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NEWS / THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
BUSINESS
Former student tastes sweet success in tea company
BY JENNY TERRELL iterrell@kansan.com
Jordan Scherer and Bryan Comiskey started Wiseman Tea Co. in 2009, and they sell a selection of teas online and in the Chicago area.
A year ago, Jordan Scherer, a former KU student, was stuck in his townhouse in Chicago with a nasty cough and a runny nose. His roommate, Bryan Comiskey, then a junior at DePaul University, brewed him a cup of tea. Scherer said the tea was high in antioxidants, supplying him with energy he needed to feel better.
At that moment, neither of them could have dreamed of what was to come — the beginning of their adventure to founding Wiseman Tea Co. in Chicago.
The two friends began having tea on a regular basis and discussing the idea of starting a company to turn their passion for tea into a business.
In July 2009, Wiseman Tea Co. became incorporated and now sells tea online and to several stores and cafes in Chicago.
"It's been a lot of work and a crazy 12 months but definitely exciting and worth it," Comiskey said.
Although now a senior at DePaul University, Scherer credited his two years at the University for his appreciation of nature and the gifts it has to offer.
"KU helped me find myself." Scherer said.
He said the University opened
He said taking general elective courses in environmental studies opened up a new perception of how he looked at nature, partly because he learned to appreciate the environment and not take it for granted. He said he felt encouraged to "go green," a concept that has continued to influence him as an entrepreneur.
Wiseman Tea is friendly to the environment. Scherer said, because it is loose-leaf rather than bagged. Loose-leaf tea is usually fresher and leaves less dust in the bottom of the cup, he said.
Scherer said he preferred tea to coffee because tea provided lasting energy rather than the initial caffeine burst of coffee that wears off after a few hours. He said this was because tea is made from leaves and therefore it contains
chlorophyll that the body has to break down, which prolonged the energy source.
Along with the provided energy from tea. Scherer said he also enjoyed its history and the fact that tea was sourced from around the world.
"It's like getting a taste of the world through each sip of tea," Scherer said.
Edited by Kate Larrabee
Herbal tea is made from other herbs, leaves, and spices, but does not contain leaves from the Camellia sinensis plant. Types of herbal teas include mate and rooibos teas.
Get the facts about tea:
Black tea is the most processed of all teas. The tea leaves are dried and set out to oxidize for about four hours, which is what gives black tea its deep reddish-brown color. Common types of black tea include Darjeeling, Earl Grey and English Breakfast teas. Chai tea is made from black tea, but milk and sugar are added. Black tea also has the most caffeine.
Not all teas are created equal. To be authentic tea, it must come from the plant Camellia sinensis . Depending on how it's treated, those leaves then become white, green, oolong or black tea.
*Oolong tea* (pronounced wu-long) is also a processed tea. Similar to black tea leaves, oolong tea leaves oxidize, but to a lesser extent, usually two to three hours.
Green tea leaves do not oxidize like black and oolong tea leaves, instead they are steamed. The tea can be either green or yellow in color. Green tea is typically associated with health benefits, such as a decreased cancer risk, but the benefits are debated.
White tea is similar to green tea, but far more uncommon. It is picked before the buds fully open.
Source: http://www.teeausa.org/general/501g.cfm, http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/
tea.htm
ODD NEWS
Prank snowballs into endangerment
ANSONIA, Conn. — Police said a prank turned dangerous when a man angry about a snowball hitting his car allegedly pulled a knife on a group of youths and kidnapped one of them.
No one was injured.
Joshua Good, 25, was to be arraigned Monday on charges including first-degree kidnapping, threatening and reckless endangement. The kidnapping
charge carries up to 25 years in prison.
Woman refuses sex still faces charges
Police said a group of people were throwing snowballs near Colony Park Friday night when Good's car was hit. Police say Good threatened them with a knife and forced a 13-year-old boy into his car.
Authorities say Good drove the boy home and didn't hurt him.
Good posted $150,000 bail.
He didn't immediately return a phone message Wednesday.
MARLBOROUGH, N.H. — Police said a man and woman from New Hampshire are each facing prostitution charges after the man called police to say hed paid for sex, but the woman then refused.
Police said the man called police on Monday to say he'd paid the woman and a third party $150 to have sex with him on Sunday, but she wouldn't follow through.
Associated Press
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Smog covers downtown Los Angeles in April 2009. A new study in the journal Nature finds that while U.S. controls on air pollution have been driving down a major ingredient of smog, ozone blowing over from Asia is raising background levels over western North America.
ENVIRONMENT
Ozone from Asia pollutes skies in West Coast states
BY JEFF BARNARD
GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Ozone blowing over from Asia is raising background levels of a major ingredient of smog in the skies over California, Oregon, Washington and other Western states, according to a new study appearing in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature.
Associated Press
The amounts are small and so far, only found in a region of the atmosphere known as the free troposphere, at an altitude of two to five miles, but the development could complicate U.S. efforts to control air pollution.
Though the levels are small, they have been steadily rising since 1995, and probably longer, said lead author Owen R. Cooper, a research scientist at the University of Colorado attached to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo.
"The important aspect of this study for North America is that we have a strong indication that baseline ozone is increasing," said Cooper. "We still don't know how much is coming down to the surface. If the surface ozone is increasing along with the free tropospheric ozone, that could make it more difficult for the U.S. to meet its ozone air quality standard."
The study is the first link between atmospheric ozone over the U.S. and Asian pollution, said Dan Jaffe, a University of Washington-Bothell professor of atmospheric and environmental chemistry.
He contributed data from his observatory on top of Mount Bachelor in Oregon to the study.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering lowering the current limit on ozone in the atmosphere by as much as 20 percent, and has been working with China to lower its emissions of the chemicals that turn into ozone.
Ozone is harmful to people's respiratory systems and plants. It is created when compounds produced by burning fossil fuels are
hit by sunlight and break down. Ozone also contributes to the greenhouse effect, ranking behind carbon dioxide and methane in importance.
Ozone is only one of many pollutants from Asia that reach the United States. Instruments regularly detect mercury, soot and cancer-causing PCBs.
Jaffe said it was logical to conclude that the increasing ozone was the result of burning more coal and oil as part of the Asia's booming economic growth.
Give your spending priorities a 5-point inspection
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4. Pizza
5. Drinking
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