Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Searchable Knowledgebase
We are continually improving the content of our Searchable Knowledgebase at www.kopiusteas.com. The searchable knowledgebase can be found on the left navigation panel. In particular, we are constructing a series of FAQ's to address many of the more common questions we encounter among start-up tea programs. These are collected not only from our wholesale experience, but our direct experience as retail store owners. If you have questions of general interest that do not appear, please let us know by commenting on this entry.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Is Tea a Recession Proof Industry?
Tea continues to show all the characteristics for long term, consistent growth. Tea is healthy, naturally unsweetened, minimally processed, portable, delicious, and high in antioxidants. But is this enough to power the industry through a downward global economy?
We'd like to hear your thoughts.
At Kopius Teas (http://www.kopiusteas.com/) our goal is to continue to offer the best selection of organic and fair trade certified teas and blending ingredients at industry leading prices. This is a tall order for us, but we constantly try to keep our costs down by utilizing the web, relying on automation whereever possible, and purchasing quality products when prices fluctuate downwards.
Our marketing is straight-forward. We hope we can add value to your business through informative articles, accurate tasting notes, and, more recently, our comparative tasting blogs. If you haven't done so, we ask that you contact us for a wholesale account so we can demonstrate how we can improve your profit margins across an entire range of premium teas, tisanes, and blending ingredients.
We'd like to hear your thoughts.
At Kopius Teas (http://www.kopiusteas.com/) our goal is to continue to offer the best selection of organic and fair trade certified teas and blending ingredients at industry leading prices. This is a tall order for us, but we constantly try to keep our costs down by utilizing the web, relying on automation whereever possible, and purchasing quality products when prices fluctuate downwards.
Our marketing is straight-forward. We hope we can add value to your business through informative articles, accurate tasting notes, and, more recently, our comparative tasting blogs. If you haven't done so, we ask that you contact us for a wholesale account so we can demonstrate how we can improve your profit margins across an entire range of premium teas, tisanes, and blending ingredients.
Comparative Tasting: Jasmine Pearls and Organic Jasmine #4 DZS
We often are asked to recommend jasmine scented green tea from Kopius Teas (http://www.kopiusteas.com/) Our first primary recommendation is Jasmine Pearls. These hand rolled green tea leaves are scented with the essential oils from jasmine flowers. The Organic Jasmine #4 DZS is an organic jasmine scented tea in loose leaf form.
Leaf:
Due to their round shape, Jasmine Pearls are a distinctive staple of any tea menu. To a novice tea drinker, the full natured round ball shaped leaves separates them from anything they've seen before - especially when compared with tea in tea bags.
Organic Jasmine #4 DZS is fairly good size, medium dark leaf and, as expected, led to a darker infusion than the Jasmine Pearls.
Infused Leaf:
The aroma of fresh jasmine offers instand appeal. Jasmine historically has been an excellent complement to green tea. We liked the overall softer aroma of the Jasmine Pearls to the Organic Jasmine #4 DZS.
Fans of Jasmine Pearls will note that a little tea goes a long way, as the leaf slowly unfurls in your cup. This allows one to infuse the leaves multiple times, each infusion imparting a gentle loft of fresh jasmine.
Infusion and Taste:
The Jasmine Pearl imparted a bright, relatively light green infusion, whereas the Organic Jasmine #4 DZS yielded a much darker liquor. You have to be more careful to watch the infusion time of the Organic Jasmine #4 DZS, as longer steep times will overpower the jasmine and produce a stronger astringency that will hinder your appreciation of the jasmine.
These a vastly different teas at different price points. We would recommend the Organic Jasmine #4 DZS for coffee shops, bookstores, and special tea merchants looking for a little more color in an iced jasmine tea. Overall, we think the Jasmine Pearls is a better buy which, even at a higher wholesale price, will enjoy greater turnover rates than the Organic Jasmine #4 DZS.
Jasmine Pearls is also available as an Organic Jasmine Pearl. Later we will include comparative notes with this varietal.
Leaf:
Due to their round shape, Jasmine Pearls are a distinctive staple of any tea menu. To a novice tea drinker, the full natured round ball shaped leaves separates them from anything they've seen before - especially when compared with tea in tea bags.
Organic Jasmine #4 DZS is fairly good size, medium dark leaf and, as expected, led to a darker infusion than the Jasmine Pearls.
Infused Leaf:
The aroma of fresh jasmine offers instand appeal. Jasmine historically has been an excellent complement to green tea. We liked the overall softer aroma of the Jasmine Pearls to the Organic Jasmine #4 DZS.
Fans of Jasmine Pearls will note that a little tea goes a long way, as the leaf slowly unfurls in your cup. This allows one to infuse the leaves multiple times, each infusion imparting a gentle loft of fresh jasmine.
Infusion and Taste:
The Jasmine Pearl imparted a bright, relatively light green infusion, whereas the Organic Jasmine #4 DZS yielded a much darker liquor. You have to be more careful to watch the infusion time of the Organic Jasmine #4 DZS, as longer steep times will overpower the jasmine and produce a stronger astringency that will hinder your appreciation of the jasmine.
These a vastly different teas at different price points. We would recommend the Organic Jasmine #4 DZS for coffee shops, bookstores, and special tea merchants looking for a little more color in an iced jasmine tea. Overall, we think the Jasmine Pearls is a better buy which, even at a higher wholesale price, will enjoy greater turnover rates than the Organic Jasmine #4 DZS.
Jasmine Pearls is also available as an Organic Jasmine Pearl. Later we will include comparative notes with this varietal.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Key selection in any tea menu - Jasmine Pearls
Every day we are asked to make recommendations on new and existing tea menus. The single more frequent recommendation we can offer (based upon reordering and direct retail sales figures) is Jasmine Pearls (also known as Dragon Pearls). These hand rolled, green tea leaves are quite captivating to new and experienced tea drinkers alike. The gentle, calming aroma of fresh jasmine entices both female and male shoppers. Furthermore, the leaves represent an excellent introduction to loose leaf teas, as the pearls slowly unfurl in your cup - meaning, you can get several excellent infusions from one set of leaves. Don't have an infuser yet? Not a problem with Jasmine Pearls. you can easily remove them from your cup with a simple tea spoon.
We price our Jasmine Pearls at $20/lb wholesale. You just can't beat that for this quality of product - anywhere.
So whether you're a coffee roaster, coffee retailer, specialty tea retailer, or internet retailer, we hope you'll strongly consider incorporating Jasmine Pearls into your tea menu.
We price our Jasmine Pearls at $20/lb wholesale. You just can't beat that for this quality of product - anywhere.
So whether you're a coffee roaster, coffee retailer, specialty tea retailer, or internet retailer, we hope you'll strongly consider incorporating Jasmine Pearls into your tea menu.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Thinking about a Web Based, Tea Business?
We speak with people every day who want to get into the business of tea. Most are interested in starting a web business. Certainly, we experience the full range of "I need it now" to "I'm just looking", but whether your are well versed in aged pu-erh or the finest high mountain Tie Kwan Yin, to me, the greatest indicator of web success is your ability to translate your passion for tea into an indexed language that the search engines will find and rank highly. Those in the know just refer to this as SEO.
As much a building a knowledge of tea, I strongly encourage nearly all the new web-based, tea entrepreneurs to have a clear strategy for how they intend to build traffic. A pretty website and unique products isn't enough. It's like a small emerging fern in a vast forest of giant redwood trees - you just won't get noticed.
Having said that, I hope those of you who've built a successful web presence will share your ideas. The tea industry has always been very supportive and encouraging, with the exception of one large tea retail franchise beginning with the letter, "T".
As much a building a knowledge of tea, I strongly encourage nearly all the new web-based, tea entrepreneurs to have a clear strategy for how they intend to build traffic. A pretty website and unique products isn't enough. It's like a small emerging fern in a vast forest of giant redwood trees - you just won't get noticed.
Having said that, I hope those of you who've built a successful web presence will share your ideas. The tea industry has always been very supportive and encouraging, with the exception of one large tea retail franchise beginning with the letter, "T".
Comparative Tasting - White Teas
We tasted three Kopius Teas (www.kopiusteas.com) White Teas side by side in a comparative tasting.
Silver Needle 1st Grade
Leaf
Silver Needle Extra Special was not the typical bright green infused leaf we have become familiar with. Both reviewers gave higher marks to the Silver Needle Extra Special for both color and aroma.
Taste
Neither of the Silver Needles were particularly sweet in terms of white teas, but we did enjoy the Silver Needle Extra Special more than the Silver Needle 1st Grade (goes to show we aren't easily swayed by price or appearance). The Extra Special had a cleaner taste profile than the 1st Grade, which had just a very slight hint of a dusty finish.
The Organic Bai Mudan Extra Special was surprisingly good. Excellent plum notes. We recommend a briefer steep time of only 1.5 - 2 minutes.
Conclusions
Ron - "I was pleasantly surprised with the uniformity of the leaf sizes, with all leafs in the set on the smaller side of the scale. Among the three, I enjoyed the Organic Bai Mudan Extra Special the best. When I taste a Bai Mudan, I'm looking for the plum notes, without the heaviness on the palette or overly dark infusion.
Silver Needle 1st Grade
Silver Needle Extra Special
Organic White Bai Mudan Ex Special
Leaf
The Silver Needle 1st Grade features a smaller, younger bud than most I've seen. The contrast of the silvery tips and greener leaf is well balanced.
Silver Needle Extra Special is a more traditional, bolder, larger white needle than the 1st grade.
Organic Bai Mudan Extra Special. We enjoyed it's smaller, more subtle leaf size than other commercial grades.
All white teas above were very uniform in size, with little breakage or dust.
Infused Leaf / Aroma
Silver Needle Extra Special was not the typical bright green infused leaf we have become familiar with. Both reviewers gave higher marks to the Silver Needle Extra Special for both color and aroma.
Taste
Neither of the Silver Needles were particularly sweet in terms of white teas, but we did enjoy the Silver Needle Extra Special more than the Silver Needle 1st Grade (goes to show we aren't easily swayed by price or appearance). The Extra Special had a cleaner taste profile than the 1st Grade, which had just a very slight hint of a dusty finish.
The Organic Bai Mudan Extra Special was surprisingly good. Excellent plum notes. We recommend a briefer steep time of only 1.5 - 2 minutes.
Conclusions
Ron - "I was pleasantly surprised with the uniformity of the leaf sizes, with all leafs in the set on the smaller side of the scale. Among the three, I enjoyed the Organic Bai Mudan Extra Special the best. When I taste a Bai Mudan, I'm looking for the plum notes, without the heaviness on the palette or overly dark infusion.
Notes on Product Availability
We are in the process of simplifying our line of loose teas, tisanes, and blending ingredients. Currently, the products shown on the website are those that we currently have in stock, which at last count was over 500 items.
Discontinued items will be shown in a separate navigational category - look for this in the weeks ahead.
Once this is complete, we will move quickly to updating the products with greater descriptions and photographs of our wholesale teas.
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy our vast selection of teas, herbs, spices, flowers and fruit. We could not have envisioned working in such a wonderfully uplifting and fragrant environment.
Discontinued items will be shown in a separate navigational category - look for this in the weeks ahead.
Once this is complete, we will move quickly to updating the products with greater descriptions and photographs of our wholesale teas.
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy our vast selection of teas, herbs, spices, flowers and fruit. We could not have envisioned working in such a wonderfully uplifting and fragrant environment.
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