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Insider’s Guide to Chinese Teas – Part 3 Jasmine

Jasmine teas are usually made using Green tea as a base, to which the flowers are added. The floral aroma of a good quality variety is exquisite and as you drink the pale yellow, almost colourless brew, you can just lose yourself in a timeless bubble. This is quite often the most appealing Chinese tea to those of you who are traditional Indian Black tea drinkers. The taste is a subtle sweetness with a persistent floral aftertaste and the aroma is gorgeous. Loose leaf Jasmine is the best. The leaves are an art form in themselves; the makers will twist, curl, roll or even tie the leaves together in a small bunch. In China, tea drinking is done with all of the senses, not just taste, which is why the producers go to such extraordinary lengths.

The very best Jasmine teas are made using leaves that are picked between the middle of March and the end of May and combined with blossom that is picked exclusively during May as that is the time when they are at their most fragrant. Traditional production methods involve layering the leaves and the blossoms so that the flavour and aroma permeates the leaves. Nowadays, the blossoms are usually placed in a stream of hot air to extract the essential taste; the aromatic hot air is then passes through and over the leaves in order to give an intense flavour. The blossoms are then simply added as decoration.

Jasmine tea has been documented for over 800 years and in common with most tea types, has its origins in China. How it was invented is not known, it may have been by accident or design. Unlike most of the other tea types, I have not come across any legends that explain why and how it was created – I am sure there must be some out there!

Since it is normally based on Green tea, Jasmine tea has much the same health benefits as the latter. Green tea is claimed to be good for digestion, your heart and even halitosis! The best documented benefit however, is against cancer. It has high levels of antioxidants such as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). This is one of a group of chemicals called flavonoids which are known to destroy the reactive molecules called free radicals (oxidants) that are created in the body. These oxidants are implicated in the formation of cancer and with heart attacks so Jasmine tea is a pleasant way to help your body deal with these. It is not a magic cure-all as some tea sellers would have you believe but when included as part of a healthy lifestyle, it may help. Judging by the research, which really needs to be more extensive and controlled in order to be clinically reliable in my opinion, it is not going to hinder. So for those who are not keen on the sometimes ‘grassy’ taste of green tea, jasmine is a potentially healthy and tastier alternative.

Here in the west, many other flavoured teas have been developed, for example mint tea. These are not authentically Chinese and often disguise the fact that the tea is stale. That is fine if you are not serious about tea however to experience this beverage in its full glory, buy it loose, fresh and unadulterated. It can be difficult to find top quality brands if you live outside of a big city, but that is where the internet comes in. There are many retailers of this wonderful product online, however choose carefully. Pure, loose and organic is the best but not the cheapest. If you do buy the cheapest that you find, you really will be missing out.

About the Author

Want the best Chinese Jasmine Tea? Want to impress friends and family with your Speciality Green Teas? Then visit In Nature now.

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Copywriting: Is It Ever Worth Scaring The Reader?

Negative copy focuses on bad things that will happen if readers don’t choose a particular product, service or course of action. The sell is predicated on the idea that the consequences of not buying will be distressing, embarrassing or otherwise undesirable. We might call these potential outcomes ‘negative benefits’. Copywriting driven by negative benefits points out a problem that the customer has, before positioning the product or service being promoted as the solution to that problem.

Whole product lines have been driven by this kind of copy plot. As Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner recount in their book Freakonomics, Listerine brought a completely new problem – ‘chronic halitosis’ – to the public’s attention while simultaneously offering the solution. The fact that Listerine’s marketers had invented the faux-medical term didn’t hold back the campaign or the product. Nowadays, the sell for such products tends to be more positive – we buy in order to have fresh breath, rather than to avoid bad breath.

Negative benefits don’t even have to be real to be effective. Saatchi & Saatchi’s famous ad from the 1970s asked ‘would you be more careful if it was you that got pregnant?’ The question is rhetorical but still thought-provoking, which was surely the intention.

In most cases, there’s a choice to be made between selling on a positive or a negative. Insurance can be presented as obtaining peace of mind (positive) or avoiding financial crisis (negative). Even classic ‘distress purchases’ – those that we make because we have to, not because we want to – can be positioned positively. For example, buying sticking plasters could be portrayed as part of being a good parent. Or there may be the opportunity to stress some benefit that mitigates the distress of the purchase, as with one-coat paint or similar convenience products.

So, is it ever right to focus on the negative? Personally, I think the scare tactic needs to be used with great care. You’re evoking negative associations and banking on the reader taking the next step to the solution that you’re offering – rather than simply walking away before you even get to make your pitch. I once saw an ad for a will-writing service that described the problems of dying intestate in such apocalyptic terms that it was a complete turn-off. It made it sound like the taxman would take every last penny and your family would end up on the street. The aim was to cultivate a healthy fear of financial chaos, but the copy went too far and ended up generating resentment and irritation (in my mind anyway). As ever, there were positive aspects that could have been emphasised instead – being organised, helping relatives and so on. In most cases, it’s probably less risky to associate your product with positive feelings and enjoyable outcomes that will mean something to the customer.

The exception may be products that solve a well-known or long-standing problem that the customer will definitely recognise and be interested in solving (as opposed to one they’ve never thought about before). An example would be online comparison sites that offer to take the hassle out of buying insurance, holidays or other items where the choice is very wide. Here, people are well aware that buying can be a chore, making the task of the copywriter far easier – there’s no need to explain the problem before offering the solution.

The problem you offer to solve shouldn’t include using a competitor’s product, no matter how inferior that product is in reality. Comparative advertising or ‘knocking copy’, which actively criticises a rival offering, is another high-risk tactic. However, it’s one that can work in the right circumstances, as Saatchi (again) proved with ‘Labour isn’t working’.

Most modern ads, if they choose this tactic, opt for (say) a comparison table that purports to let the facts speak for themselves. Of course, the advertiser is controlling the game by choosing the areas for comparison, but this can give the impression of being impartial – or at least factual.

However, mentioning your competitor is dangerous for two reasons. Firstly, it’s an invitation for the reader to start thinking about the competitor rather than you. If they’re not paying careful attention, it might be the competitor’s brand that sticks in their head, not yours. In a way, you’re inviting them to check out your competitors before making a decision. Or, if they’re already using a competing product, your pitch implies a criticism of their choice. Telling the customer they’re in the wrong is rarely the way to close a sale. By contrast, offering to improve their situation is a great opening offer. So it’s better to focus on what you can do for the customer, not what a competitor can’t.

About the Author

Tom Albrighton is a freelance copywriter and founder/director of ABC Copywriting. ABC, based in Norwich, provides professional and creative copywriting services to businesses and agencies throughout the UK and Europe. Specialities include B2B marketing, SEO copywriting, website writing, articles and academic copywriting.

Toothpaste Freshens Your Breath

Toothpaste is a paste used with a toothbrush. It is used to promote oral hygiene and aid to remove dental plaque and food from the teeth. Fluoride is the most active ingredient in toothpaste and it can prevent cavities. It also eliminates bad breath or halitosis and gum disease.

The earliest known reference to toothpaste is in a manuscript from Egypt in the 4th century A.D. that prescribes a mixture of iris flowers. But it did not come into general use until the 19th century. The Greeks and the Romans were the ones who improved the recipes for toothpaste by simply adding abrasives like crush bones and oyster shells. During the 9th century the Persian musician and fashion designer Ziryab is known to invent a type of toothpaste. The ingredients were currently unknown but it was pleasant and functional. Aside from paste, tooth powders were also used. It was used with toothbrushes during the 19th century in Britain. Most were homemade, pulverized brick with chalk or salt as ingredients. Toothpastes that are sold in the United States have 1000 to 1100 parts per million fluoride ion. In UK the fluoride content is higher. When fluoride is applied, it also prevents moisture build-up in some areas and surfaces. There are also ingredients present in toothpaste but are less commonly used. These are calcium, phosphate and potassium nitrate to reduce sensitivity. Triclosan is also an antibacterial agent that is also an active ingredient in some toothpaste and is used to prevent gingivitis. It also contains baking soda, enzymes, herbs, vitamins, mouthwash and hydrogen peroxide

According to studies, fluoride in most toothpaste is an abrasive that reduce the time needed to remove plaque from the teeth by about 50%. Abrasives may also cause a small amount of enamel erosion. There are some brands like white mica which may be a mild abrasive and it adds shimmer to the paste. Most also may contain frustules of dead diatoms used as a mild abrasive. When plaque is removed, it prevents periodontal disease and caries. When your teeth are polished, the stains are removed from tooth surfaces however it did not show to improve dental health above the effects of removing plaque and calculus.

Brushing with toothpaste is very important for it can work to remove plaque that is a sticky harmful film of bacteria that grows on your teeth. It contains fluoride that makes the entire teeth more resistant to decay and it aids to repair early decay before the damage can occur. It has special ingredients that can help clean and polish the teeth and remove the stains over time. But most of all, it helps freshen breath and leave your mouth with a clean feeling.

About the Author

Visit: http://www.FresherBreathNow.com to learn more about what causes bad breath and what you can do about it!

Robin O. enjoys writing about many fascinating topics.

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