Bikes, Farms, Tea and Urban Roots
By April on Dec 14 Filed In Austin, Texas, Events, Food & Beverage Add a Comment
I had the pleasure to attend the 2nd Edible Austin Urban Farm Tour benefiting Urban Roots Saturday the 5th and it was just as much fun as last year’s event! I woke up, checked my phone for the temperature outside and was UNpleasantly surprised to find out that it was 25 degrees. By the time I was (improperly) outfitted and on my way out the door with my bike (on my car) it was about 27! I had originally planned to do the 24 mile ride which was starting at the Sunset Valley Farmers Market, but decided to sleep a little longer and just ride the 14 mile route beginning at the Downtown Farmers Market.
Boggy Creek Farm
Urban Roots volunteer and Jason D. @ Hands of the Earth Farm
I arrived at the Downtown Farmers Market with enough time to catch the opening remarks about Eat Local Week by Marla Camp and our very own mayor of Austin, Lee Leffingwell and then we jumped on our trusty steeds and rolled east-bound.
We checked out the Festival Beach Community Garden, the new-open-on-Sunday Hope Farmers Market, Boggy Creek Farm, Zhi-Tea for their Austin Tea Party, Rain Lily Farms, and Hands of the Earth Farm. I did the tour solo this year as my cousin Leia had to work and ended up making new friends and really enjoying the cold but beautiful day.
@SweetleafDanny slingin tea ATX Tea Party @ Zhi-Tea
Mr. Zhi-Tea himself, (Jeffrey)
Is there anything better than riding a bike on a sunny day for a good cause?
Bike art at Rain Lily Farms
Sweet Leaf Tea fans sampling away
And the winner is….
By Alexandra on Dec 3 Filed In ACL, Epiphone Guitar, Events, Live Music, Sweet Contests, Uncategorized 5 Comments
Blog poster seanningham is the winner of the Best Live Music Experience Blog Contest. Congrats!
This autographed Buzzfest '09 guitar rocks!
After reading about his Bjork experience at ACL in ‘07, it sounds like we all missed quite a show. I can imagine her intense vocals brought a knot to his throat. And I agree that Bjork is much more fierce and much more cute than Hannah Montana. Cheers to inspirational female artists and unforgettable live music experiences.
Thanks to everyone who shared their stories. We love good music and we’re glad you do too.
SLT VIP LOVE
By Alexandra on Aug 12 Filed In Events, Lollapalooza, Sweet Consumers, Uncategorized Add a Comment
Lollapalooza was HOT! Congratulations to those eager texters that texted to win passes good for 10 free bottles of Sweet Leaf Tea during the festival.We also hid a few passes throughout Grant Park for our more observant fans. Sweet Leaf Tea wants to make sure you stay cool and refreshed and happy at these festivals. Let us know if we’ve enhanced YOUR festival experience. See you at ACL!
Putting EVERYONE to work
By Adi on Jul 31 Filed In Austin, Texas, Intern, Uncategorized 1 Comment
If you’re thinking about applying to become a Sweet Leaf Tea intern, keep reading. We want you to be prepared as possible, as you might end up doing a myriad of things you never imagined.
Take Justin, my faithful summer intern, he can attest to all the varied tasks he’s performed over the summer. He’s gone shopping for table cloths, office supplies, red ribbon, granny panties, recycling cans, and even BBQ 45 minutes away! (No, it’s not hazing!)
He’s also packaged more demo kits than he’d like to admit and inventoried thousands of t-shirts. He’s done market research, written contest rules and affidavits, filed photos of celebri-teas, gathered materials for media outreach, contributed to our blog, and many other brand-centric activities. Today, he’s actually in our test kitchen (which is our regular kitchen) mixing up a secret new flavor for a mini-impromptu happy hour.
Don’t worry, not only do I put the intern to work, I make my own kids come in and handle consumer services.
Answering consumer calls
Justin, the intern, mixing a new potential flavor, hmmm?
How to Survive a Trade Show the Sweet Leaf Way:
By Charla on Jul 2 Filed In Events, Sweet Leaf Tea Company News 1 Comment
Top 5 Tricks for Sweet Success at Fancy Food Show
Sweet Leaf Tea Booth at the Fancy Food Show in New York City
There’s nothing quite like a trade show. And I know because I’ve been to a few in my time. I earned my trade show stripes amongst the ultra-geeky, high-tech, software junkies who love to ask complex technical questions. Basically, it’s a slow death for a marketing gal. So, when I was asked to go to New York for a trade show I panicked—for like two seconds. I work at Sweet Leaf Tea now. Woo-hoo! Sign me up.
The other trade shows of the world could learn a little something from the Fancy Food Show in New York. Or, at least the way we do it. When it comes to surviving a trade show, here’s how to do it the Sweet Leaf Tea way.
1. Design a Sweet Booth
Our shipping crate is our main display. The crate shows up, we pop the latches, swing open the lid and wha-lah. It’s pure genius I tell ya. To top it all off, everything else we needed to spruce up our space was packed inside. Including our plot of faux-grass which makes life a bit easier on the footsies after wearing heels all night.
2. Quench Thirst
This one is a no brainer for us. Imagine walking around two gigantic halls nibbling on 250,000 worldly products for 7 hours. Some attendees looked like they had just crossed the Sahara when they stepped up to our booth. They came to us tongues hanging out and throats dry, but they left us refreshed and ready to complete their journey.
3. Make Foodie Friends
They have food and we have ice, cold tea. The trade opportunities were definitely in our favor. We made great friends with the crews from StonyField Farm (love that blueberry Greek Yogurt, FunniBonz BBQ (pulled pork with spicy sauce), Immaculate Baking Company (orange cranberry scones), and many more. Can’t imagine the pounds I would have gained working at one of their booths!
4. Take a Siesta
Not at the booth! But in order to survive the night, you better catch a few zees post show. If you can nap and wake-up to hit the city, you are a trade show pro. The Tea’m explored restaurants and lounges from Chelsea to SoHo and Meat Packing to Brooklyn! Check out the Buddha Bar and Diner next time you visit. (PS-The REAL test is getting up the next morning!)
5. The Wake-up Call
It never hurts to take precautionary measures, especially in New York. Your best bet is to schedule a wake-up call before and set your alarm before you leave for your evening activities. You may hate it when it goes off, but somewhere deep, deep inside you’ll be thankful that it did.
All and all, it was a great show. We met lots of good, thirsty people and even some of our fellow Tweetpeeps (@BevNETCraven, @BevNETcom, @newyorkhotel). It was fun NYC, but it sure feels good to be back in Austin. For the full play-by-play of the event check out my twitter stream at: http://twitter.com/SweetLeafCharla
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