This series from World Tea News aims to shine light on the different roles and jobs in the tea industry. We’ll be asking questions like:
In each installment, we’ll take a deep dive into a different segment of the tea industry to learn more about the roles, responsibilities, and risks associated with the job. Miss an installment? Catch up here!
For this installment, we reached out to Jhanne Jasmine, Senior R&D Manager, and Zack Pursley, Senior R&D Specialist, for Stash Tea Company. The company was founded by two self-described "teaheads" in 1972 in Southwest Portland. What started in a basement, has since grown to a company that offers a variety of all types of teas as well as tea latte concentrate.
Stash Tea Company is constantly pushing the boundaries of flavor and innovation, and it has popularized flavors like chai and lemon ginger in the U.S. Much of the work behind the scenes of that flavor and innovation comes from the research and development (R&D) department. Let's learn about a day in the R&D department from Jhanne and Zack!
We are often asked what our jobs entail. When Zack and I describe what we do, people often respond with “that sounds like such a fun and cool job, I wish I had a job like that!”
In the tea world, Research and Development, or simply R&D, entails science, a strong knowledge base of everything tea, a well-trained palate, and an adventuresome and creative spark. Some individuals have a knack for it more so than others, just as a talented cook is more likely to rise to becoming a revered chef.
We enjoy our jobs a lot, and our work can be very gratifying, but since innovation is central to the overall success of the company, there is also inherent pressure that accompanies creating the products that your company sells.
So, what does a typical day look like for us?
Here at Stash Tea Company, the R&D team has their fingers in many pots and works with multiple internal teams. To work in the R&D lab, you must truly love tea, botanicals, and flavors, and even if there are some you don’t care for, you need to learn to evaluate them objectively.
One team we work quite closely with is Procurement/Purchasing. On a typical day, we might be evaluating multiple raw materials for them. We analyze samples for consistency in appearance, quality, and flavor, and they are tested for particle size and water activity for food safety standards. We make the final call on many of the ingredients Purchasing ultimately contracts/purchases. If an ingredient is “hot” or badly needed, they will reach out and ask us to prioritize it. At times, we have carried 200+ unique ingredients, which means we do a lot of tasting!
As is the case with many companies these days, we are always working on cost-savings initiatives, so price plays a critical role for all ingredient purchases as we strive to control our ever-increasing COGS (cost of goods sold).
A portion of our day is dedicated to new product development or innovation, of which there may be several ongoing projects. The Marketing team drives innovation. Nowadays, they utilize external sources to dive into trends, analytics, and consumer research with the goal being to identify the best options for our next successful launch. Gen Z and Millennial consumers are particularly important target markets that are closely followed. This is different from the past, when R&D was more involved in this phase, and product development was mostly driven by catching sight of emerging trends, knowing your consumers, and making intuitive choices about which ideas to get behind. Once Marketing has landed on a direction and receives executive approval to move forward, then R&D is asked to step in and make it happen. They know how to keep us busy!
But what if a flavor idea Marketing has in mind doesn’t work well for tea? R&D has managed to get them to give us a longer leash over the years as not all flavors they home in on go well in the product formats they want us to develop. We include a feasibility phase now in our initial development cycle to address these types of challenges.
Then comes our magic!
The more savvy you are at understanding the nuanced flavors, body, and mouthfeel of all types of teas, botanicals, functional ingredients, natural flavors, etc., and understanding how they interact in the brewed cup, the better skilled you’ll be at executing the development phase successfully. There is a real art to balancing multiple flavors as well as minimizing perceived off-notes, and I consider this not simply a learned skill, but rather a combination of skill with natural talent and creativity. If you are developing a product that includes natural flavors, flavor companies become critical partners during this phase, and you will find yourself working closely with them.
R&D is not like cooking, so you can’t just add more if you think the formula needs more. You work in percentages. Formulas need to add up to 100%, so if you want to increase a component by 2%, then you must decrease other components by 2% in the formula to keep it at 100%. Decreasing ingredients can present its own challenges by throwing off certain flavor notes, the body, or mouthfeel for example. It’s tricky. Perseverance is key.
Putting together lots of benchtop samples while the product formulation is in progress requires patience and precise measurements. Good record-keeping practices are essential, and you must become good at analyzing and strategizing your next steps. Lightbulb moments occasionally happen here that result in resolutions to complex challenges and issues.
During the height of a project, we usually find ourselves in daily communication with our Quality Assurance (QA) team. We have a lot of certifications such as Non-GMO Project Verified, Organic, Kosher, etc., and these require regulatory documentation from suppliers. QA collects the documentation and approves the ingredients R&D wants to use for a project and has sent us back to the drawing board a few times when an ingredient didn’t meet compliance standards. At the end of the day though, we know they have our backs, and we appreciate their hyper-focused work. With regulations constantly evolving, we are also often brought in to reformulate products for regulatory changes that are coming down the pike.
QA also keeps a close eye on all elements of packaging, including the design work, and provides final approvals on potential health claims, messaging, placement, and font size of all information on the label or box. R&D has been asked many times to assist the Marketing team when retooling the wording for packaging or brainstorming naming ideas and product descriptions, all of which require regulatory QA approval.
We do quite a bit of presenting, so to be in R&D, you need to be comfortable with this or willing to learn these skills. We often lead tastings with stakeholders for work-in-progress updates. We also do a lot of training internally for our company in everything tea and try to instill genuine excitement and appreciation for tea.
Most days, we have multiple meetings to attend and a fair number of emails to answer, in addition to time spent conducting project research. We work hard to stay abreast of industry news and pass on all pertinent info that we think is important for other team members to know. We also feel it’s important to give back to the tea community, so we volunteer to teach classes at the Portland Tea Festival annually, where our classes sell out quickly.
If you are wondering about the job requirements for R&D, then I would say most companies will require a Bachelor’s degree or the equivalent of five to 10+ years in the tea industry, and a deep understanding of all categories of teas, botanicals, and many functional ingredients. If you’re wondering what a good foundational degree to major in would be, many people who work in R&D fields have a BS or MS in Food Science. Strong communication skills and the ability to work with stakeholders and cross-functional teams with conflicting priorities is essential. I would say an exceptional palate nearing super taster level is essential, if you are going to be able to create standout products.
As a Senior R&D Manager, what I look for when adding someone new to the R&D team is a true passion for everything tea and a deep love, appreciation, and reverence for the leaf and botanicals. The degree saves time on learning technical skills and some of the science, but the creative spark and enjoyment of “working the problem” and solving the puzzle needs to be a given.
R&D job openings don’t come up often, but if this piques your interest, then I encourage you to continue to hone your skills. Zack started working in the Stash Tea retail store while attending college, and his incredible passion for everything tea is what eventually led him to apply for the R&D Specialist position. I know a few people in R&D who started out in QA. The point being there are many roads you can take to get there and some are completely unexpected!
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