The famous Shakespeare quote is, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet." This may be true but when it comes to tea names, capturing the essence of the blend and adding a touch of romance is helpful to the customer and good marketing.

Tea blends have long carried fanciful names and the myths spun around them have added to their popularity. For example Earl Grey sounds much more regal than "Bergamot Blend." When it comes to buying and selling bulk tea blends, you can create your own signature teas by either simply renaming a pre-blended tea to suit your own business occasion or by devising your own blend recipe.

So often a proprietor will get requests for a tea of a fanciful name that is not known to them. A bit of research can reveal it is actually a simple blend of tea, flavor and inclusions, such as fruit or flower petals that may be carried by many vendors but under different monikers from retailer to retailer. One may call it "Mango Tea" while another calls it "Midnight Mango Madness." These fantasy names can create some confusion when trying to source a particular tea but they go a long way when it comes to selling a tea. Doesn't the latter sound more exciting?

Consumers are known to respond to pleasing packaging and cool names. They want to buy into a bit of the fantasy, romance and fun. Perhaps there is also a touch of the placebo effect in a creative name. A "Peace of Mind Blend" may be soothing to the sipper not just because it contains camellia sinensis, mint or chamomile, but perhaps the power of suggestion?

If you are considering creating a special blend, work with your bulk tea vendors to choose a blend that will suit your concept or teas you can blend easily yourself. In doing so can you create a brand identity with your own line of creatively named teas. With such diversity in the realm of tea, almost anything is possible. Just remember making health claims of any kind is tricky business and closely watched these days by the FDA - a wise tea person will steer clear!