How to enter a drinks competition and win a medal 🥇🥈🥈

Something quite special happened this October. Our alcohol-free East Forged tea brews were awarded three medals in the DB & SB Autumn Blind Tasting competition, run by UK-based publications The Drinks Business and The Spirits Business. While the Green Tea & Pitaya and White Tea & Calamansi flavours each earned a Silver Medal, it was the Black Tea & Yuzu that impressed the judges and earned the highest Gold Medal recognition!

So what does it take to earn recognition in a no alcohol and low alcohol drinks competition? 

1. Enter the drinks competition. If I'm being completely honest, Founder doubt was creeping in right at the beginning. Does East Forged stack up against the the other beverages in the non-alcoholic drinks category in the UK? A market that is the most mature of the global markets in this category. 
2. Send off our East Forged tea brew samples for tasting. Let's just say if we left this to Tania they would not have been sent 🤣! In fairness, if I was not totally accountable to my tea partner I would not have sent them either!!
3. Not try too hard. These were words that came from the judges of the DB & SB Autumn Blind Tasting in the no and low alcohol category, “It feels like some brands are trying too hard to be something they’re not, and putting in far too much extra flavour that’s not needed and is not working. Sometimes less is more".

We are so pleased we overcame the fear and doubt to enter our East Forged nitrogen-infused tea brews. We demonstrated that new occasions for tea are entirely possible. If not desired!

17 non-alcoholic drinks were submitted in the non-alcoholic drink category and only 5 received medals following the blind tasting. We had a clean sweep for all our flavours:

• Black Tea & Yuzu (gold medal)
• White Tea & Calamansi  (silver medal)
• Green Tea & Pitaya (silver medal)

You can taste our award winning East Forged tea brews for yourself, right here.