ITO EN Pleases The Palate With Limited Edition Gift Sets For Holiday 2006

New York, NY — ITO EN (North America), INC. will debut a series of limited edition gift sets, including the much anticipated Tea Couture Chabako (Japanese tea boxes) for the 2006 Holiday season. Individually hand crafted in the company’s award winning tea store, located on New York City’s prestigious Madison Avenue, the sets will be available in November for purchase on www.itoen.com or by calling 888.697.8003 for delivery nationwide. Each set includes a selection of the company’s teas, presented in a keepsake box that has been created using exotic papers and luxurious fabrics.

Sets include:

Tea Couture Chabako
More chic than the tea muses, these miniature chabako gain their definitively glamorous air from elegant hand-done touches with bands of velvet and shimmering ornamentation that reflect the tastefulness of their teas.

Jasmine Pearl - Lavishly infused with jasmine, young tip tea leaves are hand-rolled into small "pearls," which unfurl when steeped. This premium tea fills your cup with a pale orange brew and a warm floral bouquet.

Ama-no-gawa - In Japanese, the Milky Way is referred to as Ama-no-gawa, “The River of Heaven”. Ama-no-gawa takes its cue from the celestial river of stars. A fine Japanese green tea is scented with lush notes of violet and lilac, then spiked with blood orange. This taste of heaven abounds with sweet, floral notes before closing on a bright note of fresh citrus and leafy greens.

Lilas - An expression of pure simplicity, white tea takes on the luxurious scent of lilacs. With their mellow character, downy Silver Needle tea tips, China’s highest grade of white tea, offer a quiet backdrop for this distinctive floral character to bloom. The silky infusion is delicately sweet yet never overwhelming.

$50/each

Muse Chabako
These fancy, flirty miniature chabako express some of the different personalities of cosmopolitan tea drinkers the world over. Each playful box contains a premium ITO EN loose leaf tea and empty nylon mesh teabags for brewing anywhere.

The Intellectual
She’s bright, open-minded, and well traveled. Reading Sontag and Steinem, she never steps back from a challenge and is always scaling a new summit. Includes Mountain of Scholars, a prized oolong tea from Taiwan rewards with a supple infusion of a white flower bouquet.

The Epicurean
For her, life is simply a matter of taste. Ideally, it’s to be savored abundantly and unabashedly… especially, when it’s time for dessert. Includes Chocolate Masala, an Assam black tea from India that gets dark and spicy with chocolate and ginger.

The Socialite
While everyone else is on the jitney, she’s already on the shore! She’s cool in the summer breeze, enjoying the dish and the refreshments. Includes Southampton, an elegantly relaxed American style tea—crisp Ceylon black tea with a splash of apricot.

$28/each

Flights Of Fancy Series
A flight can be a voyage, transporting an avid traveler to a faraway destination. A flight can be exploration of tastes, like a flight of wine, sake or tea. Our flights of fancy play on both meanings, allowing the adventuresome tea drinker to explore the world of tea, to paraphrase the Chinese sage Lao Tzu, without ever leaving home. Our flights are presented in an imported, elegant Japanese two-tier box vividly accented by washes of colored paper, enlivening the senses even before the first sip is taken.

Flights of Fancy - Japan
Take a sojourn through the millennium-old tradition of Japanese green tea. Savor the comforting taste of classic hoji-cha (roasted green tea) and genmaimatcha (green tea, roasted rice and green tea powder) while delving into the tea’s subtleties with Uji Kabuse (a shade-grown tea from the Kyoto region) and Kagoshima Sencha, from Japan’s southernmost tea region. The set also includes a tea-inspired confectionary and empty nylon mesh teabags for easy brewing anywhere. Presented in a two-tier bento box dressed in imperial purple washi and a gold origami crane.
$75

Flights of Fancy - Deluxe
A first-class flight for the tea-drinking jet setter, this deluxe flight features eight luscious teas from ITO EN’s extensive collection. Savor the likes of brilliant green teas from Japan, skillfully hand-rolled Jasmine Pearl from China, organic Darjeeling plucked in the shadows of the Himalayas, and the ever-popular Southampton, a blend of Ceylon tea and apricot that’s become an expression of the new American taste in tea.
$90

ITO EN Signature Bento Box
For the tea drinker who’s always in fashion, the ITO EN Signature Bento Box is beautifully wrapped, and contains a sampling of tea varieties with ITO EN’s individually wrapped, nylon mesh teabags—Sencha, Gyokuro, Jasmine Green, Golden Oolong, Darjeeling (Black tea), and Ceylon Breakfast (Black tea). Melding the visual appeal of the box and a variety of flavors within, this makes a great gift for the design-minded and the tea lover alike.

Six tea bags each of Sencha Green, Gyokuro, Darjeeling, Ceylon, Golden Oolong and Jasmine Green teas
$50

Since establishing their U.S. operations in 2001, Tokyo-based ITO EN has introduced the green tea culture to the American market through the TEAS’ TEA line of all natural, unsweetened ready-to-drink teas, which received the ‘Best Flavor’ and ‘Best Packaging’ awards from the 2005 World Tea Expo. The company also imports and markets Sencha Shot and the award-winning Tea Apple and Tea Lemon from their line of natural fruit teas. Recently, the company acquired Mason Distributors, a Florida-based vitamin and supplement manufacturer, which gains them entry to the ever-growing U.S. supplement market. The ITO EN Tea Shop, located on Manhattan’s Madison Avenue, has received the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Zagat NYC Gourmet Marketplace award for ‘Best Tea’, and the company also operates the renowned KAI and Donguri restaurants in New York City.

To access more information or order from the entire line of ITO EN products, please visit www.itoen.com.

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Established in 1966, Japan-based ITO EN, LTD. was founded to market green tea, a traditional Japanese beverage. Today, the company is firmly positioned as not only the world's leading supplier of green tea leaves and green tea beverages, but an all encompassing beverage company that is continuously developing a steady stream of new products that specifically address customer needs and lifestyles. Known as a trendsetter in Japan's beverage industry, intensive research and development has allowed the company to cultivate better tea, and positioned them as the first company to create a patented method of bottling green tea in a manner that carefully preserves its distinct flavor and integrity. Additional information can be accessed through www.itoen.com.