Eastern inspired trends: Yoga, feng shui and now tea

Along with other eastern inspired trends such as yoga and feng shui, tea is becoming rather popular in the US, who earlier didn't know anything about drinking it, down to the fact that the tea leaves actually had to be strained before drinking the tea. Agenda reports that coffee's lowly cousin, tea is coming into its own and is becoming quite hip thanks to Atlanta based Teavana, an upscale tea emporium chain that offers its customers a unique zen experience of tea drinking.

Teavana isn't the only tea brand whose marketing platform is at one with the hip and holistic. Starbucks' own Tazo brand sells green teas with names like Zen and Om, while its mission statement refers to the company's "master tea shaman." (How would you like to have that title on your business card?) Even sugary Snapple has produced a commercial that depicts a young man in a Chinese field searching for the meaning of the moniker "white tea." (A gray-bearded farmer explains that it is tea made from baby tea leaves.)