Reaching Beyond Wholesale

We have mostly described Kopius Teas as a resource for resellers, that is wholesalers and distributors who purchase our bulk teas for resale. In reality, our market also includes institutional food service and federal, state and local governments who may use our bulk teas, herbs and spices for culinary and quick service dining. Some of our core capabilities in this area include the following:

1. Bulk tea bags. We can now produce food service, bulk pyramid tea bags directly in our facility. The advantage of this step is the avoidance of shipping charges to a third party for packaging. Our clients select their teas, the weight per tea bag, and the number of total tea bags. The pyramid bags are manufactured and bagged in bulk (without wrappers) and sent directly to our clients.

Not only is this helpful in reducing the carbon footprint for individual wrappers, but it also gives our clients the flexibility to take a single order of pyramid tea bags and use them in a combination of retail repackaging, wholesale distribution, and food service tea preparation.

2. Pre-packed institutional pouches. Food service bulk distribution of loose tea need not carry the same polish as finished, retail packaging. We have many coffee roasters and tea distributors who simply want 1-2 lb bags of bulk tea labeled with the name of the product, lot number, date, and weight. This goes on generic packaging, which is often less expensive than pre-printed foils. We offer this as a more cost effective way to ship volumes of tea to different elements of the distribution channel.

3. Filter and cello tea packs for iced tea. Iced tea continues to be the most popular form of tea consumption in the US. We can manufacture 1 - 3 oz bags of tea for use in automated iced tea brewing machines, such as Fedco, Curtis, and Bunn. 1 oz typically produces 1 gallon of iced tea.

4. Formulation services. All of the above can begin with our formulation services which are specially designed to create a finished product that has a predetermined leaf appearance, taste, texture, color and price. Whether we are designing an artisan blend with flowers, fruit, tea and spices, or a simple tea bag cut blend for high volume, low cost targets, our master blenders devote significant energy towards constructing a recipe that is both consistent and scalable.

Optional formulation considerations include ingredients that are Organic, Fair Trade, Biodyamic, and Rain Forrest Alliance certified.

5. Documentation. We continue to see greater demand among our larger buyers for documentation of quality and food handling. This includes Certificates of Analysis, Product Specifications, and sometimes third party laboratory testing.

Kopius Teas can now accept GSA Smartpay and GSA Smartpay 2 credit cards with the VISA or Mastercard logo. We continue to support federal, state, and local governments with the ability to conveniently purchase our products in bulk or tea bag formats. Kopius Teas is registered as a Certified Small Business by the United States Small Business Administration and the State of California. Government institutions and Prime Vendors are invited to contact us for a formal capabilities statement, including potential bids for subcontracting of GSA or non-GSA procurement.

EarthFair on Earth Day 2011

What a beautiful day in San Diego to walk the EarthFair. In the age of the internet, it was a wonderful experience seeing a broad range of community booths, all providing excellent information on helping to protect our planet. I think the highlight for me was learning about all the local organizations dedicated to park preservation and the restoration of our natural habitat.

Even though I don't know much about bugs and species of native plants, many experts were available for a quick consultation.

If your city or county has a Earth Day celebration, I encourage you to get out an get involved.

Current crisis in Japan

More than in our hearts and mind, we pray for the victims and families of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis in Japan right now. Even as we watch the youtube and media coverage of live and historical footage of the devastation, we know we cannot really comprehend the extent of the damage, both at present and to be realized in the near future. Residents of Sendai and surrounding regions have been exposed to such a multitude of natural and unnatural hardships - shaking, water, waves, fire, cold, radiation, lost family, lost friends, lost homes, lost businesses.

One only needs to view the USGS website to get a sense of the continual shaking. Since March 12, there have been over 159 earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or greater. Our relatives who currently reside outside of Tokyo are living in constant fear, often unable to sleep and weary of potential radiation fallout.

The world is connected, not just in information, but in trade. We have already heard inquiries into the safety of tea we are currently importing from Japan.

First of all, our last shipment from Japan arrived Feb 22. Secondly, it originates from Shizuoka, Kyoto, and Yama. The closest region, Shizuoka, which produces over 50 percent of Japan's tea, is over 250 miles from Sendai. I spoke with the US office of the Shizuoka producer company this week and will visit with them next week.

As we continue to gather more information into any potential disruption of shipments, we will post it to this blog.

Please take a moment to consider a donation or additional donation by texting REDCROSS to 90999

SpecialTeas Substitutions / Replacements

As many of you may have heard, SpecialTeas is closing down their wholesale and retail web site. We enjoyed their teas and we wish them much success in their future endeavors.

For those of you who don't know us, Kopius Teas (www.kopiusteas.com) is a business to business distributor of fine teas and herbs. We offer the finest selection of Certified Organic and Fair Trade teas and blends, all shipped direct from our blending and packaging facilities in Southern California. In addition, we stock an abundance of conventional products as well.

We thought it would be helpful to create a quick chart of SpecialTeas equivalent teas to see how many we could match. The traditional unflavored teas should be fairly close in character. The blends will vary slightly based on the percentage and nature of the flavoring used.

In researching the SpecialTeas list, I was quite impressed by the range of teas and non-teas they stock. Of course, we're not Kopius (Copious) Teas in name alone.

Here's our initial view. It's slightly over 75 at first glance. Not too bad. If you're a business in need of a replacement for a SpecialTeas tea or tisane, you can use the chart below to find our closest equivalent. If you're a retail customer, shoot us a message, as we may still be able to assist you.

We'll try to update this list when we get a chance - this is a preliminary view. Do you have a favorite that's not shown below? Let us know...

SpecialTeas Product / Item	Recommended
No. 249 ASSAM TGFOP-1	Assam FOP
No. 220 MALTY FBOP	Organic Banaspathy GBOP
No. 264 MANGALAM FTGFO	Satrupa SFTGFOP1
No. 317 KENILWORTH OP1	Kenilworth OP
No. 318 DIMBULLA OP	Kirkoswald Full Leaf
No. 311 KOSLANDA OP	Koslanda BOP
No. 316 LOVER’S LEAP B	Lovers Leap Pekoe 1
No. 304 NUWARA ELIYA B	Mahagastotte FBOP
No. 321 VITHANAKANDE F	New Vithanakanda Extra Special
No. 319 VITHANAKANDE F	New Vithanakanda FBOPF Special
No. 310 PETTIAGALLA FO	Pettiagalla
No. 502 KEEMUN IMPERIA	Keemun Black OP 1276
No. 501 KEEMUN SPECIAL	Keemun Black Superior
No. 515 SUPERIOR TI KU	Organic Tie Kuan Yin Oolong Ex Special
No. 511 FINE TI KUAN Y	Tie Kwan Yin K103
YUNNAN FBOP	Yunnan Black 6112
No. 507 YUNNAN IMPERIA	yunnan Black Needle
No. 142 MARGARET'S HOP	Oaks TGBOP
No. 135 SELIMBONG FTGF	Selimbong
No. 104 JUNGPANA FTGFO	Jungpana
No. 882 DECAF ENGLISH	Decaf English Breakfast
No. 871 DECAF CHAI WIT	Decaf Rockin Chai
No. 895 DECAF SENCHA G	Decaf Papaya Green
No. 928 RASPBERRY WITH	Berries & Rose
No. 908 ALMOND COOKIE	Fortune Cookie
No. 916 GINGER PEACH A	Ginger Peach
No. 927 PEACH WITH PEA	Ginger Peach
No. 915 COCONUT WITH C	Hula High
No. 917 SWEET LEMON WI	Lemon Drop
No. 919 MANGO WITH MAN	Mango Swirl
NO. 933 WILD CHERRY WI	Persian Delight
No. 867 GREEN TEA GREE	Apple Pear Green
No. 940 GREEN TEA SWEE	Lovely Lemon Drop
No. 946 MOROCCAN MINT*	Moroccan Mint
No. 771 GREEN TEA ORAN	Orange Spritzer
No. 712 SWEET CRANBERR	Crimsonberry
No 725 Lemonade Sonata	Lemonade
No. 755 GREEN ROOIBOS	Cape Carnival
No. 750 PURE GREEN ROO	Green Rooibos
No. 976 AFTER DARK	Chamomile Blend
No. 987 LEMON VERBENA,	Lemon Verbena
No. 977 PEPPERMINT, CU	Peppermint Organic
WHITE PEONY (PAI MU TA	Bai Mudan Ex Special
No. 655 GENMAI-CHA	genmaicha
No. 700 GYOKURO SUPERI	Gyokuro
No. 654 HOJI-CHA	Hojicha
No. 591 BOLD-LEAF PU-E	Organic Pu-erh #2
PEACH BLOSSOM WHITE TE	Peach White
STRAWBERRY WHITE TEA	Pomegranate White
SILVER NEEDLE (YINZHEN	Silver Needle
No. 551 China Silver N	Silver Needle White Down
No. 800 ENGLISH  BREAK	Venture English Breakfast Organic
No. 705 MATCHA 30g tin	Yame Matcha
LAPSANG SOUCHONG ORGAN	Organic Lapsang Souchong
No. 966 MATE TIRAMISU	Chocolate Vanilla Mate
No. 963 MATE ROASTED	Roasted Yerba Mate
No. 960 MATE GREEN	Yerba mate
No 350 Himalayan Golde	Organic Gurance SFTGFOP1
No 354 Himilayan Tips	Organic Gurance SFTGFOP1
No 351 Himilayan Mount	Organic Gurance SFTGFOP1
No. 331 TIGER HILL OP	Chamraj FOP
No. 952 ROOIBOS CHOCOL	Chocolate Mint Rooibos
No. 760 ROOIBOS CHAI (	Herbal chai
No. 950 PURE ROOIBOS,	Rooibos Short Cut
No. 763 ROOIBOS WHITE	Rooibos White Chocolate Melange
No. 956 ROOIBOS SIMBA	Safari
No. 562 JASMINE ORGANI	Jasmine #4 DZS
No. 565 JASMINE PHOENI	Jasmine Pearls
No. 569 CHINA ROSE CON	Rose Congou
No. 522 CHINA CHUN MEE	Chun Mee 9371
No. 533 LUNG CHING (DR	Dragonwell Extra Special
No 547 Superior Lung C	Dragonwell Extra Special Organic
No. 520 GUNPOWDER SPEC	Gunpowder
No. 527 PI LO CHUN SEL	Organic Bi Luo Chun
No. 618 TUNG TING JADE	Organic High Mountain Oolong
No. 614 FORMOSA POUCHO	Paochong