Saturday, July 16, 2016

My Country, 'Tis of Tea - Nevada




Did you know that "Nevada" is Spanish for "covered in snow"? And its nickname, it turns out, is "The Silver State" because of the Nevada silver rush days of the mid-1800s. Please remember these facts, as there may or may not be a pop quiz at the end of this year's Saturday series. (It may or may not involve a nice prize.)


Davidson's Organic Teas is based in Reno, Nevada, and has an outlet store in Sparks, Nevada. Are you familiar with this company? A friend introduced me to Davidson's years ago, and I'll forever be a fan because of their amazing line of dessert teas, which are delicious herbal blends that taste like calorie-free desserts! In fact, I visited their website and saw they've added a few new flavors since I last tried them. If you'd like to check them out too, click here.





• Las Vegas, Nevada, is the site of the World Tea Expo. This year's expo just wrapped up, and the next one is set for June 12-15, 2017 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. According to worldteaexpo.com, this event is "the epicenter of the North American specialty tea market (and) serves the $8 billion US tea industry. Specialty/premium tea is driving this growth and holds nearly 60% of the marketshare today; it remains the main focus of products, services and education at World Tea Expo." I think it's also worth noting that the United States League of Tea Growers had its founding meeting at a World Tea Expo in Las Vegas, the one in June of 2013, so a lot of great things related to tea and teatime come out of these expos. 




Herbal teas were used as remedies in 19th century Nevada. Actually, herbal teas have been used as remedies in lots of places, but I read about these particular ones in the book "The Healers of 19th-Century Nevada" by Anton P. Sohn. If you'd like to see what Indian tea or Mormon tea (Ephedra Nevadensis) was used to cure, I'm not going to type the words here — not because I'm scandalized by the words themselves but simply because of all the unwanted spam I'm afraid would land in my blog comments —you may click here to find out for yourself!


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6 comments:

  1. Interesting. I had never associated tea with Nevada at all. Nor did I know what Nevada means! I will try to remember. :-)

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  2. The amount of research this series requires would probably surprise us - and yet, you manage to come up with an interesting assortment of tea connections with each state. Kudos to you!

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  3. Great information Angela! I got to visit the Tea Expo a few times courtesy of Iveta Scones. So interesting and fun!

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  4. Fascinating! I thought Davidson's was in San Francisco. Maybe they moved. Another tea company in Las Vegas worth checking out is tealet.com. They have some very nice videos with tea farmers. I think you would enjoy. I am hoping to attend the World Tea Expo next year.

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  5. Angela, another fascinating read for a Saturday night. I was so delighted to see dessert teas that I placed an order before I continued to read your post. I am diabetic and sometimes crave something sweet. Hopefully these teas will help me with that craving. Reading about what teas were also used for by the Indians and Mormons was also very eye opening as well as women doctors coming on the scene. I know there was a female doctor in my family back in the 1800s. I will have to learn more about her as we have a printed family history including her. I am sure that we have an easier life and more sanitary conditions when enjoying our tea than those early western settlers. Thanks for more great information. Nancy Carr

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  6. Very interesting. I've had Davidson teas a long time ago. Might be time to revisit.

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