A style study — not a real store, not affiliated with Andrei Robu · more
Draft — 9 of 34 teas designed in this style. Ask us to finish it
Robu tea marks

Chinese tea · one mark per tea

Every tea is reduced to one mark

Thirty-four Chinese teas on cream paper, each given a geometric monogram, a vermilion seal and a row of specification cells. The photograph stays flat and overhead so the drawing has somewhere to sit.

Overhead circle of roasted buckwheat kernels on cream paper with a heavy black cup monogram laid over it and a grid of small black marks alongside

Seven categories, seven marks

9 teas · 4 categories

Green teaGreen tea1 teaOolongOolong5 teasTea paste (chagao)Tea paste (chagao)2 teasBuckwheat (not a tea)Buckwheat (not a tea)1 tea

The mark, printed

All tees and hoodies →

Wear — Passion-Fruit OolongPassion-Fruit OolongWear — Raw Pu-erh PasteRaw Pu-erh PasteWear — Ripe Pu-erh PasteRipe Pu-erh PasteWear — Amber GABA OolongAmber GABA OolongWear — Green GABA OolongGreen GABA OolongWear — Buckwheat TeaBuckwheat Tea

Why each tea is drawn down to a monogram

A mark has to survive being stamped on a tin, a hang tag and a paper pouch at four different sizes, so it is built from a few thick strokes and a single counter and nothing else. Chinese tea already works this way: the leaf is graded, the grade takes a name, and the name is pressed into paper as a seal. The vermilion roundel here does what a seal does — it signs the sheet rather than decorating it. The photograph is left flat and overhead because a mark needs a plain field under it; the leaf is never traced, tinted or rearranged. Letterspaced captions carry origin, roast and weight, since for tea a specification is part of the identity and not a footnote to it. The grid of alternates beside each tea is the working sheet, kept visible: marks that were drawn and then not chosen.