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Me too! The problem is, I haven’t been getting one recently…. Usually I sleep well. I enjoy sleeping. In fact, I love sleeping. Perhaps too much! But in the past week or so I just can’t seem to nod off. These days, whenever I get into bed, I toss and I turn until I can’t stand it any longer and get back out of bed again. It’s probably got something to do with the fact that my body still has a few minor aches and pains following the accident. It probably needs time to heal itself. So I’ve been spending a lot of time surfing the net and chatting with friends on skype. Jessica, a good friend of mine from Austin, Texas, seems to have an herbal remedy for everything. She’s given me a sleeping remedy to try out. Actually, it’s a...

Tea is very important in Japanese culture. Although a wide variety of teas and tisanes are routinely enjoyed, it is green tea, or nihoncha, which receives most attention in Japan. Many festivals, celebrations and ceremonies are associated with the production, harvesting and consumption of green tea. Interestingly, organic green tea has, largely due to Japan’s vibrant youth culture, become very popular in recent years. By way of example, Itoen’s organic ryokucha (pictured), a fragrant green tea with a wonderfully clean taste, is now available throughout Japan. Its quality, at least in my opinion, is much higher than the non-organic “to go” varieties currently on the market. And for around 160円 it represents good value for many Japanese...

Numi Organic Tea, a proud Oaktown business, is opening its enchanted Tea Garden in Oakland’s Embarcadero Cove. As part of the celebrations, Numi is hosting a benefit for local non-profit, Art in Action, who work to bring inner-city youth to summer camps to develop their artistic expression and eat healthy with organic food. Art in Action Youth Leadership Program uplifts and transforms the lives of young artists impacted by violence and poverty. Art in Action provides a supportive, positive place for young leaders to cultivate leadership through dance, theatre, music, spoken word/poetry, painting, storytelling, and media arts. Numi is thrilled to be able to help support this important program. The Numi Tea Garden is an urban tea oasis...

How easy is it for tea producers to deliver a high quality organic product to the consumer? As the fourth generation representative of Darjeeling’s tea dynasty, Rajah Banerjee is the prince of organic tea. Cradled in the lap of the Himalayas, Makaibari is the oldest single owner tea estate and one of the few devoted to organic and biodynamic agricultural methods. Rajah explains that the annual volume of organically grown tea is only six percent that of conventional. While demand for organically grown tea continues to increase, there are significant constraints upon growers who might like to enter this market. Large producers in particular face significant challenges in adapting to a new set of agricultural parameters. The switch to holistic...