SYDNEY, July 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The world is increasingly aware that fresh is best, and now young Australian product designer Neil Strohbeck, together with his business partner Matthew Keen and their product innovations brand Avooq, is launching innovative two piece mug design Freetii™ to help health conscious tea drinkers enjoy fresh tea on the run.
Video: - https://vimeo.com/164813974
The Freetii™ crowdfunding campaign will launch on 19 July. Click here to visit the preview page:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1656811192/141061625?token=4130fcc2
Strohbeck became fascinated with fresh herbal tea after suffering digestive issues in 2011. He therefore began experimenting with a range of fresh tealeaf infusions to improve his health.
When he found fresh leaf herbal tea was helping, he decided to start work on a revolutionary two piece mug design, Freetii™, which is designed to make loose leaf herbal tea, fresh leaf herbal tea and iced tea, and which allows tea drinkers to start their travels while the tea is still infusing.
"We wanted to offer a mug that parallels the convenience of 'tea bags' with the superior nutrients extraction of a 'mortar and pestle'. With this mug you can cut, press, steep and Infuse fresh tea on the go without compromising taste or quality. The continuous steeping design holds the tea leaves in the bottom portion of the mug continuously while the top portion is filtered ready for you to enjoy at any time," says Strohbeck.
Strohbeck says that apart from the health benefits, it is widely regarded in the tea industry that loose leaf tea has a better flavour than bagged tea, particularly whole loose leaf tea.
"This can be attributed to three main reasons. Bagged tea is usually made from low tea grades, such as dust and fannings which have a larger surface area than whole leaves. The larger surface area allows the flavour containing oils to evaporate.
"Secondly, bagged tea is usually a mixed blend from various sources and regions, whereas whole leaf tea is usually a specialty tea from a specific region. And finally the conventional bag limits the infusion because of the restricted area that the tea is contained within. By using the whole loose leaf tea in Freetii™, people will enjoy a more refined flavour with better health benefits," he says.
The device also filters out any potential toxins that may be released into tea by tea bags, a concern that has been raised recently on a number of online forums.
Already patented, the Freetii™ mug is not Strohbeck's first product innovation. Though he only recently stopped working full time as a Construction Project Manager, he has created several products already including 'Cascaqua' an urban aquaponics system; 'Quiescence', an artistic heated towel shelf designed for a rejuvenating touch to a bathroom which was a finalist in the Reece Bathroom Awards in the Professional category; the Share Shower Ware double head shower concept which was a finalist in the Reece Bathroom Awards in the student category; The Liberty Walker, a product set consisting of a rollator, dual rails, brake coupling mechanism and a backrest to provide assistance for users to ascend or descend household stairs which saw him become a student first round shortlist in the Australian International Design Awards and also has a business with his mum FEOART.com.au which manufactures and distributes a wall mounted kitchen accessory that holds and dispenses Nespresso coffee capsules all around the world.
Strohbeck says he believes the product will be most of interest to the health conscious and those who like sustainable products.
"The portable mug which can be used over and over minimises waste and therefore impact on the environment, and also features acacia wood which provides a fast-growing renewable wood source. My intention for Freetii is to parallel the convenience of bagged tea so that consumers choose loose leaf over bagged and further reduce the environment impact." he says.
UK consumer affairs warns that tea bags are 70-80% biodegradable as reported by Rebecca Smithers from the Guardian and there are also concerns about the chemicals used to process tea bag paper and the possible health effects from the chemicals and plastics within them.
Units will be selling for as low as $9AUD via a crowdfunding campaign which will launch on 19 July. The project will be launched by Strohbeck and Keen under their product innovations brand Avooq. Strohbeck and Keen hope to raise $37,000AUD which will allow them to tool the product, and fully launch the business.
See their website at www.freetii.com.
Media interested in arranging an interview or photos should contact Yvette Adams on +61 405 022 977 or info@thecreativecollective.com.au.
See Neil's Linkedin profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-strohbeck-12a96319
See Matthew's Linkedin profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-keen-642bb455
A Supporting Interview about Freetii with Neil Strohbeck: http://freetii.com/Interview_Neil_Strohbeck.html
Video - https://vimeo.com/164813974
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160714/389526
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