water quantity. The single-cup brewer uses whole leaf tea, not capsules, with push-button convenience. After receiving 10,000 orders and a US patent, the machine is a reality three years later. Unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, BRÜ won several awards for innovation and will begin shipping this spring. ISTA Reveals Tea Evaluation Protocols –The International Specialty Tea Association, working closely with Tucson-based ProSense Consumer Research, has completed a 14-month pilot to train and calibrate a panel of tea tasters with new protocols to evaluate the quality of a wide variety of specialty teas. The first full-panel descriptive analysis will be black tea due to its commercial importance and high variability. “Producers of black tea, new and old, are seeking a sustainable market for high-value, high-skill specialty products and need a system that recognizes and rewards tea makers for that effort.”Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy