We were given a tour of the facility, with its state-of-the-art materials and component testing laboratory, dedicated processing area and pilot manufacturing facility, which allows the company to simulate its customers’ factory conditions as well as test shelf life in temperature controlled stores. Eviosys was also proud to show off the manufacturing process for its Ecopeel innovation, which offers customers a lighter, easy-to-open packaging format. Eviosys also had on display its Orbit and Horizon technology, the former which allows for easier-to-open screw top jars, and the latter an impressively thin and unobtrusive resealable metal lid, allowing for a 100% metal packaging format and therefore improved recyclability.

The latter piqued my interest especially, in regards to tea and coffee applications. I have seen a fair amount of coffee, particularly instant coffee, sold in tins on the shelves, but with plastic lids. While this is better than a completely plastic tub, and certainly a step in the right direction, I can’t help but think they are so close to a truly sustainable option. The metal lid could be recycled alongside the tin, and made into something new again and again, with no degradation of quality. Meanwhile, plastic, while certain types are recyclable, the quality and application opportunities decrease the more it is done so. The visual appeal of an all metal can is also something that offers further benefit. Companies such as Eviosys can offer myriad ways to finish and decorate metal packaging, from contrasting gloss and matte areas, embossing, debossing, and holographic foils, as the company demonstrated yesterday. The image attached to this blog is one of the promotional examples Eviosys gave of its capabilities.

Specialty tea and coffee in particular, already utilises metal packaging to some extent, as it offers valuable resealable capabilities, as well as a quality feel. Tins have the fabulous quality of not just being infinitely recyclable, but infinitely reusable in their original format. I can’t be the only one who has an extensive collection of various tins alongside my hoard of jars, for storing biscuits, grains, nuts, lentils, anything from a packet that I have opened and want to keep stored fresh, tidy and stackable.

Chatting to Isabelle Le Graët, Eviosys marketing, communication and sustainability manager, yesterday, she touched on a report that Eviosys is due to publish soon about how consumers use their metal packaging and the role they play within the home. The report showed that 80% of consumers keep tins after purchase. This presents a phenomenal opportunity for brands to not only enter consumers’ homes, but to remain in them for potentially years to come, their packaging being got out of the cupboard and reused time and time again. Every time a consumer uses a brand’s tin, they are being reminded of the brand, the product, hopefully the enjoyment they got out of drinking the tea or coffee that the tin contained, and perhaps even the fond memory of the receipt of the tin if it was a gift. Highly decorative tins are much more likely to be kept and reused, and where the specialty tea and coffee industry is striving to offer quality and a memorable experience to consumers’ interaction with their products, a beautiful and repeatedly functional tin is an exciting as well as sustainable opportunity to expand this objective.

The concept has already been utilised in some categories for refillable solutions, where consumers buy a tin, and then going forward only need to buy bags or packets of their products to refill their tins, or some places even have opportunities for customers to bring their tin to be refilled. This is already beginning to have applications in the tea and coffee industry.

It will be interesting to see how metal packaging applications evolve within the tea and coffee segment, particularly for specialty, and how brands will utilise what is a great opportunity for memorable branding, consumer experiences, and unparalleled sustainability.

• Kathryn Brand, associate editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: kathryn@bellpublishing.com Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

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Inside the studio, Suh will also open Urban Oasis– a late-night tea house serving unique ceremonial tea blends, providing guests with an environment to reflect, connect, and experience the transformative power of artistic self-expression.

With a menu that features a tea-sommelier-curated selection of tea, mocktails, and small bites, Urban Oasis will be opening to the public in October.

The community space — designed with the help of the interior designer duo gry space (who also designed LA’s rkyn cafe and kodō) to mirror a zen garden — will also host various events like evening teas and reflections, sound baths and more.

David Suh has developed a cumulative audience of more than 6.4 million rooted in encouraging people to unapologetically celebrate themselves. Suh — who moved to the US from Seoul in 2013 — is an “evangelist of the idea that there’s no such thing as not being photogenic” (LA Times) and offers a safe haven for everyday people to get in front of the camera and “reclaim their inner and outer beauty.”

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Bizzy Cold Brew’s elevated rebrand, which was designed by Los Angeles-based creative agency Day Job, now clearly communicates the quality of its product line, from its craft-brewed process, stronger taste, high caffeine content and zero sugar in all its brews. Unlike competitors who hide or omit caffeine content from bottles, Bizzy Cold Brew moved its caffeine content to the front of the bottle, directly on the pour spot, to be more transparent with consumers about caffeine per serving. The shape of the bottle has also been changed to improve pourability for its consumers.

“We wanted our new look to elevate our visual identity and clearly communicate our craft product. With nods to an era when quality was the rule and not the exception, Bizzy Cold Brew’s superior taste and higher caffeine content makes it the best value for coffee lovers,” said Alex French, CEO and co-founder of Bizzy Cold Brew. “Bizzy Cold Brew is an affordable luxury and we’re excited that the branding now embodies our values and will stand out on shelves.”

Bizzy Cold Brew’s product lineup includes a variety of craft-brewed products, from unsweetened ready-to-drink, multi-serve bottles of cold brew to coarse grounds that can be brewed at home and convenient, eco-friendly brew bags. Bizzy Cold Brew is crafted using a unique brew process to ensure the smoothest taste and highest caffeine, with USDA Certified Organic Arabica coffee beans from Central and South America.

The Minneapolis, Minnesota-based brand is also committed to sustainable practices in all areas of its operations. The brand’s cold brew bottles are made of 100% post-consumer recycled plastic (excluding the cap) and it composts spent coffee grounds (650,000 pounds last year alone). Bizzy Cold Brew recycles and repurposes 100% of its burlap coffee bean sacks and its roaster utilises after-burner technology to eliminate airborne emissions from roasting.

Bizzy Cold Brew’s RTD products are available in more than 5,000 grocery stores across the United States. Its cold brew bags and grounds are also available for purchase on the Bizzy Cold Brew website and Amazon.com.

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