Source for Plain Wrapper?

[TeaEye]

When I unwrap a cake I'd like to save the original wrapper and re-wrap the cake in a plain wrapper made from that same type of paper.

I've been doing some searching, but I can't find a source or mention of such a product anywhere.

Any suggestions?

TIA,

Tom

[Maitre_Tea]

I know that you're looking for plain paper to use as a wrapper, but maybe a plain piece of cloth would work just as well...maybe even better too, since it'll "breath" more easily, and there's no chance of it tearing after being re-wrapped after 10 times. I'm thinking something rustic like linen from Jo-ann might be nice

[oldmanteapot]

Hi TeaEye,

Welcome to TC!

Why do you want to replace the original wrapper? Are you planning to save up a collection of wrappers? But then, make sure you've labeled the cakes before your collection gets too large and you start forgetting which tea in under the wrapper, since you're looking for plain paper.

You can get similar wrappers from Yunnan, but I'm not sure if they are willing to ship to you in small quantities. Another option is to use rice paper also known as Chinese calligraphy paper.

Here's how it looks like compared to a worn down Pu wrapper.



I use them to wrap over my worn down wrappers. It's highly porous and soft. Here's how it looks like wrapped over the existing wrapper.



Hope this helps.

Cheers!

[oldmanteapot]

I know that you're looking for plain paper to use as a wrapper, but maybe a plain piece of cloth would work just as well...maybe even better too, since it'll "breath" more easily, and there's no chance of it tearing after being re-wrapped after 10 times. I'm thinking something rustic like linen from Jo-ann might be nice

Cloth is good only if it's thin. This is due to the fact that thick cloth will absorb moisture, which will be disastrous to your Pu... hehehehe...

Cheers!!

[Intuit]

Second the recommendation for rice paper, available from Arts Supply shops. An alternative: acid-free tissue paper. This paper is used in the conservation of textiles. Not too spendy, widely available online.

Example 10 sheets for under $6 USD; http://www.webyfl.com/acid-free-tissue- ... fered.aspx

[TIM]

I love to use brown paper bag for reg. cake or if it is larger then 1000g, a thin cloth wrapper is my preference. http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1001 ... G_3181.jpg

[wyardley]

I think you want acid-free tissue paper. That's what most vendors use for wrapperless cakes.

[oldmanteapot]

Second the recommendation for rice paper, available from Arts Supply shops. An alternative: acid-free tissue paper. This paper is used in the conservation of textiles. Not too spendy, widely available online.

Example 10 sheets for under $6 USD; http://www.webyfl.com/acid-free-tissue- ... fered.aspx

It's nice to have alternatives. The best we could get is the rice paper. It's widely used among tea collectors to wrap their tea. Other types of paper that I've tried contains certain amount of wax layered on d surface or are simply too thick and dense.

Cheers!

[gingkoseto]

I have been wondering this for a while, the "rice paper" kind of wrapping paper used in apparel stores, can it be used for tea? Some of this kind of paper is pure white and probably has been bleached. But most seems tasteless.

[nonc_ron]

Hummm Try this.

http://www.buygifttissue.com/
gift tissue paper tissue wrapping paper
$32.00 20x30 - White Ream
about 3 cents a sheet.

[tony shlongini]

Hummm Try this.

http://www.buygifttissue.com/
gift tissue paper tissue wrapping paper
$32.00 20x30 - White Ream
about 3 cents a sheet.

At the rate I'm going, I'll need a dozen reams.

[Tea and coffee]

I would maybe want to be sure the paper is food safe, but nt sure how much that really matters.

What about using the paper they have for coffee filters for small cakes?

You might be able to find some food safe paper at a restaurant supply place.

Rice paper sounds like it could be good.
What about that brown "kraft paper" like they carry at the dollar stores?

[TeaEye]

Thanks for all the suggestions - I'll give the acid-free tissue a try.

[nonc_ron]

Thanks for all the suggestions - I'll give the acid-free tissue a try.

Mine is acid-free too and colors.
Find 10 friends to go in on it with you. lol
Better yet lets get the tea vender's to use it as packing.
I've never found a good use for those little piece's of Styrofoam anyway.

[Intuit]

Bad perfume: Cardboard’s intense scents
Science News, Oct 13th, 2009
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic ... nse_scents

We often joke about food that lacks any perceptible flavor as tasting like cardboard. In fact, cardboard’s blandness is one facet of its appeal to the food industry. Manufacturers pack foods in cardboard and pizzeria’s deliver their cheese-topped pies in it precisely because it won’t affect the flavor of their products. Or at least that’s been the presumption.

A pair of researchers in Germany has now catalogued 37 smelly compounds emitted by cardboard — chemicals that they argue could indeed temper the flavor and scent of foods. “Most of the identified compounds were described as odor-active [i.e. smelly] cardboard constituents for the first time,” report Michael Czerny of the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging in Freising and Andrea Buettner of University Erlangen-Nuernberg.

They found some of these compounds present in relatively high amounts, although their predominantly woody/musty notes tended to remain below the radar screen until cardboard got wet — as might occur if your pizza was delivered on a rainy night, or a food warehouse was not humidity controlled.

Indeed, “The aroma profile changed drastically when the cardboard was moistened," becoming “intense” and yucky — as in woody and musty with very pronounced fatty and moldy highlights, Czerny and Buettner report in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Contributing to the overall off-putting smell were the leathery-inky scents of 3-propylphenol and 3-methyphenol. Another 29-letter-long compound smelled metallic and benzothiazole imparted the smell of rubber or car tires. Yum.

And it gets better. Czerny and Buettner describe two constituents of cardboard’s scent — 4-methylphenol and 4-ethylphenol — as having a “horse stable-like, fecal” smell. Other off-gassed chemicals smelled: “cheesy, sweaty;” soapy, fatty, mushroomlike, citrusy, spicy, woody or coconutty. A compound known as 2-methoxyphenol seemed to have a particularly complex scent — at once smoky, vanillalike and sweet.

The chemists aren’t sure why most of these chemicals don’t assault our noses while the cardboard remains dry, but speculate that some might remain walled off in cellulose until contacted by water — “which acts like a solvent.”

In a followup experiment, the pair showed cardboard’s off-scents could transfer to salad oil, presumably a substance meant to model fatty foods.

~
Fat soluble tea oils would also absorb these odors. I think OMTPs suggestion of food-grade rice paper as a wrapper is the best first choice. The crappiest choice would be cheapass tissue wrapping paper.

The reason for acid free paper? You already have acid emissions from your cardboard. The emissions worsen as the cardboard absorbs humidity over time, at a range of 70-85% RH and becomes permanently damp.

Fermentation microbial consortia are typically acid-tolerant, and some may even be acidophiles (acid-requiring), but the tea itself will fare poorly in the presence of continuously acidic atmosphere.