It’s High Time for Tea

By: Brie Cadman (View Profile)

These days, a coffee shop on every corner is the rule, not the exception. Here in San Francisco, I’m within spitting distance of a Peet’s, a Starbuck’s—make that three—and a smattering of other local caffeinating holes. But in the past few years, there’s also been a shift toward another type of beverage hot spot—tea shops.

It’s not just in the Bay Area; on my last trip to Seattle, I noticed at least two in a weekend, and friends in Portland, Chicago, and NYC are all familiar, if not well accustomed to, tea shops, lounges, gardens, and bars amidst the beans. Similarly, the variety and presence of tea on our grocery shelves seems to be increasing without abatement. But has tea really caught on as much as coffee, soda, and beer?

Brewin’ Up a Storm
America has long been low on the tea-drinking totem pole. While places like India, China, and the UK share a rich history with tea, ours is more recent and less imbued with culture and tradition.

And although we certainly haven’t adopted the traditional ceremonies or slow, loose-leaf brewing techniques that characterize authentic tea making, we have begun a shift toward it. Two American tea inventions—the tea bag and iced tea—have helped create a totally American style of tea drinking—fast and sweet. Eighty-five percent of tea drunk in America is iced, according to the Tea Association of the USA, and the rise of ready-to-drink beverages and sugary bottles of brew common in quickie marts and convenience stores has greatly upped our consumption.

Always looking for health-conscious choices, Americans have also latched onto the antioxidant benefits of tea—green tea in particular—catapulting it into the mainstream. Now we have green tea everything—cocktails, chocolate, ice cream, and body creams.

But the rise of tea shops represents a shift to the more traditional type of tea consumption—loose leaf, hot, and slowed down. While the foundation for these establishments couldn’t have happened without our taste buds tweaked toward specialty foods and the benefit of being able to drink our antioxidants, the new type of tea drinking is different. At the Numi Tea Garden in Oakland, for instance, there are more than forty different teas on the menu. At the Samovar lounges in San Francisco, you can choose from Russian, English, Japanese, and Chinese Tea services, and at specialty shops, like Cooks Shop Here in Massachusetts, purveyors shop the globe looking for the most exotic and high-quality loose leaf teas to offer to their consumers.

All-My-Tea
This is good news for tea lovers, who previously had to travel abroad to taste authentic brews. Outside the U.S., tea is sometimes hard to avoid. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage worldwide. Its use dates back before written history and its long standing prevalence among varied cultures is evident in its linguistic roots—no matter where you are in the world, the beverage will be referred to as either a variation on te (the, tea, teh) or a variation of cha (chai, chiya, sha).

All true tea comes from the same plant, the Camellia sinensis. Differences among tea result from terroir, or “taste” of the land on which it was grown, place of origin, and processing, including length of oxidation.

What we call herbal “tea” really isn’t—only brews made from the leaves of this c.sinensis, which contain caffeine, are true teas. Herbal infusions are made from seeds, barks, leaves, and flowers of plants and are without caffeine.

There are as many variations of tea as there are places where they are grown, techniques for roasting and processing, and methods in which they are consumed.

Despite differences, all teas share high amounts of antioxidants, like flavonoids and polyphenols, which can fight off cellular damage. The health benefits of tea aren’t completely clear, but some studies have indicated that drinking green tea may reduce the risk of heart disease and improve memory, and that black tea may have a role in cancer prevention.

Whether drinking to health or enjoyment, the five most popular teas to consider are:

Black Tea
Black tea, the most commonly consumed tea in America, is the most caffeinated, and is oxidized the longest, resulting in a strong flavor and color. Popular varieties are Assam, Ceylon, and Darjeeling. These teas hold up well to milk and sugar.

Oolong Tea
Oolong teas, oxidized for two to three hours, have complex flavors and can have a wide range of flavors and colors. Oolong is midway between black and green teas, retaining flavors and strength of both. It undergoes the most complex of processing and therefore contains the most complex and varied flavors. Many oolong teas are thought to be best after multiple steepings.

Green Tea
Green tea goes through no oxidization, so most closely resembles fresh tea leaves. High in antioxidants, green tea has been associated with increased immune system functioning. Flavors can range from sweet to earthy. It is mild in caffeine and traditionally consumed throughout the day.

White Tea
White tea is a delicate tea with a mild flavor. The leaves are harvested in early spring, when only buds are present. Unprocessed, the leaves are characterized by soft white hairs and a sweet flavor. White tea has a small amount of caffeine and is high in antioxidants.

Pu-Erh
Relatively unknown in the U.S., pu-erh is an aged tea that is low in caffeine and has a deep, rich flavor. The leaf is often compressed into a cake, called a beeng cha, and sold as such. It is common in China as an aperitif.

In addition to the above, there are thousands of variations, including flavored black teas, like Earl Grey, blends, organic, scented, and yellow teas. No wonder they’ve created lounges just for them. So while I’m still sipping bagged tea on the go and a simple loose black at home, the fact that I have two tea shops within walking distance of my work makes my foray into pu-erh inevitable.

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How to Achieve Anything

Photo: Kevin Russ. Check out his stock portfolio.

Is there a goal you want to accomplish, but just cannot find the time to start it? It might be something trivial like, to reduce the amount of TV watching, or time spent browsing the Internet. It might be, to become an early riser, or to quit drinking alcohol, or to start a home business. Whatever it is, what is keeping you where you are instead of reaching your desired destination?

I have several such targets in my life that I often think about, but rarely take action on. Each time I’m reminded of one of them, I would guiltily say, “I really should do [blah]”, and then forget about it until the next time guilt creeps back into my head.

One such target I have is to exercise. I’ve been talking about wanting to get in shape for about two years now. I even setup an arbitrary goal of doing a triathlon to get me excited. I did start to go running shortly after setting the goal, which lasted for about a week, before I became distracted with another target.

I like to think of myself as a pretty disciplined and motivated person - I mean, I write about this stuff! But, something about this particular target has been very psychologically challenging for me to take consistent action on. And I want to understand it.

Overcoming the mental blocks and actually taking action towards this outcome has been my focus over the past few weeks. I am proud to announce that I have been doing 5-mile walk-runs, every other day, successfully for fourteen days now.

I’m confident that since I have kept it up for two weeks, then surely, I can keep it up for a month. And if I can consistently do it for a month, I will have habituated the activity into my daily rhythm and be able to keep it up indefinitely.

The point of this article isn’t about running, but rather, extracting lessons from achieving a goal, and applying them to other areas of our lives.

Analysis of ‘Why It Didn’t Work’

Looking back over past failed attempts at this target, I realized that I didn’t have enough reasons to keep myself motivated, thus I wasn’t fully committed to making the change. Here are some observations:

1. Excuse: “I don’t have enough time”

I used to assume that it I was working too much and simply did not have the time. Well, I’ve come to learn that “I don’t have the time” is the biggest lie we can tell ourselves to justify for the lack of action towards activities that can (sometimes) significantly improve the quality of our lives. If we added all the time we spend on unimportant and not urgent things - like web browsing or TV watching - we would have the time, easily. We do have the time!

I used to tell myself, “When I leave my day job, I will have much more time to pursue the things on my lists, which I don’t have time for now.” Things like exercising.

You’d think, now that I’m in a position to create my own schedule (or lack thereof), surely, I should have enough free time to exercise. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I still don’t have enough time. It’s become obvious that without a measurable target and a reasonable plan, life has a way of magically inserting random (often unimportant) activities to fill up our day. The same items on my list while I had a day job are still on the list.

We don’t have time for things, until we create time for these things. If something is important enough to us, we will find the time, regardless of how busy we are. End of story.

It’s a matter of finding the compelling reasons why something is important to us - enough of a nudge to drive us to lasting change.

2. Focus on Pain

The more I focused on the uncomfortable factors associated with exercise, the less motivated I became, and the more excuses I made to skip workouts - before I stopped completely.

Here are my favorite excuses to justify not exercising:

• It’s hard! I can’t breathe.
• My leg hurts
• It’s cold outside
• It’s raining (I do live in Seattle, after all)
• It’s late, if I go jogging, I won’t have enough time to do X.

3. Lacked Motives to Action

Although I kept telling myself that I should go jogging, I wasn’t fully clear on why I wanted it. I wasn’t overweight, and didn’t have an explicit incentive to get active. I didn’t have the motives to justify the necessary action for a vaguely defined goal.

Did you know that we will do more to avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure? In this case, the affects of not doing it, was not painful enough to drive me to get it done. In my mind, the pain of doing was greater than the pain of not doing.

4. Language, Focus & Priority

The goal was a should and not a must. “I should go jogging”, I would say , when it’s better to say, “I must go jogging, in order to gain the energy I need”. When something is a should, it is wishful thinking, and we don’t get it done. When something is a must, it becomes a priority that deserves our attention. Because the target was a should, I never gave it the focused attention necessary for it to become a reality.

The Art of Change: From Desire to Result

The actual change happened very quickly - the moment I decided to change. Instead of thinking about it, and silently beating myself up for not doing it, I just did it. It was beautiful!

Photo: Kevin Russ.

Sometimes, the best motivators are the ones we find when we hit a personal low point. My low point came a few weeks ago, when I realized that I hadn’t been outside for seven days straight (Eeeek!). I felt groggy, my body was aching, my energy level was low and I felt a slip in my grip on clarity.

When my clarity is threatened, I start to take notice. I now had a strong motive. I got up instantly and went for a run - a long one.

The System of OPA

OPA is a trick I picked up from Tony Robbins, which when applied, will assist us in achieving the results we desire. It stands for:

• Outcome (O) - Having a clear vision.
• Purpose (P) - Focus on results and purpose.
• Action (A) - Create a massive action plan for meaningful results.

Let’s expand on these and apply them to the jogging example.

O, Outcome

Most of us have vague ideas on what we want. We know roughly the direction we want to go, but because we aren’t clear on the vision of our destination, we get pushed into whichever direction the wind is blowing. Without a vision, we will obsess over “the how”, and will often overanalyze and fail to take action, or take ineffective action.

In the jogging example, “wanting to go jogging” is not the ultimate vision. The ultimate outcome I am seeking is actually mental clarity and physical energy. One activity that contributes to this outcome is regular exercise. Additionally, because I am focused on the desired outcome and not on the how, I have realized that there are other things I can do which will contribute towards this outcome, such as deep breathing, swimming, and yoga.

What is the ultimate vision for what you want? Be specific in describing the outcome you desire.

P, Purpose

Knowing what we want isn’t enough to give us the push towards massive action. We must know why we want it. Why is it important that we achieve our desired result? When we achieve this outcome, what will it bring us? Without strong enough reasons, we simply will not be moved into action.

In the jogging example, my reasons for wanting mental clarity and physical energy are:

• To feel physical wellbeing. To live fully and consciously.
• To have the clarity to write articles that serve others. To empower and inspire readers towards a fuller life with more joy and passion.
• When I have energy, I can get more out of my day. I can do more activities which will benefit my personal wellbeing, and in turn make more contributions to others.

Why must you achieve the target outcome? What are the reasons most important to you? What does achieving the outcome mean for you?

A, Action

Armed with your clear vision of the outcome and with the burning reasons why it is important to you, come up with an action plan for achieving the results you seek. Once you have your action plan, take one small action immediately. Then commit yourself towards taking some action regularly (everyday if possible) towards your target. Regardless of how small the action may seem, it will move you one step closer to your outcome, and - importantly - help build the momentum you will need to reach your destination.

In addition to knowing what you want, why you want it, and having a battle plan, the following are tips to overcome potential pitfalls on the road to lasting change.

• Quantify & Measure - What gets measured gets managed. It’s important to be able to quantify results, so that we can evaluate our improvements and effectiveness. For my jogging example, I got the Nike sport kit for ipod nano - which allowed me to measure distance ran, duration and calories burnt. Once I had the numbers after each workout, I just wanted to beat them! As if playing a video game and trying to beat the top score.
• Know Your Excuses - List out all the excuses you’re known to use in order to avoid action for a particular result. Now come up with an antidote for each excuse. Even without an antidote, at least, now you’re aware of which excuses might come up, and you’re ready to ignore them. For myself, “I am committed to going jogging every other day, regardless of weather, or how late in the day.”
• Focus on One Target at a Time - When we try to focus on many results at the same time, rarely will we succeed. When we focus on one thing at a time, we can devote our undivided attention and energy on realizing the single result, thus giving it a higher chance of actualization. Move on to other targets only after we’ve successfully reached or habituated the current target. I’ve found it helpful to write the targeted outcome on a piece of paper, and posting it on a wall where I can see it regularly.
• Change Your Language - Turn ‘should’ into ‘must’. The language we use carries with it energy. Notice that if you must do something, suddenly you feel a sense of urgency and priority? What is that thing that you’ve wanted to complete, and if you got it done will improve the quality of your experience? Now say, “I must do , because it will give me .” See how much more energy this sentence has, versus “I really should do .”
• Consistency - When cultivating a new habit, consistency is more important than quantity. Have you noticed that when we skip a routine activity even once, it’ll be harder to get back into it? And the more we skip, the easier it is to skip it again the next time. Before we know it, we no longer have the habit which we’ve worked hard to create.
• Fun Ingredient - Find ways to make the experience fun and enjoyable. For example, I will listen to motivational audio books or personal growth seminars when I run, and it really enhances both experiences. This added enrichment to the running experience, makes me look forward to the activity.
• The 30 Day Challenge - If you can repeatedly do an activity for 30 days, it will become a habit, and will integrate automatically into your routine. Take it one step at a time, first commit yourself to following something for 7 days, then extend it to 14 days, then 21 days and 30 days. If you can do it for 30 days, you can likely continue it indefinitely (if you want to).
• Change Your Questions - If you’re not getting the kind of results you’re looking for, perhaps it’s the questions you are asking yourself. Ask questions which lead to possibilities instead of limitations. Here are some examples of the limiting questions vs. more resourceful alternatives:
  • Why can’t I do this? Vs.
    How can I make this work?
  • Why can’t I make more money? Vs.
    How can I add even more value?
  • Why is this happening? Vs.
    What can I do to help change this?
  • How can they do this to me? Vs.
    How can I use this?
  • What is wrong in my life? Vs.
    What am I grateful for?

Parting Words

We are the ultimate author of our life story. Within each of us, we hold the power to change anything in our lives, and in doing so, experience more joy and fulfillment. Lasting change starts with a change in the way we think - a clear vision for our desired results, meaningful reasons why we must have them, and building momentum towards massive action to make our visions a reality.

With meaning, understanding, awareness, and conscientious planning; we can turn massive responsibilities into actual possibilities, we can incorporate healthy habits, we can realize dreams, and we can live more deliberately and intentionally shape our own destiny.

Thank you for listening to my jogging story and allowing me to share my own life victories, regardless of how trivial they may seem. Through observing this experience, the jogging example accentuated some simple fundamental principles of achievement that can be applicable to other outcomes in our lives. I wish you success!

* What are some outcomes you would like to see in your life? Share your thoughts and stories with us in the comment section. See you there!

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Saturn owners hope GM doesn't abandon them

By Jim Kavanagh

SODDY-DAISY, Tennessee (CNN) -- Kat Koonce loves her Saturns. She owns three, and has pictures of them on Saturnfans.com, where she is one of almost 2,500 Saturn devotees who've posted photo albums of their vehicles.

Saturn owners show off their Sky roadsters after a Christmas parade in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, on Sunday.

Judy Pearson shows off a photo album of her Saturn Sky roadster the way a grandmother might show off one of her grandchildren -- pictures of vacations and happy times together.

The women are exactly the kind of customers General Motors was looking for when it introduced the Saturn brand two decades ago as "a different kind of car company." The brand's slogan is now one word -- "rethink" -- but its fate may soon be summed up in another -- "done."

General Motors has raised the prospect of eliminating the nameplate as it tries to restructure to regain profitability.

"I just can't stand the thought of them doing away with Saturn," said Dianne Pollard of Hixson, Tennessee. She created the Sky Club of Chattanooga, dedicated to the sporty two-seater.

General Motors hasn't officially announced the end of Saturn, but in a restructuring plan submitted to Congress, the automaker said it would concentrate resources on four core brands -- Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC.

That leaves Saturn, along with GM's Pontiac, Saab and Hummer brands, with a dim future.

Pollard drove her black 2008 RedLine (that's Saturn's name for a turbo) Sky in Sunday's Christmas parade in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, northeast of Chattanooga. Fellow Hixson residents and Sky devotees Connie Terrell (red 2007 RedLine) and Pearson (dark blue 2007 standard edition) were there, too.

All three have owned other, more sedate Saturns than the Sky, which Edmunds.com praises for "sharp styling, low price and everyday comfort" and Car and Driver.com calls a "mini-Corvette" at around half the price.

They were joined by George and Brenda Holloway, who drove their 2007 Sky almost 100 miles from their farm in Centre, Alabama, to join in the parade.

"We thoroughly enjoy the Saturn. Our next vehicle, when we buy one, will be a Saturn," Brenda Holloway said.

"This is the only car I've ever owned that you can be driving down the interstate and people pull up beside you and take a picture of it," her husband, a retired 20-year Army veteran, said with amusement-tinged pride.

But it's not just the cars -- including the original S series sedans and coupes -- that turn people into "Saturnistas"; it's also the pleasant buying experience and over-the-top customer service.

"It's a family. It's the Saturn family. And you become part of that family," Pearson said.

All three Sky owners from Hixson had stories to tell about a sales consultant who went the extra mile or a service call that exceeded their expectations. Pearson said she has owned many makes of cars, including foreign nameplates, and Saturn's treatment of customers beats them all.

"The best experience I've ever had was with Saturn, bar none," she said.

Koonce, of Dayton, Ohio, used to feel that way, too.

But Koonce now says GM might as well kill off the brand, because that would be preferable to the slow death she sees as inevitable.

Saturn sold slightly more than 8,000 cars in November and has delivered about 175,000 this year. That's a far cry from the half a million GM had hoped to sell each year when it introduced Saturn.

Koonce said she fell in love with Saturn before she was old enough to drive. She became such a familiar figure at her local Saturn dealer and so knowledgeable about its lineup that she was hired as a sales consultant.

She and her husband, Nick, met at a Saturn owners' event, their wedding was a Saturn owners' event, and they have owned six Saturns between them. They have brought numerous relatives and friends "into the Saturn cult," said Nick, whose dream is to own a Saturn dealership.

Saturn sales

November 2008 deliveries: 8,130
November 2007 deliveries: 15,105
Change: down 46.2%
2008 Jan.-Nov. deliveries: 175,434
2007 Jan.-Nov. deliveries: 221,895
Change: down 20.9%

Source: Saturn Corp.

Saturn was conceived in the early 1980s as a separate-standing division of GM, with then-unheard-of features:

• an innovative new plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee;

• a separate agreement with the United Auto Workers that embraced more teamwork between union and management;

• the use of plastics instead of metal for many body parts;

• and a highly personalized consumer experience, including no-haggle buying and "Homecomings," a sort of family reunion for Saturn owners at the Spring Hill campus.

The first Saturn came off the Spring Hill assembly line on July 30, 1990.

Unfortunately, Kat Koonce said, GM has abandoned what made Saturn different. The cars are now made of metal, and the models all have twins in other GM divisions. Even the original Spring Hill factory has been converted to build Chevrolets instead of Saturns; the Saturn VUE is built in Mexico.

So disillusioned was Koonce that she quit her job at the Saturn dealership and went back to college.

"It was a success that became a failure," she said.

Walter S. McManus, the head of the Automotive Analysis Division of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, says he could see it coming.

"Brand loyalty is overrated," McManus stated flatly. "It is costly to do all the fuzzies, and Saturn's example is clear that it doesn't pay off for what is essentially an economy-car company. Women especially appreciated the Saturn way, but Honda sells more cars to women, despite having a less female-friendly approach."

Don't tell that to Charlie Eickmeyer, who runs the Saturnfans Web site and has posted a "Save Saturn" petition for the site's 35,000 members to sign. And don't tell the Sky Club of Chattanooga.

"I think Saturn really is a different kind of car company, and that is what has brought me back to them," Pearson said.

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