Why we use resealable foil pouches for our loose leaf tea:
When we released Stir in 2008 we extensively researched packaging options for loose leaf tea. By selling tea in a loose leaf style we had eliminated any of the plastic associated with individual teabags however we had to come up with a functional solution for the outer packaging. Because of the nature of tea we needed a robust food safe material that provided a barrier for moisture, light and smells. We decided on resealable foil bags.
In 2017 we completed a review of our foil outer packaging to see if we could find an alternative product that is easily recycled. We have considered a number of packaging options that look really environmentally friendly on the outside e.g rice paper bags, manila paper bags but these can be heavily coated with plastic on the inside, may offer a limited (or almost no) barrier to the air for the tea and may not be any friendlier to the earth. None of these options have proved suitable.
We are very open to any suggestions you may have on alternative packaging. If you know of a food safe material that can offer an outstanding barrier to the air and light over the life of the tea then we would love to explore this.
In the meantime here are some things we can suggest:
Start a Tea Club - For online customers we offer our larger size bags which are discounted. So perhaps a bunch of friends can start a tea club and place one collective order for a large bag and then have a tea party to distribute the larger bag into their own smaller airtight containers.
Bring your refillable container to the Remarkables Market - At Labour weekend the new season of the fantastic Saturday Remarkables Market will kick off. We are really thrilled to be part of it again and this year we will introduce a new service whereby customers can bring their own containers to the market one week (this might be our silver foil bag used multiple times) and we shall bring it back the following week filled with their favourite tea.
Posted: Monday 23 October 2017
