Tea companies: a list of the best manufacturers

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

All tea lovers will be pleased to know that 98% of Russians cannot imagine a day without this ancient invigorating drink. Especially love it in combination with lemon. Some have their favorites - favorite tea companies. Others experiment and try varieties of previously unknown brands, each time discovering a new taste and aroma.

The tea business has been extremely profitable for centuries. However, in the face of fierce competition, not everyone managed to become the best brands. Let's find out which brands have earned the trust of consumers, and let's start with the main thing: where do modern manufacturers get raw materials for tea production?

Major Suppliers

If you like English tea, then you probably understand that this plant cannot be grown in the damp climate of foggy Albion. It just won't fit in there. Take, for example, the world-famous Newby tea company. Their products are packaged in England from raw materials collected from the best plantations in the world.

The tea bush, demanding for heat, light and moisture, is cultivated in the tropics and subtropics, mainly on mountain slopes. The largest plantations in the world are located in the following countries:

1. The birthplace of tea - China, holds the lead in the production of the product and the supply of raw materials in the world market. Most Chinese tea is whole-leaf, black and green, although there are budget varieties made from broken and cut leaves.
2. India takes second place. From here, mainly black tea is exported - cut and granulated. It is less fragrant compared to Chinese, but with a brighter taste. The famous Assam tea grows in the valley of the Brahmaputra River.
3. About 10% of the world's black and green tea is grown in Sri Lanka (former Ceylon). The most valuable leaves are harvested on highland plantations. All manufacturers use Ceylon tea from Sri Lanka as the base raw material for their best compositions.
4. Among African countries, most of the product is grown in Kenya. Only black varieties are produced here, which are used in blends with Ceylon and Indian varieties.

Japanese green tea, black Turkish, Indonesian and Vietnamese teas of various varieties, as well as Iranian black, account for a small market share. It is clear that tea companies value their reputation. That is why they choose the best suppliers for their products.

Below is a list with a description of the companies - manufacturers of tea, included in the top ten. Some brands you know for sure, while others make sense to get to know better.

Tetley (England)

The company, founded in 1856, produces more than 60 types of tea, loved bygourmets all over the world. For production, elite varieties from Kenya and Assam are used.

Today, Tetley is considered one of the most popular brands of tea bags. Fans of the brand's products especially recommend trying the following types:

1. Tetley With Masala natural flavor: This is an Indian large leaf black tea with spices, oriental aroma and a very pleasant spicy taste.
2. Tetley Blend of both: A blend of black and green tea that is very he althy.
3. Tetley English Classic: Classic black tea, tart and aromatic, very popular in England.

The brand line includes tea with mint, pomegranate and other additives. All products are supplied in round bags. Just 2 pieces are enough to brew 2 liters of refreshing iced green tea.

Yorkshire Tea (England)

This is Tetley's main competitor, a company founded in 1886 by the Taylor brothers. It is difficult to say which tea company is better, because both were founded during the reign of Queen Victoria. The famous monarch was a big fan of this drink. She created the rules of tea etiquette that are still used today and turned tea drinking into one of the main court ceremonies.

Yorkshire tea is made from selected Ceylon, Kenyan and Assam tea leaves. Consumers are offered 4 varieties:

• red;
• for hard water;
• decaffeinated;
• Yorkshire gold.

To be fair, this tea company makes great coffee anda range of top quality confectionery.

Lipton (England)

But Thomas Lipton, who opened his company in 1890, was knighted by Queen Victoria 8 years later. After all, he did not just buy tea, but was not too lazy to go to Ceylon, where he acquired land for his own plantations, in order to even keep the cultivation of the tea bush under strict control.

However, 100 years later, it was not without scandals, when in 2008 and 2011. Various toxic substances have been found in the brand's products. But now Lipton is especially careful to comply with the certification of their products.

Today, Lipton's Ceylon tea is successfully sold in 110 countries around the world. It is loved for its invariably excellent taste, affordability and a wide selection of commodity items: custard, in pyramid bags, blended, bottled and with various additives.

Bigelow (USA)

The tea company, founded in 1945, has grown from a small family business in Connecticut to the world's largest tonic maker with an annual turnover of about $90 million.

The brand line includes about 50 types of black, green and herbal teas, which are still made according to the recipes of the founder of the company, Ruth K. Bigelow. Blended drinks have a rich taste and exquisite aroma, thanks to which they are appreciated by gourmets all over the world.

Dilmah (Sri Lanka)

Ceylon man himselfGod ordered to establish their own tea production. Mr. Merrill Joseph Fernando did just that: he bought the plantations and created a company, naming it with the first letters of the names of his sons - Dilhan and Malik. So in 1988, a new tea company appeared - Dilmah, which has become famous in more than 100 countries in 30 years.

Today, there is hardly a single lover of a tonic drink who is unfamiliar with the rich taste and marvelous aroma of the popular Dilma.

The Republic of Tea (USA)

Republic of Tea is unfortunately practically unknown in Russia and all over the world. The tea company was founded in 1992 by three entrepreneurs, and 2 years later it was bought out by Mr. Ron Rubin, who turned the family company into one of the most beloved and recognizable brands in North America.

In addition to producing close to 300 varieties of premium tonic, The Republic of Tea were among the first to launch red and white teas and tea seed oil.

The company is doing great and the son of Mr. Rubin, who became the new president of the company, does not want to enter the world market yet. Therefore, you can only buy "Republic of Tea" in American online stores, in particular, on Ebay.

Harney & Sons (USA)

Tea produced under the brand name Harney & Sons is literally elite. It is sold in expensive tea boutiques and supplied exclusively to the best hotel chains in America and Canada.

Selectivehigh-quality varieties are produced loose or in bags: regular and silk. Through the efforts of founder John Harney and his mentor Stanley Mason, the new tea company announced itself in 1983 and has since enjoyed overwhelming success with true connoisseurs of fine drinks.

Tazo (USA)

The well-known and revered brand of tea appeared in 1994 thanks to the American entrepreneur Stephen Smith. However, in 1999, the company was bought out by Starbucks, the coffee giant that brought premium quality products to the world level.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz paid Steven Smith $8.1 million for his business, and 18 years later, in 2017, he successfully sold Tazo for $384 million. Today, one of the best tea companies belongs to the British-Dutch multinational company Unilever.

The consumer doesn't really care who owns the brand. The main thing is that, as before, Tazo fans can please themselves with noble tastes of black, green and herbal tea.

Celestial Seasonings (USA)

The products of this company will surely appeal to lovers of herbal teas in all their diversity.

The company was founded in 1969 in the US state of Colorado by local herbalists. In 1984, the brand bought out the food conglomerate Kraft, and 2 years later it was announced that Lipton was claiming the trademark. However, Bigelow contested the upcoming deal under competition law and acquired the company in 1988.

Celestial Seasonings has black, white and green teas on the market today, but it is still positioned as a herbal drink manufacturer. In addition to herbs, such as hibiscus, chamomile, lavender, the collection includes spices, leaves and fruits of berries. According to the official website of the manufacturer, all raw materials are completely natural.

Twinings (England)

If you prefer Twinings tea, then you have impeccable taste and no one can argue with that.

This tea company was founded by Thomas Twining back in 1706. For more than 300 years, the company's logo has remained unchanged and is therefore considered the world's oldest continuously used trademark. It is interesting that the tea shop on the Strand in London since 1706 and still regularly meets its customers.

In her first year of reign, in 1837, Queen Victoria honored Twinings with the Royal Order of Her Majesty's Permanent Purveyor of Tea, the best advertisement for the brand. And the famous company to this day fully justifies the trust placed in it.

On the Russian market you can buy Twinings black and green tea, flavored drinks, fruit and herbal drinks.

It is important to keep in mind that any ratings and lists of the best products are constantly shuffled and changed. This also applies to tonic drink manufacturers.

But one thing remains constant: tea varieties. The cultivation and manufacture of many of them is still kept in the strictest confidence, and the cost per kg is tens and hundreds of thousands.dollars. Let's find out what companies produce these unique varieties.

The most expensive tea in the world

Are you willing to pay $400 per kg of tea leaves? This is the amount you need to pay for Silver Tips from the Indian black tea company Makaibari Tea Estate. The tea bush is grown on a plantation in the Himalayas, located at an altitude of 1600-2600 m above sea level, and the leaf is harvested only on the full moon. The raw materials undergo a special enzymatic treatment, and the leaves are laid with thin threads of silver foil.

Anyone who wants to try the tea, the leaves of which are cut with gold scissors and processed with 24-carat gold, will have to part with $3,000 and get 1 kg of the famous Golden tea heads. This is how the Singaporean tea company TWG Tea, founded in 2008, evaluates its product. As it is believed in Asia, such a drink has an extremely beneficial effect on the human body.

In 2005, in honor of its 75th anniversary, British tea maker PG Tips launched a tea priced at $15,000 per bag. The content of the exclusive product was the aforementioned Silver Tips Indian tea, and the bags themselves were decorated with Boodles diamonds. Proceeds from the sale were donated to charity.

And the most expensive tea in the world costs, according to various sources, from $700,000 to $1.2 million per kg. This is the legendary Da-Hong Pao, which grows in the Chinese province of Fujian in the mountains of Wuyi. Today, only 3 out of 4 tea bushes have survived and they are considered a national treasure of China. The real tea "big red mantle" is not produced by any manufacturer. It can be purchased at auction or tasted as a guest of honor in a rich and influential Chinese family.

Unfortunately, not everyone can afford a drink from the best producers, not to mention exotic varieties. Therefore, it makes sense to consider tea with the names of companies that produce products at an adequate price, approved by consumers.

People's rating

Even mass production of tea is a laborious, painstaking and extremely responsible process. Non-compliance with drying, fermentation and drying technologies leads to a loss in the quality of raw materials, tea becomes moldy, loses its taste, becomes bitter, sour and musty. Sadly, there are also many counterfeit products on the market that do not meet the quality declared by the manufacturer.

It is more expensive to carry each bag for examination, so it is worth buying tea that has received high marks in the main categories: safety, naturalness, quality:

• Cheerfulness Indian black tea from Yakovlev tea-packing factory LLC;
• black tea "May" Ceylon alpine from LLC "May";
• black Ahmad English Breakfast tea bags, from the English company Ahmad Tea Ltd;
• Akbar green tea in bags, produced by Yakovlev tea-packing factory;
• Chinese small-leaf green Ramuk tea from Inter-trade-union LLC;
• green Maitre tea bags from Universal Food Technologies LLC.

Fans of excellent quality natural drinks should pay attentionattention to the products of the Ivan Chai company. These are large-leaf, small-leaf, packaged collections, as well as gift options in wooden boxes. The company "Vologda Ivan-Tea" appeared in 2007, gained a lot of admirers in Russia, and in 2016 entered the world market.

Finally

Today the competition in the tea market is so great that most manufacturers jealously control the quality of their products, and even more so do not risk mixing rusty metal filings into tea, as was done in England in the 19th century.

And in relation to any food product, there is always a rule: there is no friend for the taste and color. Do you know why the French practically do not produce tea? Because it is one of the most coffee-drinking countries. And despite the fact that King Louis IV treated his gout with this drink, his daughter-in-law Liselotte von Pfalz believed that it tasted like hay with manure.

Therefore, if you like tea from a company that has been undeservedly overlooked, be sure to tell us about it. Perhaps many will discover a new brand and its wonderful drinks.