What’s the story behind Doc’s Tea?
Dr. Ken Banks – the founder of Doc’s Tea, who works along with his son, fellow dentist Dr. Christopher Banks, and daughter, dental hygienist Sarah Langford – took time to answer some questions about how this high-quality microbrew came to be.
How did you first get the idea for a better iced tea?
“We are a family that drinks a great deal of tea. As we would read the labels and look at the ingredients in different teas, we would notice high sugar content and lots of calories and carbs, colorants to make the drink look dark like tea, concentrated tea and not tea leaves, artificial flavors – all the telltale marks of mass production.
We wanted to create a ready-to-drink tea that had the best ingredients possible and that was manufactured the best way possible. It took us many years of research and trying various approaches, but we’ve come up with exactly that tea.”
What are the benefits of making Doc’s Tea in small batches?
“Small batches means more attention to detail, better quality, and a better end product. It also means brewing on demand, which keeps our product fresh. For all the same reasons that craft beers have become so popular, now we see consumers realizing how much better micro-brewed tea can be.”
You wanted a beverage that didn’t just taste great, but also delivered health benefits?
“Actually, we wanted to first deliver a tea beverage that contained the best health benefits, then secondly, we went after a drink with great taste. You see, most beverages are just empty calories that slowly decrease optimum health.
With our teas, each ingredient of each flavor was selected for its specific health benefit. Take our coconut tea made with coconut water, for instance. Coconut water boosts hydration and contains high amounts of potassium. Another of our teas is made with lemongrass – because lemongrass contains anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.”
Roobis tea and monk fruit aren’t your everyday ingredients. Can you tell us about how you came to select the elements for Doc’s Tea?
“After researching all teas, we selected Rooibos tea. It’s naturally caffeine-free, high in antioxidants, and has a high mineral content. It also contains Chysoeriol, which helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol, decreases stomach spasms, and supports absorption of iron. Monk fruit is a super fruit that’s extremely low in calories, yet 170 times sweeter that sugar. Monk fruit is great for diabetics with its low glycemic index.”
Your hands-on approach extended to creating a custom manufacturing facility. So you make sure every step of the process is done just right?
“You can’t be handcrafted without being hands-on! Our facility was built just for micro-brewing teas. Healthy ingredients plus handcrafted techniques equals a very unique product.”
I notice Doc’s Tea comes in a glass bottle, not in plastic. Is that part of that microbrew experience? What other choices did you make that sets Doc’s Tea apart?
“Glass gives our product a better feel and look. A high quality product deserves the best packaging possible. Our great new label shows off our calorie content in large print on the front of the bottle. It also shows that one serving is one whole bottle – so many beverage-makers try to confuse consumers by listing multiple servings per bottle even though most people see the bottles as a single serving.
With labels like that, you need to multiply the servings by the calorie content to know the true calorie consumption per bottle. We didn’t want to do that – we want our customers to know at a glance how many calories they’re consuming.”
There are lots of bargain ready-to-drink teas out there, but you’re aiming for a more discerning market?
“I believe we are extremely unique in the beverage industry. We don’t handcraft our product and go through organic certification, kosher certification, non-GMO certification, and remain gluten-free to be the cheapest bottled tea on the market. We did it to be one of the best! Because we are health professionals, we care about producing the healthiest beverage possible and to make it that way every day.”