Our blog has moved

Our blog has moved to a new, easier to remember address on our server. It is still evolving but we hope you like the new feel and functionality. The new address is www.purepuer.com/blog See you there! --Larry

Pure Puer Tea at the Katmandu Fall Festival

This weekend Pure Puer Tea participated in the 5th Annual Katmandu Fall Festival, which was held in Sonoma, California. The money raised from the festival goes to the Children's Medical Aid Foundation, whose mission: " ...is dedicated to improving the lives of children in Nepal by providing surgical correction of birth defects." There was great food, art, photos, and products from Nepal, Tibet and India and some natural health vendors at the festival. This event is of particular relevance to Pure Pure Tea because in this area of the world puer tea is part of their daily nutrition. The Tibetan monks introduced Puer Tea to Tibet hundreds of years ago. If you would like to make a donation to the foundation, visit:
Children's Medical Aid Foundation
To see a slideshow of the event visit:
Pure Puer Tea at the Katmandu Fall Festival

Introducing the Piao I Travel Buddy with Auto-Straw

Travel Buddy Tea Infuser bottle with auto-straw. The latest patented innovation from Piao I. One-handed operation. With a push of a button, the straw automatically pops up. Close the lid, and it locks securely with a click. When the lid is closed it automatically closes and seals the straw. High quality neoprene bottle jacket included. No more spills, lost or dirty bottle caps, or fumbling with caps. If quick and easy one-handed operation is important to you, this is your bottle.

Winner of a 2008 German Red Dot award for design excellence. May be used to brew tea cold or hot. Great for travel, backpacks, sports, the office, students, bicycles and cars. High quality, shatter resistant polycarbonate bottle made in Taiwan. Material approved by the FDA. Stainless steel filter, straw made of supple silicon. The filter may even be removed, and the bottle functions as a regular drinking bottle. Just make sure the silicon seal ring is placed in the bottom lid.

Piao I Travel Buddy with Auto-Straw

Travel Buddy Tea Infuser featured on Uncrate.com

Pure Puer Tea and Piao I USA is honored that the popular online men's magazine Uncrate.com has featured the Piao I Travel Buddy tea infuser bottle on the gear section of its website. According to uncrate, "Uncrate is a web magazine for guys who love stuff. Our team finds the best gadgets, clothes, cars, DVDs and more.

Here is what Uncrate has to say about the Travel Buddy:

Travel Buddy Tea Infuser

Whether you're hiking, camping, or just running late for work, you can brew your favorite teas on the go with the Travel Buddy Tea Infuser ($27-$33). Available in three sizes for modest to boast-worthy drinkers, the Travel Buddy features a built-in strainer helps to filter tea, a special safe lid with air leaking design to prevent air blowout, the ability to brew green tea, black tea, flower tea, herb tea, fruit tea coffee grounds or tea bags, and a leak-proof design.

Pure Puer Tea at the Mill Valley Farmer's Market

In addition to being at the Corte Madera Farmer's market on Wednesdays, we are now at the new Mill Valley Farmer's Market on Friday mornings from 9-2. It is held near the Post Office on 751 East Blithedale Ave., Mill Valley, CA. It is only about a 1 minute drive from the Highway 101 East Blithedale exit. Mill Valley is about a 15 minute drive north of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. We hope to see you there!

Puer tea may significantly lower blood sugar, help prevent diabtetes

A new two-year study conducted by scientists at Jilin University and the Changchun Science and Technology University found that drinking puer tea may significantly reduce blood sugar levels and help prevent diabetes. In a study of twenty obese rats with very high blood sugar, eight of ten of those that were not fed puer tea developed sores and infections died after eleven months. All ten rats that were fed puer tea lived beyond eleven months, and none developed sores or infections.

The study also compared the blood sugar reducing ability of puer tea versus Rosiglitazone, a drug widely used to reduce blood sugar. The study found that after two weeks the rats that were fed Rosiglitazone had a 36.5 percent reduction in blood sugar, verus a 42 percent reduction in the puer tea fed rats. Puer tea fed rats lost weight, while the Rosiglitazone rats did not.

The deputy mayor of Pu'er City pointed out that Yunnan has one of the best longetivity rates in China, the lowest cancer rate, and Pu'er city has the lowest number of cancer patients in Yunnan.

The study also found that when 120 diabetic human volunteers stopped taking their diabetic medication and drank puer tea regularly, seventy percent lowered their blood sugar levels below 7 mmol/L, an average decrease of 35 percent.

China Daily Article

Summer Newsletter

Recently Yang Su returned from her trip to China and Taiwan. In Taiwan she visited some tea farmers, and found a great pesticide-free Bao Zhong green tea. Bao Zhong tea is Taiwan's most famous green tea. You can see our Bao Zhong slideshow. We have also added a slideshow of our popular cerified organic oolong tea.

In puer tea, we have added new green puer tea from the Jin Yu Xuan company. This includes Jin Mai, Yi Wu, and Jindamo green cakes. We have added new gaiwan, yixingware, glassware and will soon be adding bamboo accessories and other items.

In May we represented the Piao I teapot company at the 2009 World Tea Expo in Las Vegas. You can see a slideshow at Piao I USA. We will have an exciting new Piao I product in the near future.

Lastly, we added a couple of new health studies to our health benefits section. One study conducted by UCLA shows that people who drink at least 3 cups of green or black tea a day have a 20% less risk of having a stroke. The more tea you drink, the more benefit you get.

Another study found that puer tea tea may be useful in reducing cardiovascular disorders. These studies may be viewed in our Health Benefits section.

We hope you are enjoying the summer. As always, we love to hear from you.

--Larry and Yang Su

Piao I at the 2009 World Tea Expo

Yang Su and Larry were proud to represent Piao I USA at the 2009 World Tea Expo. It was held at the Mandalay Bay convention center in Las Vegas from May 2-4. We enjoyed meeting our existing customers, making new friends and customers, and representing Piao I, the maker of the world's most convenient tea brewing products.

Piao I at the 2009 World Tea Expo

Orders placed from May 1 to May 4 will be shipped on May 5

Yang Su recently returned from a trip to China and Taiwan. Now Larry and Yang Su are off to Las Vegas to the World Tea Expo from May 2-4. Once again, it will be held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. We will be in the Taiwan section representing the Piao I teapot company. We hope to see you there. Any orders placed on the web before then will be shipped on May 5.

Pure Puer Tea mentioned in "Super Natural Home"

Here is a sample of what award-winning journalist Beth Greer has to say about puer tea and our company "Pure Puer Tea" in her new book "Super Natural Home."

"One Chinese tea, known as puer, has for centuries been considered medicinal. It is said to reduce bad cholesterol, lower triglycerides, prevent arteriosclerosis and strokes, aid in weight loss, and help reduce stress. Green puer is one of the most natural, unprocessed tea in the world."

She explains that Pure Puer Tea's green and black puer tea is "...imported from China and is air dried instead of baked at high temperatures..."

Beth has written articles for Us magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and online. Her book is a great guide for healthy green living, and how to create a healthy home environment and lifestyle, with less exposure to toxins. Beth has a clear, concise and enjoyable writing style. She offers many practical suggestions that everyone can implement.

Beth and her husband Stephen are the founders of The Learning Annex, the largest private alternative education company in the US.

Here is a link to her website:

Supernaturalhome.com

New Study Shows Tea Reduces Chance of Stroke

Green, black tea can reduce stroke risk

By Enrique Rivero

Drinking at least three cups of green or black tea a day can significantly reduce the risk of stroke, a new UCLA study has found. And the more you drink, the better your odds of staving off a stroke.

The study results, published in the online edition of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, were presented Feb. 19 at the American Heart Association's annual International Stroke Conference in San Diego, Calif.

The UCLA researchers conducted an evidence-based review of all human observational studies on stroke and tea consumption found in the PubMed and Web of Science archives. They found nine studies describing 4,378 strokes among nearly 195,000 individuals, according to lead author Lenore Arab, a professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

"What we saw was that there was a consistency of effect of appreciable magnitude," said Arab, who is also a professor of biological chemistry. "By drinking three cups of tea a day, the risk of a stroke was reduced by 21 percent. It didn't matter if it was green or black tea."

And extrapolating from the data, the effect appears to be linear, Arab said. For instance, if one drinks three cups a day, the risk falls by 21 percent; follow that with another three cups and the risk drops another 21 percent.

This effect was found in tea made from the plant Camellia sinensis, not from herbal teas.

There are very few known ways to reduce the risk of stroke, Arab said. And developing medications for stroke victims is particularly challenging, given that the drug has to get to the stroke-damaged site quickly because damage occurs so fast. Arab said that by the time a stroke victim gets medical care, it's nearly too late to impede the damage.

"That's why these findings are so exciting," she said. "If we can find a way to prevent the stroke, or prevent the damage, that is simple and not toxic, that would be a great advance."

Though no one is certain which compounds in tea are responsible for this effect, researchers have speculated that the antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) or the amino acid theanine may be what helps. Antioxidants are believed to help prevent coronary artery disease.

"And we do know that theanine is nearly 100-percent absorbed," Arab said. "It gets across the blood-brain barrier and it looks a lot like a molecule that's very similar to glutamate, and glutamate release is associated with stroke.

"It could be that theanine and glutamate compete for the glutamate receptor in the brain," she added.

Although a randomized clinical trial is needed to confirm this effect, the findings suggest that drinking three cups of green or black tea a day could help prevent an ischemic stroke.

Study co-authors with Arab are Weiqing Liu, a senior statistician in the UCLA Department of Biomathematics, and David Elashoff, associate professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services search at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

The Unilever Lipton Institute of Tea funded this study.

The General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research Divison in the department of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA provides a unique interactive environment for collaborative efforts between health services researchers and clinical experts with experience in evidence-based work. The division's 100-plus clinicians and researchers are engaged in a wide variety of projects that examine issues related to access to care, quality of care, health measurement, physician education, clinical ethics and doctor-patient communication. Researchers in the division have close working relationships with economists, statisticians, social scientists and other specialists throughout UCLA and frequently collaborate with their counterparts at the RAND Corp. and the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science.

Puer Tea Hawaiian Style

At Pure Puer Tea we spend a lot of time telling people about ourselves, and educating people about our tea, and where it comes from. We thought it would be fun to turn the table, and profile one of our good customers. Meet Terry, or "Tea" as she prefers to be called. She lives in the small town of Kapaau, Hawaii. It is located in the northern tip of the Big Island of Hawaii. I asked Tea to send me some pictures of where she lived, and she sent me some amazing pictures of the 300-350 acres that she shares with her architect partner and their family. Tea, as you might imagine, loves to drink tea. Now you can enjoy puer tea in paradise because they will soon be offering 20 acres of this pristine property for sale. Let me know if you are interested. Enjoy her slideshow, and her comments.

Terry said...

Aloha from Tea,

who is loving this fabulous new tea ritual after a holiday filled with yixing tea pots, cups, green tea cakes ( one from the thousand year old tree! ummm!) hot water pitchers, a number of accessories and awesome bamboo trays. Well then, I just kinda knew after the first shipment arrived this was high quality stuff, and need not look any further!

Thanks for sharing your travels with us Larry and Yang Su! I look forward to seeing what goodies you bring home after your next journey to the East.

Maybe something special to go in our 'on the drawing board tea room' hopefully to become part of our long awaited home in paradise.

With a warm Aloha and many kind thanks,

Tea

Pure Puer Tea at the Crown and Crumpet Tea Salon, Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco

Yesterday we enjoyed delicious tea and crumpets, and other delicacies at San Francisco's new tea salon "Crown and Crumpet" located in San Francisco's famous Ghirardelli Square. Our Third Grade Black Puer Tea is featured in their premium tea section. Owners Amy and Christopher Dean and staff were very gracious. The atmosphere is bright, fun and cheerful, and the food delicious. If you are in San Francisco and would like to try out our Third Grade Black Puer, ask for it at the Crown and Crumpet.
Crown and Crumpet

November 2008 Puer Tea Tasting Event

Yesterday we enjoyed our annual puer tea tasting event which took place in Corte Madera, CA. We all enjoyed a variety of fine puer tea, great company, and the opportunity for Yang Su and Larry to tell everyone about our latest trip to Yunnan. Click link below for photos.
November, 2008 Puer Tea Tasting Event

Larry and Yang Su return from trip to Yunnan

Recently Larry and Yang Su returned from a trip to China, including the Yunnan cities of Kunming and Lijiang. We visited the headquarters of the exclusive Jin Yu Xuan Tea company, and enjoyed a private tasting and tour of their facilities. We are excited to be adding some of their extraordinary new green puer tea. The Jin Yu Xuan company pays tremendous attention to details, and does everything to ensure that its tea is among the highest quality puer teas in the world.

The quality begins from the source. Their tea comes from trees which are from 500-800 years old, that comes from famous mountains in Xishaunbanna, in Yunnan, China. They only pick their tea in the spring, to ensure that the trees are not over harvested. When the tea is carried back from the mountains, they ensure that the loads are not too full, so as to not bruise the tea leaves. Until recently, the paper used to wrap the tea cakes was hand made. Their storage area is not only immaculate, but beautiful and functional. The temperature and humidity levels are closely monitored. Jin Yu Xuan believes tea is an art, and they value quality over quantity. Tastings at their facilities are by appointment only, and are limited to one tasting a day.