Tea tins are bought on how they look and judged on how the tea tastes six months later. These four decisions bridge the gap.

Ask what the lid does

The tin body is impermeable steel. All of the sealing performance is in the lid.

A slip lid rests over a shoulder with clearance — lovely to use, seals very little. A shoulder-seated lid does better. A gasketed lid is genuinely airtight. If the tin is your only packaging, you need the third one; if it is a refillable caddy, the first is correct and cheaper.

Insist on a food-safe interior lacquer

Bare tinplate against tea leaf gives a faint metallic note that people notice and cannot name. A food-safe interior lacquer is a barrier between the steel and the leaf.

It is standard on anything decent and it is the sort of thing that quietly disappears from a very cheap quote. Ask for it by name.

Understand litho versus a label

Lithography prints onto flat sheet steel which is then cut and formed, so the artwork is part of the metal, wraps corners with no join, and cannot peel.

A printed label wrapped around a plain tin is much cheaper at low volumes and lifts at the edge in a steamy kitchen within months. Volume decides which is right; ask your supplier where the break-even falls rather than assuming.

Treat a window as a trade, not a feature

Light degrades tea. A window on a retail shelf gives customers a look at whole leaf, which genuinely sells, and it exposes the product for the entire time it sits there.

Green and white teas suffer fastest and a dark roasted tea barely notices. Small window, one face, tinted if the blend is delicate, and fast stock turnover.

And remember tea absorbs smell

More than almost any other food. A tin that held a smoky lapsang or a heavy floral will carry that into the next blend even after washing.

One blend per tin. It is the reason gift sets use several small tins rather than one big one with dividers.