Elevating The African Tea Experience with our Zen-Chic Caddies
As some of you may have noticed on our website, we just launched our new packaging, offering our teas in tea caddies packaged in a beautiful box (perfect for gifts!). This nifty caddy is a cool way to carry your favourite loose leaf teas (no you’re not a snob for wanting to drink tea the way it’s meant to be! J ) in your bag/purse or to keep it on your desk to reach out when you need that refreshing cuppa!
My inspiration for creating these caddies came during my trip to Japan. If you ever visit Japan, you will find that the Japanese have a certain ‘zen-chic’ sense of design. This was clearly evident in the plethora of caddies – from monotone ones to creatively floral ones - that everyone seemed to carry and whip out, even at what would be an odd setting. The pride with which the Japanese drink tea and revere their teas and the tea culture was super inspiring and endearing
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In Kyoto, we visited a family-owned tea caddy maker called Kaika-do and this experience for me was the absolute highlight of my trip to Japan. The family owned busines was established in 1875, where Kaikado’s grandfather, Kiyosuke Yagi, aimed to provide well designed functional tea caddies capable of storing all types of tea leaves and sold them to dealers. The caddies were hand and tailor made for each tea dealer and client and the aim was to protect the quality and aroma of the fine teas, no matter what weather conditions.
6 generations later, Takahiro Yago still continues the family business which is steeped in history – during the world war, they continued to secretly make the caddies and built an underground basement to hide the caddies in case of a raid. Today, the caddies are still handmade by experienced artisans who have mastered the skill, that takes over 10 years of training to acquire. The caddy is made from copper or brass and can be used for 100 years, while the user can appreciate the subtle aging process as the color of the canister changes over time. Kaikado’s tea caddies are made for daily use but are so cherished that they get passed on as heirlooms from one generation to the next.
So, it only made sense, for us at MTC to create packaging, that preserves all the goodness of our premium teas within a caddy, that is functional and chic. The caddy is beautifully elegant in its simplistic design and we love that they are also environmentally friendly and no plastic is used in the container. We also offer replacement pouches, so when you are ready to replace your favorite tea in the caddy, you can purchase a replacement pouch by emailing us at: sales@muthaigatea.com and we can send your desired and most comforting tea blend straight away to ensure your caddy is always replenished!
We hope you make these Zen-Chic Caddies part of your Tea accessories and enjoy the experience of drinking our unique tea blends from Muthaiga Tea Company and storing these premium teas in these beautiful caddies.