Punjana Scottish Blend set to stir up a storm in a teacup
Northern Ireland's favourite tea brand, Punjana has created a new blend specifically for the Scottish market. Available from the major multiples from March, Punjana Scottish Blend is the result of careful research and sampling of the Scottish water supply to create a rich and flavoursome everyday cup of tea.
Explaining the development of the new blend, Ross Thompson, Joint Managing Director said: "We tested samples of the mains water supply from various areas all over Scotland and found it to have quite similar characteristics to the water in Northern Ireland. In both countries, the mains water tends to come from surface supplies (lakes and reservoirs) and is characterised as being 'soft', whereas subterranean water is 'hard'.
"This has a huge impact on how tea brews and, from our research, we have developed a blend specially for the Scottish market which we believe delivers a great tasting tea that consumers can really enjoy day in, day out. We have used a similar blend of Assam and Kenyan teas as featured in our Punjana Original in Northern Ireland, but with a slightly higher vacuum-packed Assam content, which we found made the best tea with Scottish water.
"Punjana Original is a Great Taste Gold Award winner and we see no reason to stray from the blends that have already made it a critical as well as a commercial success, albeit that we have amended the proportions slightly to best suit the Scottish market and deliver what we believe is the 'perfect everyday cuppa'."
Commenting on the importance of the Scottish market, Ross continued: "Punjana has long had a presence in the Scottish market, but we felt the market deserved its own blend, specially developed to suit the water supply and tastes of Scottish consumers, which are very similar to those in Northern Ireland. We are very excited about this new development and believe it will quickly gain acceptance with consumers when they discover the great taste of Punjana Scottish Blend.
"And it's not just the perfect blend we have created for Scotland, the packaging for our new Punjana Scottish Blend has been carefully designed to reflect Scottish heritage in a contemporary and eye-catching way," continued Ross. "We wanted to ensure the pack appealed to our target female market and that has already been proven, as it scored very positively in consumer panel research carried out in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
"Overall, we're very excited about the launch of Punjana Scottish Blend. Like the Irish, the Scots are a nation of tea drinkers and they are very discerning in their tastes. Punjana is already rapidly becoming Scotland's fastest growing tea brand and we are confident that our new Scottish Blend will be a hit with consumers and further help the brand as a whole, which includes a wide range of award-winning speciality teas and infusions, develop its share of this important market," concluded Ross.