A Toast To Canada

Here’s to Canada, land of the free;

Daily life starts with coffee or tea

In winter we freeze; in summer we cook;

In April, the tax man throws us the book.

September is gorgeous, bug season has passed;

Lake water’s still warm and the sail’s up the mast.

For tennis and golf our weather’s divine;

On political guff, our friends still opine.

Here’s to Canada where discussion’s our style;

Guns and violence are not worth our while.

We argue, we listen, our points do come clear;

And mostly its done with mighty good cheer.

Here’s to Canada, our land that we praise;

May peace be among us for the rest of our days.

Our nation’s dynmaic, our people real smart;

Raise a glass to Canada, a land that has heart.

thanks dad for being canadian

i’m so grateful to live in this land of Canada.

We thank Chris very much for this great review and hope you’ll take time to read – truly if you ar a ‘ loose leaf ‘ on-the-go person you’ll want to know more

review by Angela England of Blissfullydomestic.com

I love fresh brewed tea as much as anyone – something I inherited from my mother. The interest in tea resurfaced as my interest in herbs grew. And of course any time I’m pregnant I try to avoid high levels of caffeine.

The hard part of enjoying tea is that as a busy mom, I don’t always have the chance to make it, or take it with me on the road. That’s why I jumped at the chance to review Libre Tea.

Libre Tea brewers are loose leaf tea diffusers and portable, elegant glasses at the same time. It’s really a brilliant idea and when I opened the package they sent me I thought – this is perfect. There are two versions, a glass inner core and glass outer part, or you can choose what I got, the outer poly canister. My kids are still so little I decided against the outer glass option.

What I Like about Libre Tea Glasses

I had purchased several bulk herbs from Mountain Rose Farms after my pregnancy and found that I wasn’t using them as often as I wanted because it was kindof a pain to brew the tea on the stove and then filter out the loose herbs. The Libre tea glass allows me to brew the tea one glass at a time VERY easily. My tea stayed warm for a full hour since the dual layers of the glass act like a thermos.

How Libre Tea Glasses Work

You put the leaves in the top lid section which has wire diffuser at the bottom. Then you can unscrew both sections, so the tea leaves are contained, and add water to the glass part. When you turn the Libre tea glass unside down the water comes in contact with the tea and brews naturally – I found that hot water brewed much faster than cold water but that’s the same for all teas.

I really liked being able to reuse the tea leaves to brew a second glass of tea – a feature which came in handy when I went to work at the massage clinic all day. I didn’t have to pack or carry additional tea leaves with me.

Features I’d like to See Added

I think future improvements might include having the option for a finer mesh size to the filter. While the red raspberry leaves, lemon grass and strawberry leaves were in larger pieces and did not fall through, I did find bits of leaves from the nettle and green tea blend that came through the mesh. This is a common problem with loose leaf brewing though and most tea drinkers would be tolerant of a little bit of this. I’d also love to see larger sizes that could be used by the whole family on a picnic or in the car.

For tea on the go, or even around the house like I am, I have found my Libre tea glass beautiful and very functional. I even feel comfortable using it around the computer because I just screw the lid back on in case it gets knocked over by one of my kiddos. You can visit Libre website for more information or watch the video how-to for real-time demo of the Libre glass in action!

One Libre tea glass was provided to me for purposes of an accurate and knowledgeable review.

2010

GardenWise Runs Libre Tea Contest

The Tattered Edge Raves About the Libre

Coupon Clipping Nutritionist Claims Libre is Great

Libre Suits ‘Cool Mom Picks’ To A Tea

Libre Tea Wins the Tea Guy’s Tea Infuser Showdown

Life As A Mom extols the virtues of loose leaf tea on-the-go to mom readers.

Creative Kismet generously reviewed the Libre.

The Vegan Feast Kitchen reviewed the Libre after receiving one of the glasses as a birthday present. Check out the great, vegan chocolate cake recipe.

Natural Health Ezine gave the Libre two-thumbs up.
Blush Mom – The Mom crowd warms up to the Libre.  Blush Mom ran a contest for Libre Tea moms (the contest is no longer listed on the website).

The Alternative Consumer – This guide to eco-friendly consumption added the Libre Poly ‘n glass to its list of environmentally-friendly products.

Alberta Home – The folks at Alberta Home bring the Libre to the Alberta masses, with good results.
Closet Therapy Blog – A NYC fashionista spouts about her love for tea – and runs a Libre contest.
Tea Escapade – Tea isn’t just about drinking…it’s an adventure! (Especially with this blog)
Fashion Meets Food – A fashionista and health enthusiast brings the Libre into her home and into her diet.
Bluesky World – A favorable review from an indie blogger.

2009

The Tea Review – A blog about ‘all things tea’ reviews the Libre.
The Tea Guy - This one-man site ran an contest and wrote a review of the Libre.
Veg News – Veg News, a full-scale magazine geared toward the vegan/vegetarian crowd, ran a great contest for the Libre.

Lainie Sips – Lainie, a tea fanatic, explains how she became hooked on her Libre.

E-starla – An LA-based blogger took a Libre out for a spin and wrote a nice review.
Stimuli Mag – An online mag from the Fraser Valley, BC.
Yoga Dork – The Yoga Dork proves that yogis love tea and tea glasses.

Recent research advised a very small trace of BPA upon first use only. This is not a health concern.

The level found was more than 2000 times less than the Canadian daily allowable intake of BPA. A full notice with more details is available here Notice to libre customers.

Although it is a very small trace amount and only on first use, we wanted to communicate our findings.

We recommend that retailers place a sticker on the top of the Libre box advising to soak 10 minutes in boiling water before first use and we are communicating with our retailers now.

We regret this inconvenience and do appreciate your understanding.

New lids will be available in June – please contact us at info@libretea.com for further information.

use ‘clean water’ for 10% off and know that 100% of  your purchase is going to clean water

both charity water and water aid have great programs around the globe that support increased access to clean water.

This morning US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will join a high level coalition to kick off World Water Day Activities in Washington, DC.

In New York,  WaterAid’s Barbara Frost will speak about water and climate change at the first United Nations High Level Thematic Event on Water in New York.

Today you receive 10% off  Libre glass’n poly style  and 100% of all sales today will be donated to charity water.

share with you friends – feel good about your tea moment and know that your sharing and caring counts

use ‘clean water’ for 10% off and know that 100% of  your purchase is going to clean water

i do love yoga as it renews me and that resulting clarity helps me to see better – i think yoga is a great health tonic, good for the mind and the body.

btw some great yoga organsations – Yoga Outreach (fundraising weekend at a squamish retreat May 28-30)  bringing yoga to prisons with volunteer teachers and Yoga Bear providing yoga to women in the cancer process – we have supported both and look to get further involved.

the practicalities of the yoga show are about the meeting space – standard displays ensure a cookie cutter so a little creativity by ‘architectural colour’ and together have created a meeting place – it sounds fun and i look forward to a great time ahead.

with great thanks to a long time friend, karen who will accompany me on this journey to the Toronto yoga show – thanks dear heart

so i do hope you will introduce yourself if you do come toronto and enjoy lots of yoga, say hi

wit respect, thanks for this opportunity to create and connect

Their cheque for the $200 is now on its way and we learned how this would work and they made a little monies on the way to many more tea moments! Another happy day at Libre tea and another experiment successfully completed.

Now in itself $200 is not the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow however we were honoured to be involved and truly believe that if we could sell all Libres with a fundraising aspect we’d be thrilled.

looking forward to more innovative opportunities for advancing social good  – a special kudo to karen, our libre collaborator for putting this together and making it all happen.

here is my inspiring quote that feeds me as much as any tea moment:

“another world is not only possible, she is on her way. on a quiet day I can hear her breathing” arundhati roy

One of the UGM staff let us know that a few of the office staff were really enjoying their Libre tea glasses and  were receiving many questions and inquiries – so we thought mmmm how could we help such a great cause. we devised these cards printed through Moo – so cute and now the UGM staff can give them to the  interested and  curious.

We so appreciate the opportunity to work with UGM to create this Moo ‘vehicle’ for social good.

The Moo cards are 1.1 x 2.7 inches each – on one side they have 6 different libre nature photos and then the explanation for the UGM offer on the other.

We are really pleased with this initiative and look forward to doing more  social good co-operative promotions in different cities.

we truly enjoy the opportunity to utilise the libre to create awareness and increased resources for organisations of the heart.

we do want to serve our customers in respectful and helpful ways and love when we hear suggestions and new places the libre is found – an entertaining one lately is the Libre was found in a womens washroom stall forgotten by its previous owner ( so sad when there are misplaced tea moments;) the finder was so intrigued she wrote down the name and came home to find us on the internet – she ordered 3!

it is these stories that allow Libre’s unique design to be seen by more and more tea lovers and we know even with the best planning surprises are coming.

the wonderful reception the Libre is receiving from so many tea drinkers is inspiring for sure and we are awaiting whatever life has to give us that may change our path and lead to more adventures.

and so we are inspired to finding more ways to enable more tea moments and of course ensure our current tea moment lovers are supported.

how is your new year so far? are you inspired and awaiting adventure

“Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all”  Helen Keller

wait…  the much bigger message for my ears that days was about the toxicity of negative emotions  – anger, fear, grief, jealously – those kinds of negative emotions

now i know this information but saturday it had an even greater impression upon me. how do I alleviate them – well letting go is job#1 and some serious self reflection.

this message was not only personal but reflects upon libre’s reason for being – tea moments – a moment to connect withoneself and the world -  being conscious that we are are all interconnected  – i know that if we connect with ourself more often and become more conscious we can heal and show even more love in the world.

it is these negative emotions that are realisations of separation and resistance.

it had never been more clear – this workshop gave me a new outlook and tools.

often the negative emotions are our reactions to ’someone else’s behaviours or attitudes ‘ – Seane advised and i’ve heard this before, but never sooo poignantly… ‘if you spot it you got it’ – it may be that the attribute we are negatively judging in others is actually an unclaimed aspect of ourselves – our shadow. to love ourself is to make room and be compassionate towards our own shadows.  It is like the separation we unconciously know within is projected out.

If we heal and accept our humanness and inherent ’shadow’ side we can be compassionate towards the ‘other’ -  we can be loving and compassionate.

for me this is the weft and weave of our love potential that interconnects us all. Seane Corn’s ‘off the mat and into the world‘ leadership training is all about self discovery and consciousness to allow more loving and truly understand what it means that we are all inteconnected. will be looking into sponsoring a yogi and maybe even partaking myself.

ohhh some days are big!

so much to reflect on and marvellous fodder for tea moments in the days ahead. gratitude, gratitude.

namaste and grace to all