503 - SB1 - Tea/Coffee Research

To design and develop a new, exciting and eye-catching range of at least three tins for either teas or coffees. Students will need to create a fictitious brand targeting the quality retail sector, including duty free areas at airports and the higher-end retailers such as John Lewis, Selfridges and M&S. This new range is to be designed primarily for purchase as a luxury gift pack. Metal offers great potential for creative design solutions with not only embossing and debossing but also the high quality of print finishes that can be achieved with colour, varnishes and bare metal. Consider when designing your range (minimum 3 in range) marriageability as a set of three and that the labelling, graphics and overall presentation ensure they are a family of luxury products. When developing your designs consider re-usability of the tins for a secondary use within the home. To meet food standards, the contents (tea, coffee or infusions) would, if going into production, be sealed separately in foil bags and presented in the secondary pack.

I have to consider the material that will be used, the limitations and possibilities of a tin, and also what else it could be used for once the contents had gone, it should be desirable to keep in the home after this, or perhaps I could incorporate a recycling aspect into the luxury gift set for after use:

"Tin cans are 100% degradable, Eco-friendly packs, which do not cause any environmental imbalance. Steel packaging is totally recyclable - it can be recycled for infinite number of times without ever changing the properties of steel. Thanks to its magnetic properties - which makes it the easiest type of material to be collected and sorted for recycling.Tinplate packaging is the best recyclable packaging material - perfectly suited for an age in which commercial success can depend on sound environmental credentials."

Tin plate

• Tinplate is steel with a thin coating of tin for rust protection. A layer of white enamel is added to some food cans produced from this materials to protect the contents.
• Low weight and high strength - making tinplate packaging easy to ship and store.
• Optimum protection of food products - from impurities, bacteria, moisture, light, and odours.
• Tinplate is an eco-friendly packaging material offering 100 percent recyclability - any number of times, and without quality loss.
• Direct printing, embossing and new shaping techniques increase the material's marketing potential: tinplate packaging attracts consumer attention and favourably influences purchasing decisions. As a result, it is increasingly used for packaging up-market or trendy items such as watches, perfumes, and mobile telephone cards.

I'm not much of a coffee drinker myself and also believe that there are alot more creative possibilities with tea packaging as there are endless flavours and mixtures so i'm going to research tea packaging to get a feel for what is already out there. 

Williamson Tea Packaging

"Williamson Tea is a fifth generation tea farming business committed to growing the highest quality sustainable teas to the benefit of Kenya, its communities, wildlife and environment. With over 140 years of experience in the art of growing, selecting and blending fine teas we are unlike other tea brands. As tea farmers all of our teas are grown on our own farms, which means we control the quality of the product all the way from bush to cup. Produced for over 25 years our iconic herd of Limited Edition Elephant tea caddies contain 40 teabags from our own farms. Famous as collectors items or as the perfect gift whatever the occasion."

T2 Tea Variety

T2 history

T2 isn't falling short of a wide selection of flavours and experiences of teas, with 2 different sizes available for purchase - 100g and 250g in a box, foil and a tin. As there are so many flavours available I may use this as inspiration for when choosing my 3 different products, rather than thinking about standard earl grey or english breakfast. I also feel I could be really illustrative with some of the ingredients in these teas.

I am going to select three different flavours that compliment each other, and work together well as a set so I am going to choose from the 'perfect for iced tea' section. These flavours can be consumed hot or cold so the target audience range will be wider. 

Peach Loose Leaf

Enjoy with: Perfect on its own. Store in a cool, dry place. Ingredients: Apple, white hibiscus, papaya cubes (papaya, sugar), sweet blackberry leaves, peach, chicory root roasted, flavouring, marigold petals, acidifier (E330). 

1 tsp per cup 3-5 mins 100 degrees Celsius

Green Rose Loose Leaf

Enjoy with: Perfect on its own. Store in a cool, dry place. Ingredients:Green tea, currants (currants, anti-caking agent: sunflower oil), papaya bits (papaya, sugar), rose petals, mango bits (mango, sugar, acidifier: E330), flavouring, cornflower petals.

1 tsp per cup 2-3 mins 80 degrees Celsius

Strawberries & Cream Loose Leaf

Enjoy with: Perfect on its own. Store in a cool, dry place. Ingredients: Apple, hibiscus, rosehip, strawberry granules (glucose syrup, strawberries, fructose, modified starch: E1414, thickener: E401), sweet blackberry leaves, yoghurt crispies (skimmed milk yoghurt, sugar, maltodextrin, modified starch E1412, acidifier: E330) flavouring CONTAINS MILK. 

1 tsp per cup 3-5 mins 100 degrees Celsius

Iced Tea Packaging

All of the above packaging is very vibrant in colour and bold in imagery and text, which is good for standing out in a supermarket or corner shop however the range I will be developing is to be sold in more upmarket shops such as Harvey Nichols, John Lewis and Selfridge's and therefore needs to appeal to people who are familiar with tea and have expensive taste. The packaging I create therefore needs to be subtle and classy. As the range is also being promoted to be used in the household and not on the go it has to add to the environment it is going to be kept, most probably the kitchen.

There are a couple of reasons why you should consider switching to loose leaf tea for making iced tea:

• It tastes better: Loose leaf tea is higher quality than most tea bags. Tea bags use fannings and dust, the leftover bits of tea once the good stuff is used.
• More Variety: When you buy tea bags, you’re limited to a few selections. With loose leaf tea, you have a wider selection. Plus you can blend teas yourself to make you own specialty

How to make iced tea with loose leaf 

Place 2 teaspoons loose leaf tea into a glass (or more, scaling up if you’re making a pitcher’s worth), add cold water, cover, and let it sit in your fridge overnight (or 4-6 hours if you’re impatient). In the morning, you’ll have a nice, cold glass of tea that you can strain out over ice and enjoy. Don’t worry about the tea getting bitter from steeping too long — a special side-effect of cold brewing is that it doesn’t draw the bitterness out of the leaves the way hot water does.