STiR coffee and tea magazine

38 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 3, 2018 (June / July) I By Dan Shryock Sealing In Freshness t's a simple consumer expectation. Tea drinkers want to enjoy the freshest taste possible. But as their demand for new, premium products continues to rise, tea companies continue to look for better ways to deliver quality. The pyramid bag, for example, is growing in popularity. Its tetrahedral shape allows larger pieces of broken leaf teas, herbs, flowers, and even pieces of fruit to be bundled into a single pocket. The inclusions, design, and function appeal to the current market including the fast-growing tea drinking segment of millennials. But how can these bags be packaged and sealed to preserve freshness? The challenge becomes an opportunity for tea bagging equipment manufacturers who produce the technology needed to insert and seal the precious cargo. "The triangular bag is the premium tea bag. It is getting more common. It's very common in Japan," says Tomomi Yajima of FUSO International, a leading equipment company. "Customers' needs are changing. The customer is looking for not only a pyramid tea bag but also a bigger tea bag for serving several cups of tea. We try to meet our customers' requirements." The pyramid bag delivers an appealing visual product, says Franco Menetti with IMA Spa (tea & herbs division). "Pyramids are good for long leaf and bigger particles, not only for the taste but for visual impact. There is an increasing demand." And Andy Wang, president of Eastsign International, agrees. "The main thing the customers can see is the materials inside," he says. "They can see the leaf tea, the flower tea. It is a totally different experience." Whether the tea is delivered in a traditional single-chamber bag, the flow-through double chamber, or pyramids, there's an increasing number of materials used to make the bags. With the variety of materials come different ways to seal the bag. Stop the staple Some companies, such as IMA and ACMA, are using environmentally friendly knots to close each single- or double-chambered bag. In doing so, the once compulsory alu- minum stable is gone.

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