Ikigai Ocha
A whole world of tea, in one honest box.
Client
Ikigai Ocha
Year
2026
Scope
Brand · Web · Commerce
Role
Identity, storefront, art direction
A single-origin tea brand built from the ground up: identity, a fast editorial storefront, and a one-box preorder experience. Six whole-leaf teas from five countries in one box, sold direct with free US shipping.
The challenge
Specialty tea online is a wall of SKUs, subscriptions and jargon. Ikigai Ocha wanted the opposite: one considered box that lets a curious drinker taste the world without a PhD in steeping. The task was to make that simplicity feel premium rather than sparse.
The ideas
- 01
One box, one decision
Instead of a paralyzing catalog, the whole offer is a single curated box. Choice is designed out; discovery is designed in.
- 02
Editorial, not e-commerce
Every tea is treated like a place and a story, with its origin, altitude and character, so the site reads like a field guide that happens to sell.
- 03
Fast as a first impression
Server-rendered, edge-cached and image-optimized so the storefront opens instantly. Speed is the first thing that reads as premium.
- 04
Preorder as a ritual
Founding pricing and a calm, single-page checkout turn the preorder into a small ceremony rather than a funnel.
6 teas
In the box
5 countries
Origins
$30
One-time
Free
US shipping
What we made
- Verbal & visual identity
- Logotype & marks
- Editorial storefront (Next.js)
- Product art direction
- Preorder & checkout flow
- Analytics & experimentation
- Technical SEO
Under the hood
- Next.js
- Vercel
- Tailwind CSS
- PostHog
- Edge Config
“Sell less, but sell it like it matters.”
Project principle
Services in this project