On any given day, more than 159 million Americans are drinking tea, according to the Tea Association of the U.S.A. One of those people is Jim Lamancusa, the founder of Cusa Tea in Boulder.
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“I fell in love with tea and the Asian culture while studying abroad in Hong Kong,” Lamancusa says. An avid outdoorsman, he got the idea for Cusa Tea while on a backpacking trip when friends were breaking out instant coffee packets while he was dealing with soggy tea bags.
Dehydrated tea existed, but it didn’t taste like a fresh-brewed cup of tea, says Lamancusa. He set out on a journey that would take many months and hundreds of tests with a team of botanical scientists to develop a unique cold-steep technology and vacuum crystallization process that produces a great-tasting, instantly dissolvable tea.
Launched in May 2017, Cusa (Lamancusa’s nickname) Tea uses premium USDA-certified organic teas and fruits with no additives, fillers or sugar for its variety of teas that dissolve in either hot or cold water. One packet makes a 12–14-ounce cup.
“I get so many great comments at demos; the number one reaction is that people cannot believe this is instant tea,” says Lamancusa. “I’m proud to share with them that this is the world’s first organic instant tea.” He is also proud of Cusa Tea winning two silver medals in the 2017 Global Tea Championship. Well done! More at cusatea.com.