Honest Tea has reintroduced its kombucha products to store shelves at Whole Foods Market across the US. Following a voluntary withdrawal of all brands of raw kombucha from store shelves in June due to high alcohol content, Honest Tea has developed a proprietary process to brew Honest Kombucha that allows for the benefits of raw, unpasteurized kombucha while ensuring lower, more stable alcohol levels. Honest Kombucha is available in five low sugar varieties: Berry Hibiscus, Lemon Ginger, Peach Mango, Maqui Berry Grapefruit and Apple Jasmine with 35 calories and 7 grams of sugar per serving. Honest Kombucha will be available at Whole Foods Market stores and other natural food stores nationwide the last week in August 2010 at a suggested retail price of $3.49 - $3.99.

According to the founder of Dilmah Tea, Middle East markets are moving away from Sri Lankan tea and prefer heavily promoted and cheaper international brand names. Mr Fernando, who turned Sri Lanka's tea industry upside down from a traditional bulk tea exporter to a growing value-added seller, is concerned about weak marketing efforts of the country’s traditional export. He argues that Sri Lanka should not follow market leaders with blended tea and CTC manufactured tea, but to re-launch traditional grades of Pure Ceylon tea and market them strongly. Exports to Saudi Arabia, a prolific consumer of Ceylon tea previously, have declined from 11.4 million kilos in the year 2000 to 4.7 million kilos in 2009.

Local authorities and companies of Shizuoka, the heartland of Japan's tea industry, are gearing up for the fourth World O-Cha Festival. The four-day event, held from October 28 at the Shizuoka Convention and Arts Centre, will celebrate all things tea with a vast array of tea-related events. The Shizuoka festival will include exhibitions on tea culture from around the world, including a tasting area, as well as displays of tea utensils, machinery and confectionary that incorporates tea. An international competition for the best-tasting green tea will also be held. Shizuoka is the most important tea region in Japan accounting for almost half of country's output. Its inhabitants have far lower incidences of many forms of cancer, which some have linked with the relatively high amounts of green tea that they consume.

Comparing brewed and bottled tea, scientists have discovered that home-made versions have more antioxidants than bottled ones. The experiment found that brewed tea contains between 50 and 150 mg of polyphenols, whereas bottled tea holds anywhere from 81 to 3 mg of polyphenols per 16oz. (500ml) unit. Researchers say that polyphenol content in bottled teas is extremely variable and low due to added sugar and high dilution, in an attempt to keep bitterness and astringency low. Authors of the study warn that polyophenol levels on labels of bottled teas may not be correct because of lack of government regulations for measuring and listing the compounds.