Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491368
STiR tea & coffee industry international 61 able to pack larger leaf teas and teas with larger particle sizes." Packing whole leaf tea requires more delicacy and care than CTC and that was going to take time. "The relationship between the speed of the machine and cost to manufacture the machine needed justification," said Reichstein. Cost justification was important. Tea companies were accustomed to machines that could produce 500 bags per minute and suddenly they were using machines that could only 40-80 of the new bags in that same time. Equipment producers needed to prove that there was a good return on investment possible. FUSO International was a pioneer in developing triangular tea bags, popular- izing them globally. Pyramids gained a large following for their ability to better accommodate the size and water flow needed for whole leaf tea with inclusions. Increasingly tea companies reacted to customer demand by introducing their own pyramid bag teas. Miflex-Masz from Poland, one of the companies represented by Inland Packaging, has developed a unique pyramid tea bag machine that meets many of the new chal- lenges. The Miflex machine is different because not only can it create pyramid teabags, but it also has an "on-line tagging system." In most operations a tagging machine must attach the tag and string to the mesh material and then a pyramid machine fills the mesh with tea; if a company doesn't have this capability in-house, this process must be done by an outside producer. The Miflex machine is marketed as the first in the world to do both operations. By combining both operations into one system it saves space, labor, and importantly, time. In addition, Miflex-Masz has a full packaging line for pyramid tea bags which also includes envelopes and cartoning units from pre-glued boxes and flat blanks. FUSO International has continued their innovation as well, developing the FP line of tea packaging machines These machines have the capacity to make both triangular and rectangular bags with a single piece of equipment. The machine uses an ultrasonic sealing system where the material is essentially cauterized for closure, eliminating the use of glue or traditional heat sealing. Finding the proper dose With nearly 50 years in the business and 70% of the global tea bag market, Leominster, Mass.'s IMA Industries of Leominster, Mass. and Bologna, Italy, has seen plenty of change. "In the last decade, we have seen the incredible explosion of herbal, medicinal and pseudo-nutriceutical grade teas," said IMA Tea & Coffee North America sales manager Dennis Winberry. "They contain non-homogenous blends such as roots, sticks, and fruit pieces. The nature of these blends dictate great flexibility in the precise dosing of the products." IMA uses a vibrating dosing system to ensure consistency within their product production systems. Other tea equipment manufacturers echoed the difficulties of accommodating these trends. "The popular misconception in the last ten years as the pyramid tea bag became more popular was that you could put whole leaf tea into a pyramid," said James Mackness, founder of Motovotano in Seattle, Wash. "You could put broken leaf and you had better quality tea, but the idea was mostly marketing. Now it's different. The dosing technology, the way the leaf is introduced to the tea bag, has changed." Putting true whole leaf tea into pyramids is now possible. The real potential of pyramid bags that Mackness and others recognized was being achieved. IMA Industries high speed model C 24E String and tagging process underway. Photos courtesy of Inland Pckaging