Chinese tea · crest, flames, cracked ink
The tea sits in the middle of the crest
Thirty-four Chinese teas built into riveted shields in cream and burnt orange on black, with banner scrolls carrying the grade and the origin in gothic caps.
Chinese tea · crest, flames, cracked ink
Thirty-four Chinese teas built into riveted shields in cream and burnt orange on black, with banner scrolls carrying the grade and the origin in gothic caps.
7 teas · 5 categories
A crest is a way of putting a lot of information into one shape: a name on the arc, a grade on the banner, a place on the plate at the bottom. Tea labels have done this for a century, and the badge on a fuel tank does it too, so the two forms meet without being forced together. Cracked ink and worn edges are kept because the printing they imitate was done cheaply and the wear is part of how the thing looks after use, not a filter laid on top. Burnt orange against black is a two-colour job, which is the honest limit of a screen print and stops the crest from turning into an illustration. The tea is photographed from above and set inside the shield rather than behind it, so the leaf stays the subject and the ornament stays a frame. The service copy is short because a badge cannot hold a paragraph.