If we gazed into a crystal ball last December, it must have faulty because we did not foresee the many challenges of 2020. As we prepare to turn the calendar to the New Year, let us try again. Perhaps with some pandemic experience, we can provide a sense of what lies ahead.

In a year unlike any other, it has been thrilling, scary, and awe inspiring to watch our business clients handle the many challenges of 2020. In a word: PIVOT.

Never miss a reorder or run out of your bestselling teas with our new auto delivery service! Read on to learn more about how it works.

In recent weeks, the long ailing Davids Tea took steps to restructure in Canada and to file bankruptcy in the US. This means that all locations are closed, and the company is reportedly pulling out of the US market. Be ready to please local customers looking for a new tea shop!

Adagio Teas’ wholesale team is pleased to announce the addition of raw honey varieties curated to perfectly pair with different tea types. Tasting all the different honey types and learning which best suited each tea type, was one of the sweetest projects we ever had the pleasure of working! Pun totally intended!

The only way to view this time of COVID-19 is to think of this as both a Sabbath, a rest for the typical frenzy that can invade your working life AND as an opportunity to clean up, communicate clearly to customers and create new and exciting ways to pursue your business goals.

Some new items to share and new services for our wholesale partners. Loose leaf options, some new Masters Teas, auto delivery, and more!

Professional analysts at home and abroad all agree that growth in the consumption of tea will continue not only through 2020 but through much of the decade ahead. Read on to learn what's in store for the US tea market.

Adagio Wholesale adds a new category for herbs and spices. Everything you need for enhance tea blends or creating your own.

Our wholesale partners can now earn loyalty points with every purchase! Many of you have suggested adding such a program over the year and we are happy to finally offer it!

Planes, trains and automobiles will carry tea industrialites* to Las Vegas mid-June to congregate at the World Tea Expo. With its move back to Sin City, it seems as if many of those who skipped Long Beach are eager to attend this year.

In recent months, Adagio Teas Wholesale has added some new features and we are working on still more.

Gourmet tea is truly hitting its stride as more and more mainstream consumers are embracing it as part of their daily lifestyle. While drawn to tea for the reputed health benefits, they stay with it for the wealth of flavors and superior taste.

So, have you read enough show recaps? If so, then you know most of us who attended and exhibited came back pretty exited. This year’s show, while smaller, seemed to have a vibrant energy.

Many of you are planning to attend the World Tea Expo in sunny Long Beach, CA in early May. Adagio Teas will be exhibiting again, this time at booth number 839. Our new items this year include some retail ready iced tea pouches that make one quart of cold brewed tea (or hot, to be poured over ice.) Easy preparation enables the home iced tea drinker to conveniently offer fresh, healthy iced tea to their families and introduce them to the world of gourmet tea. No sweeteners are added, so the consumer has ultimate control over the calorie content. Easy peasy!

Reuters reports that there are indications that David’s Tea is preparing for their IPO. While their sources are anonymous, there is a strong possibility of accuracy. David’s Tea has been growing quickly and opening new stores rapidly in various high visibility markets to potentially sweeten the investor pool.

Regular users will have already noticed Teamap’s new elegant design. With a color palette change and more concise layout, Teamap is looking better than ever!

At the end of this month we will be exhibiting at the World Tea Expo in its new venue at Long Beach, California. While we are certainly looking forward to being out of the hot stare of the Nevada sun and feeling the Pacific breezes on our faces, mostly we are looking forward to seeing you.

We will be heading to Chicago soon for the 2014 International Home + Housewares Show at McCormick Place. (March 15-18, 2014) One of our favorite venues with one of our favorite shows! If you plan on attending, please note that we have a new booth location S343.

The big recent news in the tea world is that Teavana has opened its first concept store since being acquired by coffee industry giant Starbucks. While the move was certainly expected, it has sent ripples through the specialty tea industry as speculation circulates on what it affects it will have on independent retailers.

May went by in the blink of an eye and June is already upon us. With it comes the World Tea Expo, which is June 7-9th in sunny Las Vegas. Many of you are attending this year and I’m looking forward to seeing all tea-friends and clients who will visit our booth.

Big news hit the specialty tea industry recently with the announcement of coffee behemoth Starbucks buying specialty tea retailer Teavana.

Back for its second year, World Tea East is coming to Philadelphia on October 2-3 to bring east coast tea industry professionals together. Happy to say that Adagio Teas will be exhibiting again, with yours truly waiting to meet you at booth 201

The anticipated news has been revealed! Now we can settle our bets, as they have announced plans to open a teashop in the Seattle area for their Tazo brand in October of this year.

Tea professionals gathered this week in Las Vegas for the 10th World Tea Expo. Show and industry veterans reminisced and waxed poetic about the show and evolution of the US tea industry.

On the way to the World Tea Expo, a side mission was on my itinerary. This mission was to check out a new commercial coffee brewer which made its maiden appearance at the recent SCAA show in Portland, OR. The darling of the show, this intriguing machine drew daily crowds as people watched the baristas brewing coffee in its four chambers.

January went but like a lightning bolt and fabulous February is at hand! One twelfth of the year is done and from the looks of January it is shaping up to be a nice one!

We made it through another 365 days on our spinning planet and are ready to welcome the next. The recent holiday season was hard to predict and delivered a sort of roller coaster ride for many. Hopefully all our readers landed on the upside and had a terrific season.

No one really knew what to expect from World Tea East that was held in Philadelphia early September, but many of us were delightfully surprised. Despite foul weather causing floods and travel delays en route to the show, it certainly seemed well attended and as effective as the Las Vegas show.

Eastern US tea folks are heading to Philadelphia this month for the World Tea East September 9-10. This trade show and educational conference brings tea professionals together for networking, honing skills and sourcing.

In the past month or so since the World Tea Expo, I've had the opportunity to chat with many of our clients and tea friends about life, the expo, and the tea industry in general. One recurring theme kept popping up in conversation - the Teavana IPO.

The Specialty Tea industry is ever growing and evolving. There is a typical ebb and flow of businesses that come and go. The same is usually true for trends, but over the past year or two what we seem to be seeing in the tea biz, is specialization in a specialty market. That is to say, some new tea businesses are developing niche products.

Last week's World Tea Expo went by so very quickly. The tea intensive show was jam-packed with activity and seemed to speed by. Our booth this year had a stronger presentation of our loose tea offering and this certainly seemed to attract more booth visitors.

We are gearing up and finalizing details for the upcoming World Tea Expo at the end of this month, where we will turn Sin City into (Camellia) SINensis City. (hehe!) Hopefully, all our tea-friends will be attending this exciting three-day event.

Will you be attending the World Tea Expo this year? If so, you can register for free general admission and 20% off Core Conference Seminars until April 22nd.

June has gone by fast and furiously for us at Adagio Teas with so many recent trade shows. As always it was great to get out and meet folks! For those that we had the pleasure of seeing, hope you enjoyed the shows as much as we did and think you will agree that every show was high energy, bustling with activity and really a great sign that the economic squeeze is relinquishing its boa constrictor-like grasp.

The dream I had eleven years ago, first starting out in the fine tea world as an enthusiast turned tea biz manager, was that a tea drinker could walk into almost any establishment and find great tea has been coming closer and closer to fruition. This dream seems to be shared by many in the tea industry and is perhaps what unites us.

Trade show season heats up with the weather this time of year and we will be out and about. Here are a few shows we never miss:

Every summer New York City's Javits center is the venue for the NASFT Fancy Food Show - a veritable cakewalk of treats and trends in the gourmet food industry. As many of you also offer food or sweets to go with your tea selection, it seems like a good topic to cover.

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Happy New Year!

The Future of Tea