People have been drinking tea since, well, basically the beginning of human time, so maybe you think there could never be anything new under the sun.
You would be wrong, though, because straight from the Land of the Rising Sun – that’s Japan, folks – come these adorable tea bags cut to look like animate sea creatures.
Ocean Teabag teamed up with oddity shop and bookstore Village Vanguard to create the series of themed teabags, and…y’all. I’m going to need one of each immediately.
The original series included a jellyfish, octopus, isopods, and some land animals like the tanuki, and once you soak the bags in your tea, the creatures appear to be swimming in your cup.
I mean, in a world that puts a high value on anything Instagrammable, this is some genius marketing!
Their design team consists of just 10 people, but these teas are so cute, unique, and delicious that it seems like they might be looking to expand those numbers soon.
The two bestsellers are the squid tea bag, which is full of black Pu’er tea meant to mimic squid ink, and the octopus, which is Keemun tea.
Though the penguin toting Chamomile has got to be in the running!
They’re looking to improve on the uniqueness of their products, too, and are researching ways to make the bags glow, and even move, which would be pretty damn cool.
You can choose from more than 50 types of unique bags on their website, and they’ll cost you around $16 each – but that’s a small price to pay for this funky Japanese tea. Especially now that Japanese tea is quickly disappearing (though tea has been an integral part of Japanese culture for centuries, it is currently at an all-time low).
I don’t know about you, but my cabinets – and my Instagram – definitely need some of these bags in their lives!