There are vital things to include when designing tea packaging that designers should never miss.

Tea packaging designers are a special breed of designers. It’s a very particular set of skills to design packaging that is both beautiful and functional. 

The right tea packaging designer will not only make the packaging look good but will include:

• A narrative.
• An aspect of tea history.
• Tea culture.
• Tea farming traditions.
• Tea production in the finished design.

The packaging will not affect how tea tastes but will affect how the tea looks, impacting its reputation and, most importantly, sales. In the following blog post, you will learn about our tea packaging design process with a list of items to include in a packaging design. Then, continue reading to the end to discover how one past tea design mistake cost a tea company sales.

The tea packaging design process

When a new client reaches out to you regarding a new packaging design, ensure that you listen closely to what kind of tea packaging they want for their particular tea. 

You will need to ask questions such as:

• What kind of tea is it?
• Who is the target demographic?
• Who is the competition?
• What is your story?
• Do you have specific colors you want to include?
• Is the tea for retail or wholesale?
• What are the packaging dimensions?

After you ask the main necessary questions, the tea box designer can pull out a tablet and start brainstorming independently.

After creating three to five tea packaging ideas, have the designer report back to the client and discuss the concepts they came up with during their design process. 

Be prepared for the client to tell you: 

1. what they like about the ideas
2. what they don’t like
3. Any changes they want to the design.

5 essential aspects of a tea packaging design

1. Include the product name and logo: Every packaging design must include the tea’s name and logo. It’s like putting a book title on a paperback novel.
2. Best by date: Since tea is a food product, it’s essential to include a “best by” date.
3. Manufacturing location: The manufacturing location is critical if the packaging is distributed worldwide due to different tea farming and tea processing regulations.
4. Steeping instructions: Whether tea bags are used or not, the packaging should explain how to steep.
5. Contact information: Including the tea company’s contact information is essential if something happens to tea packaging during transit.

Tea packaging copywriting

The design is an essential aspect in designing a tea box, but copywriting is equally as important. The copy will depend on the target market. When writing copy for tea packaging, here are some ideas for information you can include:

• History
• Benefits
• Ingredients
• A story about the farm

A past tea packaging project

Last year, we worked with a tea company to design their new hemp tea product. The entire project took two weeks, from the initial tea packaging design call to sending over their final adobe files. The project went very smoothly because we have a personal relationship with the farmer and have used their products in the past.

The farmer got confronted by a mistake after production had occurred. A section that stated “benefits include” needed to say “benefits may include” because retailers did not want to sell a product that makes strong claims. We learned a valuable lesson moving forward; we will be sure not to include claims on any packaging that has not been tested to be true.

Wrapping up

We hope you enjoyed learning about tea packaging design and tea box copywriting! Many tea companies are releasing new products daily, and the competition is only increasing. Don’t hesitate to contact us today if you’re looking for a collaborative team of tea packaging designers to help you design the perfect tea box.