Tazo Tea

Today, I have officially been working at Starbucks for one year so to mark the day, I have decided to do an entry on the typographic treatment of the tea packaging that we sell in the store. I’ve always been attracted to the design for the Tazo Tea Company because of it’s otherwordly, ancient feel and the romanticized little stories on the side of the box. The typography treatment is very elegant and somehow combines what is hip and modern with romantic antiquity. The logo of the company name ‘TAZO’ is clearly a tailored font where the letterforms are made to resemble religious symbols that cannot be pinned to one country or another on a background that makes the letters appear to be carved into woodcut. The packaging is so well done that while doing research I discovered that companies decided to carry the tea brand without even trying out the tea. I also discovered that the whole romantic history of Tazo tea being found on a ‘tazo stone’ (that their identity design is supposedly based on) and being blended with ingredients found all over the world is as manufactured as the packaging. I find it interesting that usually if something is being advertised then when finding out that what you’re being sold is false in some way, that is a deal breaker and you usually stop buying the product but with Tazo tea, even when presented with the truth, the packaging and type treatment some how convinces you otherwise. Even the company name ‘Tazo’ has an elaborate history and the site claims the word to mean ‘river of life’ that sounds so believable but is in fact completely manufactured. The handwritten script on the tea bags along with the woodcut texture, the symbolic font choice and other ancient motifs that have been infused into the packaging of Tazo Tea creates a convincing identity for the company that persuades clients to believe their truth.

Submitted by: Teri Yeung