We get chatting with Mariam R Mukaty about how she took up her passion for tea and turned it into her business venture! She tells us all that goes into making the perfect tea blends, the importance of R&D, the inspiration behind each flavour and so much more!
How did you decide on your chosen career? Did you always want to get into the tea business?
Professionally I am an architect. I was practicing in Karachi for three years and two years in New York, USA and somehow between then and now I stumbled across this opportunity and took it. I always had a passion for teas, I was never really a coffee drinker, and once I moved back I realised that flavoured organic teas was an integral part of my daily life and I missed having access to good quality teas. Teazuro is a passion project which I am thoroughly enjoying currently, so unsure if I will go back to architecture.
What do you like most about what you do?
The most enjoyable part of my tea business is the tea tasting. I can experiment and try any blend that I want as per my liking which is always fun for a tea enthusiast.
What is the most challenging thing about your job?
The most challenging thing is that I do everything for Teazuro. Since it’s a start-up, I need to be hands-on on all aspects of the business, whether it is the marketing or the production or logistics etc. However, the most tedious aspect is the logistics. Since our teas are blended in Germany, managing the logistics in Karachi is quite frustrating and taxing.
How important is it to research in your field?
We might have only heard of a few teas- black tea, green tea, oolong tea, but there are also other lesser known teas such as pu-erh, white tea, yellow tea, rooibos and among these types of teas there are hundreds and thousands of different types, different infusions, that have different taste notes. Tea has been around for centuries and the taste is affected by the region it is grown in, the altitude, the rainfall, the soil quality and all these factors produce different tastes for the same tea! Which means it is very tedious to try to keep up with the crop yield and quality of tea all over the world. This is just the base! At Teazuro, we blend these teas with other ingredients – herbs and fruit pieces to create unique blends. When I first started Teazuro, I had to do research in the types of blends I was interested in and create a flavour profile for the teas I want to launch. Just for the initial 11 teas we launched with, I had to try 267 different variations! Hence, research is crucial for this business, especially for our Teatox Collection. The Teatox Collection teas are for certain ailments and have natural medicinal properties. All these teas have been carefully crafted with each ingredient cautiously selected for the particular blend to make it effective.
What is the process of coming up with new tea flavours at Teazuro?
Usually the inspiration is based off a flavour or a theme or another tea I might have tried elsewhere. For new blends in the Classic Collection we have to do a lot of research of the taste notes of the blend. We need to decide if it’s fruity, minty, earthy etc and with the help of our German Tea Masters, we blend the tea with the selected ingredients. Whereas, for the Teatox Collection, it is less about the taste and more about the functionality of the tea. Since the Teatox Collection is based on a health concern, we find the best source for the most suitable ingredients that has the medicinal properties to combat the concern. Depending on what it is, it is then blended with other ingredients that help as well while creating a tasteful and delicious blend!
If you had to pick two of your favourite flavours which would they be?
My two current favourites are Cleanse- Teatox Collection, it is a caffeine free herbal tea, and Soft Orange and oolong tea with hints of orange taste notes.
What’s your favourite thing to do when you’re not working?
These days I go to the beach.
How do you unwind after a long day of work?
With some tea and Netflix.
How did you come up with the name ‘Teazuro’?
It is derived from the Portuguese translation of the word “treasure.” After my visit to Brazil last year, it stuck with me and I thought it was appropriate as good quality tea is treasure for me.
Words you live by?
Life is tough but so are you!
If you had to do it all over again, would you do anything differently?
It is too soon to learn from my mistakes and figure out what is working and what is not; it has only been eight months since the launch, so we are still trying and testing out different things. But if I were to do it again, I would probably take a good marketing/PR guru on board to help me devise a great strategy from the start!
Which one is the most popular and why?
Our most popular tea is Skinny Morning Tea. It is a delicious blend with some very powerful blends that work wonders on your skin and body. It consists of nettle leaves, lemon balm leaves, lemongrass, apple bits, moringa leaves, goji berries, marigold blossom, rose petals, Japanese Matcha Green Tea; all ingredients that are great for increasing your metabolism and helping you lose weight. Apart from the dieting aspect, it tastes so good that you can sip on it all day long without feeling full or bloated while curbing your munching habits.
What was your inspiration behind Teazuro?
Teazuro stemmed from a solution to a personal issue I had when I moved back to Pakistan. Being a daily green tea drinker, I could never find fresh, good quality teas or even a variety to choose from. That was particularly surprising, as Pakistan is the 3rd largest tea consuming country in the world. Therefore, the frustration of constantly having to stock up on teas when I or my family travelled inspired me to start this tea journey.
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