So why didn’t I go with the name “Resilience”? As much as that word perfectly describes what my Resilience® Turmeric Elixir offers, I had to consider the promise of future products and the brand as a whole. At the end of the day, it is my name that captures that vision best.
From a young age, I took my name as a kind of guidance for this life’s journey.
Anjali means divine offering, offering to god or quite literally ‘hands together in a gesture of offering, worship, respect or salutation’. As well, one of the essential spiritual teachings I have been given is to see the divine in everyone, and, pun intended, these two things have always gone hand-in-hand.
As I approached my rebrand, I realized I wanted to convey that my products, the gift of my literal and figurative roots, are my heart’s offering.
There were many challenges over the past year; I watched great businesses closing all around me, I looked closely at the data and was tempted to cut my losses and give up, but my mind is willful and my heart resolute. This is my purpose and I have faith this rebrand will broaden the reach of these offerings, bringing empowerment and happiness to all who adopt my products into their life. With this clarity and the rock solid belief in the value of my products, I was propelled forward and now here we are, on this wonderful day.
My cup is full.
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Masala Chai has been a personal obsession of mine and an essential part of my daily life long before turmeric. In high school, one of my first daydreams of entrepreneurship involved sharing my spiced chai with the world.
]]>How it started…
I loved chai and the state of mind it represented long before I drank a proper cup. Growing up, I witnessed how my parents punctuated their lives with cups and cups of chai. My mom used to get me to drink milk as a kid by mixing in a spoon or 2 of her homemade chai. Slowly that ratio shifted and by the time I was a teenager I was a proper chai drinker.
On a trip to my father’s hometown of Jaipur when I was 16, I was so enraptured by Madhu Chachi’s chai that I asked her (my aunt) to teach me. In her kitchen she showed me how to boil the water, milk, fresh ginger and spices together and sent me home to Connecticut with her favorite Assam tea and some beautiful clay chai cups that I still treasure. From that time onward I became my extended family’s chaiwali—always prepared to make 4 to 40 cups as needed. I have lost count of the many gatherings of family and friends made more cozy with plentiful cups of my masala chai.
For years I struggled to get my chai right when making only 1 or 2 cups. I often traded the lengthy process for a simpler bag tea when just making a cup for myself. All the while, I was on the prowl for a way to make the big pots easier and faster and my single cup yummier.
I have tried so many ‘so-called’ masala chais—expecting that moment of bliss in the first sip—only to be disappointed. While there are thousands, maybe millions of great versions of masala chai in households and roadside stands around the globe, I’ve had a growing impatience as I observe more and more people in America are being introduced to chai that is just wrong. If you know me personally, you know this angst has been real.
As for premixed masala chai blends… I have often noticed the spices are not in the right balance with each other or the tea. Some of us like our tea strong, some like it mild, decaffeinated or even dirty. I wanted to make a spice blend that could be added to enhance the tea we all love and that is adjustable to our personal taste.
Chai masala (spice blend) is the critical element when making masala chai (spiced tea). My recipe has evolved over 20+ years and it’s a dream come true to be able to share Anjali’s Chai Masala with you.
I hope Anjali's Chai Masala will transport you to a blissful place with each sip.
-Anjali
]]>Over the past couple of years we have slowly begun to take on wholesale accounts and now are ready to take on more! Over the past few months we have even taken on select accounts beyond the borders of NYC and look forward to getting into more stores in more states in 2020!
Here is a list of the amazing stores and cafes that carry and/or serve Resilience. We will be adding to this as we gain new accounts. If you have a store you would like to see us in, please do put in a request at the store and send Anjali a line at info@bijabhar.com so we can follow up and also send you a gift for any account that is opened based on your recommendation!
New York:
ABC Home
Joe Coffee Company (all locations)
Cafe Kitsune
Couleur Cafe
Ella's Bellas - Beacon
Farm to People
Foragers - Dumbo and Chelsea
Foster Sundry
Greene Grape Provisions
Ground Central (midtown west)
Hamlet Coffee Company
Harbor Market & Kitchen - Sag Harbor
Manhasset Yacht Club
Mixtape Shop
Mekelbergs
Mottley Kitchen
Naturally Good Food & Cafe - Montauk
Our Harvest
Perelandra
R&D Food
Whole Foods Market (Tribeca, Bowery, Gowanus, Williamsburg, Chappaqua, Commack)
Willoughby General
California
Arrow & Bear - Banning
Epicurean Trader -San Francisco
Kitchentown - San Mateo
Joi Cafe -Westlake Village
PantryLA
Vesta - Redwood City
Dylan Star
Colorado
Meat and Cheese Restaurant & Farmshop -Aspen
Delaware
Montrachet Fine Foods
Illinois
Foxtrot Market - Chicago locations
Maryland
Coffee Coffee BelAir
Massachusetts
Town Wharf General Store
New Jersey
Whole Foods Market (Bridgewater, Parsipanny, Weehawken)
Oregon
Bison Coffee House
Washington DC
Glen’s Garden Market
Odd Provisions
More coming soon!
]]>It's been a rough month but we believe it's always good to celebrate the good stuff, especially during hard times! Hope you and yours are staying safe and well!
]]>Anjali will be there serving Resilience Turmeric Elixir both as a latte and as a tea!
The $80 ticket for the day of programming including talks, meditations, and mini spa treatments is redeemable as a gift card on the day of the event so you can take home Resilience and so much more from the brands on the invite. How cool is that? I would love to see you there and will definitely be posting photos to Instagram so please make sure you are following along @bijabhar
It was a truly joy filled day! Thank you to all those who shared it with me and here are just a few photos from the day!
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We were so excited when Small Batch America asked us to participate in their Green Room program at The Daily Show. For the past couple of months Nobel Peace Prize winners, Comedians, Authors, Actors, the Mayor of NYC, and even a former President of the United States have been offered this functional treat during their time there!
It's exciting stuff. For a young company this is a big honor and we don't even know how they found us. Maybe it was you?! Thank you for continuing to support us and spreading the word.
-Anjali
]]>Here's a brief survey of the benefits of each ingredient, with a focus on turmeric, since it is the star and the workhouse of this blend.
The items below are some of the most commonly repeated by wellness and health experts, doctors, and scientists. It reinforced the essential knowledge and respect I had for these ingredients from Ayurveda, my own experience and, of course, my mother. And it makes me more excited than ever to make Resilience Blend available to you!
Turmeric (Curcuma Longa):
Hundreds of health benefits have been attributed to Turmeric, many of them comparable to pharmaceuticals. The short version: It makes your body and mind more RESILIENT!
Want more specifics? Here are some of the most commonly cited potential benefits.
Searching online for "turmeric curcumin study" along with any particular health concern will find you a plethora of more specific information. The National Center for Biotechnology Information website is a vast source of information with thousands of abstracts, citations, and journal articles that discuss turmeric.
White Turmeric (Curcuma Mangga):
Many of the same benefits as yellow turmeric, but this more rare variety has traditionally been used for:
Ginger:
Whole Lemon:
Maple Sugar:
Black Pepper:
Blending the highest quality of these ingredients together gives you a potent and delicious addition to your daily diet.
For educational purposes only. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevents any disease.
]]>While most serious juicers will tell you to focus on vegetables, there are some fruits, like cranberries, that PACk an undeniable nutritional punch and should be made the most of while they are freshest. For cranberries, that time is right now, in the late fall.
Cranberries are most famous for their support of urinary tract health but the benefits to oral, digestive tract, and cardiovascular health make them well worth the effort of incorporating in raw form.
Those flavanoids come with intense flavor so, as with leafy greens, they are best enjoyed blended with other flavors.
Cranberry Apple Ginger Juice
Yield: 12-16 oz
Cranberries - 1.5 cups
Apples - 3-4 medium sized McIntosh
Ginger - 1 inch chunk of ginger
Process ingredients through your juicer. Any variety of apple will work but crisper apples tend to juice better. If your juice is too pulpy, put it through a strainer before serving. Put the pulp through your juicer again or incorporate it in your cranberry sauce.
Sip fresh on Thanksgiving morning, mix with sparkling water for a toast, use it as a mixer later in the day for a memorable bourbon or rum cocktail!
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If you follow the nutrition and health worlds, you already know that this ancient superfood is well on its way to becoming the hot "new" thing.
Fresh turmeric is hard to find and virtually all turmeric powder has had much of the healing power cooked out of it.
We are so excited to get make our Raw Dehydrated Turmeric available to you in the form of our Resilience line of products.
If you're wondering what all the fuss is about, here's just some of what Turmeric is known for, aside from curry and beauty treatments:
Did I miss any antis? Oh right, the Curcumin in turmeric also has antioxidant properties.
On top of that, it has been found to:
That's right, it can even even cure a hangover.
Now, who doesn't need a little more turmeric?
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Bija Bhar is proud to be a partner in the launch of health expert Holli Thompson's new book: Discover Your Nutritional Style.The real key to unlocking optimal health is learning how to eat and select foods that work for your body. DYNS is all about guiding you through finding yours—and then rocking it through the seasons.
Here are some of Holli's ways to discover your unique Nutritional Style®:
1) Define your style
Your Nutritional Style is your way of eating that nourishes and satisfies you completely. It's not your sister's style or your favorite celebrity’s, it's all yours. Want to know your style? Take the quiz and find out if you're a modern vegan, a healthy omnivore, or one of Holli's other realistic and flexible styles.
2) Style your own rules
Discovering your nutritional style is about taking charge; of your mood, body, and long-term health. Be open to experimenting and making changes when you need to. This is HUGE, don’t stick to something that isn’t working for you. It's your choice and this book is empowering, to say the least.
3) Cleanse
One great way to live your Nutritional Style® is to reset occasionally with a healthy cleanse. It's a great way to get off of inflammatory foods for good, and the perfect way to embody your new Nutritional Style. Holli's cleanse protocol demystifies cleansing and makes it very approachable.
4) Respect
Learning to recognize signs of imbalance is challenging but essential. Imbalances within your body often appear as the result of sensitivity to one or more of the inflammatory food groups (dairy, gluten, sugar and more).
At it’s core, discovering your Nutritional Style® is about listening to and respecting what your body is telling you. Food is powerful, and empowering yourself to make changes when something’s not working for you is what Discover Your Nutritional Style delivers.
Pre-order DYNS before September 14th and you will be entered to win one of a host of prizes from Holli's favorite brands (including Bija Bhar and other healthy snacks on 9/4 and Vitamix on 9/14 ).
Use code BIJA at checkout for 20% off!
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From our newsletter:
Bija Bhar was born through my ongoing personal quest for better health, happiness, and balance. More specifically, it followed my discovery of the benefits of juicing. While sharing my favorite juice concoctions with dozens of friends and family, I started getting questions added to my own about the foods that best integrated with juicing, that would also work with their busy lives.
Nutrient rich seeds were a quick answer but making seeds easy to integrate was more difficult. Other than using them in smoothies, I used them infrequently. So one weekend, in need of a snack and craving chocolate, I pulled a bunch of bags out of the cupboard and made the very first batch of decadent energy nuggets. Within 1 month I had 4 flavors of bars that focused on different nutritional needs and life got much busier as I prepared to launch Bija Bhar.
When I was juicing daily, I ended up with 5 or 6 go-to recipes, but the one I crave, the one I wish I could have fresh, first thing every morning, is my green juice. It not only tastes amazing, thanks to the key ingredients smiling at you above, it seems to wake up every cell of my body in a way that makes coffee green with envy!
Most recipes are for one serving, and while fresh is always ideal, small compromises often yield the happiest results. Time to juice has become rare pleasure. So when I can, I make a big batch that makes best use of produce and freeze individual servings I can enjoy later.
I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do!
Anjali
Download it for free here.
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