Carol Moseley Braun's Tea Party

Even if Carol Moseley Braun doesn’t become the next mayor of Chicago, she’ll still get something out of this campaign: free publicity for Ambassador Organics. Before Moseley Braun ran for mayor, did anyone know she ran a coffee and tea importing company?

Your Ward Room blogger wanted to write a review of Moseley Braun’s tea, so I went to my neighborhood Dominick’s over the weekend. Here’s my review: I can’t afford Ambassador Organics tea.

Ambassador Organics, which is packaged in a cylindrical tin, was the most expensive tea in Aisle 3 -- $10.69 for a 15-bag package. That’s .69 cents a cuppa. Twinings, my usual brand, costs .20 cents a bag.

I took some cell phone photos of the tin, though, so I can tell you what you’ll be getting for your money:

“A premium line of whole-leaf bagged teas for the discerning tea drinker that is certified Organic, certified Biodynamic and Fair Trade Certified. These teas have been imported from dedicated Biodynamic farmers in communities across the globe, exemplifying agriculture that respects all aspects of the environment, from soil to human being.”

On the other side of the tin is a personal message from Moseley Braun:

“At Ambassador Organics, we believe today’s choices create the future. We search worldwide for farmers growing the highest quality Biodynamic and Organic foods for a healthier, more robust and sustainable world for generations to come. Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun.”

The teas come in four flavors: Egyptian Mint, Biodynamic Earl Grey Green, Biodynamic Irish Breakfast, and Biodynamic White.

Moseley Braun has suggested her small company’s financial woes have made more her sensitive to Chicagoans struggling through the recession. But the pricing indicates that Moseley Braun is running a boutique business whose products are unaffordable to the voters she’s trying to reach. Obviously, Moseley Braun is not a successful businesswoman, but crying poverty because your upscale coffee and tea can’t find buyers in a downscale market is bad politics, too.

If you’re the kind of person who can afford to drink Ambassador Organics, you’re probably not going to vote for Carol Moseley Braun. 

Buy this book! Ward Room blogger Edward McClelland's book, Young Mr. Obama: Chicago and the Making of a Black President , is available Amazon. Young Mr. Obama includes reporting on President Obama's earliest days in the Windy City, covering how a presumptuous young man transformed himself into presidential material. Buy it now!

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