If you touch the outer box of your Tea for Tomorrow calendar, you will notice slight unevenness in the paper. You might even catch your fingertip on the small inclusions. It's hard to believe, but the colored particles that give the paper this unique feel are actually tea residue! We teamed up with the Gmund Greenfibra Lab to develop an innovative design paper that takes the essence of our teas to a whole new level.
Our tea-infused paper – clever and sustainable!
Even though we make every effort to recycle everything, we do have tea waste. These accumulate during the flavor samples under glass bell jars in our stores, during tea tastings, and from sorted goods with an expired best-before date. Even if we can no longer use them for brewing, these leftover teas are far too good to throw away. So we asked ourselves: how can we make good use of them?
Together with Gmund Papier, we came up with the idea of breathing new life into the surplus tea leaves - in an innovative tea-infused paper. Every fiber tells a story of sustainability, creativity, and our deep love for tea. We process an impressive 9,360 kg of dry tea leaves per year, growing with our customer base and the number of stores we operate. This makes the process all the more important.
With this approach, we give a new purpose to tea leaves that would otherwise end up in the bin. Each sheet of tea-infused paper contains around 10% tea leaves, giving it a unique, natural character. This collaboration with Gmund Papier is an exciting step for us and we are thrilled with the possibilities this extraordinary material offers us.
More than just recycling
Tea-infused paper embodies our vision of a more sustainable future by showing how beauty and environmental awareness can go hand in hand. Each sheet is unique, reflecting the individuality of each batch of tea and combining sustainability with luxurious design in a harmonious symbiosis. We have also used this for our Tea for Tomorrow Advent calendar.
Why Gmund?
The decision to work with Gmund Papier was an easy one for us. At PAPER & TEA, we attach great importance to partners who share our values. Gmund, a pioneer in the industry, convinced us with its tireless commitment to sustainability, top quality, and innovation. By using ecological and energy-efficient processes, Gmund not only guarantees the highest environmental standards but also sets new benchmarks. The jointly developed tea-infused paper is a milestone in papermaking - it embodies the synergy of nature and design and impressively combines our passion for tea with the art of papermaking.
The journey continues: we still have a lot in the making!
Using tea-infused paper for the packaging of our Tea for Tomorrow advent calendar is just the first step. Our aim is to use tea-infused paper in other areas soon. In this way, we are taking a further step towards a responsible approach to nature. Every leaf makes a difference.
