Hi Everyone! We are a small collective of independent musicians and artists that believe listening to music is an experience - more than just a simple download. “Tea for Tyrants” is our attempt to deliver that experience in the digital age by distributing new music and original artwork through high quality loose-leaf tea. We will provide an e-commerce destination for both tea and music enthusiasts to purchase tea and receive a download from a thoughtfully paired musical artist. A custom designed tea card will accompany each tea variety to provide more information about its flavor, brewing instructions and the music artist we've matched it up with.

The project

The initial launch of Tea for Tyrants will include 5 varieties of high quality, loose leaf green tea, each paired with music from a different artist. The tea will be available in 2 and 4oz tins and sold through the website http://teafortyrants.com. Each variety will also include a collectible tea card, much like the illustrations included with many tea brands in Great Britain from the 1940s until the 1980s. The collectible tea cards also reintroduce artwork into the listening experience - something diminished as music has moved away from the liner notes and jacket art of vinyl and CDs.

We have already made prototypes to release the most recent Lovely Tyrants EP and are looking to extend the opportunity to other musicians after a positive response. Five artists have agreed to participate in the pilot program upon completion of this Kickstarter campaign and a wholesale supplier of green tea from Japan has already been identified as well. We really enjoyed the sampling and the caffeine and look forward to finishing the unique packaging for the brands representing each of the five artists.

About the tea farm

The green tea farm we have setup to work with initially is located in the rolling hills of south central Japan, by the ancient cities of Nara and Kyoto. Surrounded on three sides by mountains known as Higashiyama, Kitayama and Nishiyama, with a height just above 1,000 meters (3,281 ft) above sea level, the misty climate, sloping hills, warm days and cool nights provide an ideal setting for tea plants to thrive. These geographical features and the nutrient-rich soil produce a very high grade tea leaf making it the epicenter for high quality Japanese green tea.

Where will the money go?

Money raised from backers on Kickstarter will go towards a bulk purchase of 5 loose leaf green tea varieties from the tea farm in Japan, packaging supplies, design and printing of the tea cards. The bulk purchase of tea is necessary to provide distribution for the first 5 participating music artists. We also plan to incorporate a hand printed element into the packaging design as we did with the sleeves on the tea pouches used for the initial Lovely Tyrants EP release (pictured above) so a portion of the funds will go towards additional printmaking materials and equipment as needed.

If you are a fan of green tea, or know someone who is, and you love to discover new music and art, please support this project by choosing from one of the many great pledge packages listed along the right hand side of this page. Every pledge gets a music download from the Lovely Tyrants EP. You can even book one of our featured music artists to play a live concert in your living room!

Rewards

Supporting our project will allow you to experience both new music and also new, quality varieties of tea. More importantly, your support will be rewarding performing musicians by giving their creations a new audience! It remains really difficult to find an audience despite the ease of music distribution online. Thanks for supporting our project and independent musicians. Now go spread the word!