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A while ago, I wrote about Revolution Tea. I thought it was incredible tea with really impressive packaging. Then I met a representative for Mighty Leaf “Artisan-Crafted Whole Leaf Tea Pouches.” Admittedly, their packaging is pretty ho-hum. Nothing too impressive and pretty typical for tea packaging. The tea bags (or, as they call them, “pouches”) are silken and biodegradable and, if I recall correctly, they are the only company using the machine they have to make them (originally they used the same type of pouches that revolution used, but found the ones they now use to be better).
While Revolution had sent me boxes of tea, Mighty Leaf sent me individually wrapped tea pouches of a bunch of their flavors. I guess, in all fairness, I can’t really compare their packaging since all I saw were little paper packets as opposed to their boxes of tea. I can however talk about their tea’s taste.
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That seemed like an obvious way to go with titling the post since we’re talking about a revolution: Revolution Tea that is… Okay, I know, that was bad, I’ll try and cut down on the cheese factor. Moving right along.
This isn’t my first time writing about tea. I am, what I would consider, a pretty big tea fan. Sitting at my desk at work I go through about 4 cups of tea a day. You might think it is my body craving caffeine that I could get from one or two cups of coffee, but for one I don’t drink coffee; never have, I just think it is bitter. And another point, a lot of the tea I drink is either low in caffeine or herbal, without caffeine. In fact, for the longest time I avoided black teas. Like coffee I thought they were just too bitter and didn’t really have enough flavor to back up all the bitterness.
During the past week and a half I have been trying out some new teas I discovered. Revolution Tea is a small tea company (well, in comparison to say Lipton or Celestial Seasonings at least) located in Arizona. They are producing full-leaf tea in high quality infuser bags instead of your typical ground-up tea in a paper bags. Their packaging is all simple and clean, with a modern feel and design. They have your typical boxes with the tea stored inside a plastic box inside to keep out moisture, travel tins with 6 tea bags, tea tins for larger bags (for brewing pots of tea) and single serving packages; small cardboard boxes with their unique infuser tea bag inside.
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You know those people who you seems to be less able to avoid these days, the ones going on and on about how awesome Green Tea is, how good it is for you, how it is has some magical properties? Well, I admit, I am kind of one of those people. Though I try to avoid going on and on about how magical it actually is, I do believe it has helped boost my immune system a bit this past winter preventing me from any serious sickness… Well, at least until last week when I developed a 101 degree fever and was bed ridden for 3 days (and am still suffering from a sniffle and a scratchy throat)… Anyway, Josh sent me this article from the Financial Times by Jacob Weisberg titled “Green Tea, the elixir of false virtue.”
Weisberg’s article discusses Green Tea Hucksterism (to crib a term from Josh). Discussing how while Green Tea may have some decent effects (not necessarily proven by the FDA) the marketing blitz around green tea has become pretty ridiculous. Unfortunately while that seems to be the theme Weisberg is focusing on, he himself, seems to totally miss the marketing machines that have been built to promote one of the newest trends in food and almost seems to believe himself in blaming green tea for being overly hyped.
So Starbuck and Jamba Juice are selling green tea Milkshakes- No, they aren’t fabulous for you, but are they any different from any of these stores’ other milkshake-like beverages? Is this the fault of Green Tea farmers?
When people notice a trend they tend to latch on, bastardizing the original product and cheapening the truths about it, especially if that means they will also be able to make a dollar off the trend. Maybe it isn’t so much about the product itself but just how it is marketed. We’ve all heard good things about Green Tea, but do you know specifically what those claims are? Marketers are guessing you don’t, so when they make a candle with vague allusions that it will calm and relax you because of the green tea scent, well really, are they lying? Isn’t that one of the primary purposes of scented candles? To provide you with a scent that relaxes and calms you? At least that is what those little candle tins from the designer store across the street are claiming.
Don’t blame the product, blame the marketers.
As for me, I will continue to drink my Green Tea, Red Wine, Pomegranate Juice and Whiskey, well at least until the next fad drink comes along (by the way, I recommend Pomegranate Green Tea with a touch of Ginger Honey… maybe it is a miracle drink, but really it just tastes damn good)…
