Got a few random links I thought I’d share.
First is from Uncle Jesse, and it made me smile:
America is slowly—but surely—becoming a nation of tea drinkers
As a tea drinker this made me really happy!
The U.S. market for tea has more than quadrupled during the past twenty-plus years—from just under $2 billion in 1990 to just over $10 billion last year—according to the U.S. Tea Association. Demand for the herbal beverage has now been growing at a healthy clip for decades. By weight, Americans now drink almost 20 percent more of the herbal beverage than they did back in 2000, according to market research firm Euromonitor.
…Tea has infiltrated most Americans’ everyday routine. Some 80 percent of U.S. households have tea in their kitchens, and more than half of the American populace drinks tea on a daily basis, according to the U.S. Tea Association.
There are, however, some quirks to the country’s growing love for tea.
Americans are, for instance, much fonder of iced tea than they are of hot tea—more than 85 percent of tea consumed in the U.S. is chilled. They’re also partial to ready-to-drink tea bags, which make up the vast majority of tea consumed in the U.S. And Americans appear willing to spend a bit extra on fancier (and pricier) tea bags—dollar sales growth has been outpacing volume sales growth for years.
America’s favorite kind is black tea, which accounts for more than half of all tea consumed in the country. Fruit and herbal tea, which accounts for just over a quarter of U.S. tea consumption, is second on the list. But neither has managed to grow in recent years—fruit and herbal tea consumption has risen by 7 percent in the U.S. since 2000, while black tea consumption has fallen by nearly 2.5 percent over the same period.
I’m actually a little surprised by that. I always assumed that iced tea was a staple cold drink. Hell as a hot tea drinker, I’m not one to bother warming up a cup on a warm day after my daily pot has gone cold, and I’m certainly want to pour warm tea over ice on hot days. Still interesting to see that it’s growing. This last bit is NOT a surprise:
Meanwhile, green tea, which accounts for just over 11 percent of the tea Americans drink, has been growing much faster—the U.S. downs over 40 percent more than it did in 2000. And other fringe and artisanal teas, like rooibos, oolong, and white tea, are growing fastest—the category has grown by nearly 8,000 percent over the past 10 years alone and now accounts for roughly 6 percent of U.S. tea consumption.
Now this is probably due to deceptive marketing. Green Tea has been marketed as a health drink, and many people who drink green and white tea assume it’s different than black teas. They really aren’t. Green and white tea are simply steamed and dried, while black tea is allowed to ferment dry. Overall the taste and color is different, but the various components like caffeine and anti-oxidants are the same. So yeah, if you prefer black tea over the green stuff, but drink green for health reasons, you can switch to black. They all come from the same leaves, more-or-less.
Here’s the big one for me:
At the same time, coffee consumption has remained fairly stagnant since the 1970s, suggesting that tea might be replacing coffee in some households. But the more prevailing reason for tea’s ascent is likely the perception that consuming tea is good for one’s health. Green tea in particular has been linked to a number of health benefits.
I was just on vacation, and when I’m away from home, and I sit down for breakfast I tend to order coffee. I don’t LIKE coffee, but when I order my preferred tea I get a cup of hot water and a tea bag. This SUCKS! First I need to wait for the bag to steep, and then an 8-oz cup doesn’t get all the goodness out of one tea bag, so when I get the second pour of hot water, I still get tea, but many compounds are gone from the first steep, so the second cup isn’t as good. Ideally I’d love to see restaurants treat tea the same way as coffee. Brewing up big pots of the stuff and keeping it warm and pouring you a cup when you order.
The next two are from Ratus.
23 places to take a dump! Some really amusing toilets there. Go have a look!
Last is some quality MOAR HOG!
Most runners I know who are not also liars acknowledge that running sucks much (okay, most) of the time. Usually, I deal with how much I hate it by complaining about it to people who really, truly do not care. But one San Francisco woman has channeled that love-hate relationship into something beautiful: using the latest in satellite-enabled exercise tracking technology and her own running feet to draw pictures of dicks.
JUST AWESOME!
