Fresh Ideas at the 2015 World Tea Expo

It's the week of the 2015 World Tea Expo.  Me and thousands of other tea enthusiasts from all over the world have flocked to the annual World Tea Expo, held this year in Long Beach, CA.  I've had a great time perusing the tea product displayed by the tea vendors. It can be challenging for a tea company to come up with new ideas for this centuries old beverage.  It was nice to see, nestled amongst the traditional standards, some unique and interesting ideas exhibited.  Here are a few I noticed.

One was Owl’s Brew (affil.), which sells tea cocktail mixers.  Their tea and natural spices are mixed, brewed and bottled in their factory in Vermont.  Just add the right liquor, as suggested in their recipes, and voila! you have a tastey cocktail.

Another was Summus Tea, with a new product designed for slow brewed ice tea.  The loose oolong tea leaves are sold in individually vacuum sealed capsules inside a lovely re-useable glass bottle.  Empty one capsule into the bottle, fill it with water, and let sit for 24 hours to get the perfect brew. Serve chilled on ice.

Then there’s bkon (they don’t capitalize their name). This company champions the cause of serving perfectly brewed tea with no messy strainers or tea bags.  Their product is an automated brewing machine with programmable menu.  Just input water and tea leaves and press the button for the recipe that matches the tea type.  The bkon brewer brews it up at the proper temperature, extracts flavors using patented reverse atmospheric technology, and gives you the final product perfectly brewed to the exact specifications each time.