Eater
Date: Dec 2, 2015
By: Clarissa Wei
What is goldfish tea?
The ultimate tea lover gift for the drinker who has it all? Charm Villa’s feverishly
Charm Villa’s goldfish tea.
popular—and pricey—goldfish tea. Though Charm Villa, a creative agency based in Taipei, launched the limited production teabags two years ago, they’re still as desired as ever (the company often sells out, so supply has been an ongoing issue) and they’re now for sale in the U.S. Well, not officially, but via third party stores on Amazon, one can purchase a box of 12 teabags for $80 (as compared to $35 in Taiwan).
Fashioned from Japanese fabric and infused with Taiwanese tea leaves, the bags were designed by 28 university students from St. Johns University in Taipei. “There are 16 steps that go into making the teabag. Nine of those require manual, handicraft skill,” a Charm Villa rep said via email. “As for the details of the production, those are trade secrets.”
Since launch, the bags have racked up two prestigious design awards: the iF Design Award 2015 for Discipline Packaging and the Red Dot Communication Design Award a year earlier.
“The goldfish in Asian culture represents wealth and good fortune,” the rep explained. [FULL STORY]
