For nearly a decade, London Tea Exchange trade has evolved to own an enviable niche in the growing luxury tea market. For it is here that luxury is experienced through the richness of purity and authenticity, discovered in the beauty of artistry and delivered with an intuitive response to personal expectation.
Catherine of Braganza arrived in Portsmouth on 13 May 1662. It had been a long and stormy crossing, and as soon as she arrived she asked for a cup of tea. So rare was it at this time that there was none available; the princess was offered a glass of ale instead.
Catherine and Charles II were married, on 21 May 1662. She introduced tea within the royal courts and soon caused a trend at the royal court. This then spread to aristocratic circles and later to the wealthier classes. In 1664 the very first order of tea was placed for 100lbs via the East India Company.
The London Tea Auction was a grand tradition that lasted over 300 years. From the very first event in 1679, until the last sale on 29 June 1998, the London Tea Auction was a regular event that made London the centre of the international tea trade.
In 1999 it was agreed that London should not lose this heritage and London Tea Exchange will be made available to the public.
London Tea Exchange has received expression of interest for its products from 57 countries and aims to be in 8 countries by the end of 2023 and 16 countries by 2024.
London Tea Exchange has already secured a number of high profile clients and is currently pursuing partnerships in 25 countries. These include working with luxury retailers, distributors and trade / franchiseoperators. Our targets markets include:
London Tea Exchange is emboldened by luxury, yet stripped of pretence. Our aim is to locate stores that are masterfully designed staffed and operated in some of the most desirable destinations across the globe. Authentic to the core, yet loyal to a set of powerful values that provide a solid foundation for success.
We invite you to join us, to imagine, collaborate, create, build and bring to life a brand that knows no boundaries for unprecedented growth. It would be our privilege to speak to you about London Tea Exchange development opportunities.
London Tea Exchange trade offers one of the widest selection of single estate premium tea’s from across the globe. We have had longstanding relationships with individual tea estate and have developed a trustful cooperation spanning over a decade. Our large portfolio of over 300 varieties of premium teas and rare teas are sourced directly from twenty different countries and includes some of the rarest teas in the world, many of which are exclusive to London Tea Exchange trade. We are privileged to offer our customers some of the most delicate and distinctive teas in the world, many of which are extremely sought after by tea connoisseurs from across the globe.
London Tea Exchange has spent the past two decades building a sustainable and ethical sourcing supply chain. We visit each and every estate that we purchase teas from to ensure due diligence is carried out in person. Our approach and method has been praised by industry leaders. We continue to support local, regional, national and international bodies in developing best practice in a changing world.
Small farmers are in a particular disadvantage as they do not have factories to manufacture and process teas.
This means they have to go to larger estates that are more established to sell their teas.
As they are totally dependant on larger estates the prices they are often paid are very low. Over the past two decades London Tea Exchange has developed co-operatives and training programmes to develop high priced hand made tea products. We have also given larger estates incentives to work with smaller farmers and in return we would look more favourably at teas being produced by them.
This approach has helped hundreds of small farmers across the globe. London Tea Exchange is currently working with small farmers in 27 countries
Our philosophy and attitude is founded on the need for continuous improvement, whilst satisfying our own passion for achieving excellence.
We recognised that having female leaders in a male dominated environment is critical in driving change. The vast majority of people working in the industry are women (almost 98%), however the people making decisions and in leadership roles are less than 1%. London Tea Exchange is working to change this by training female tea masters.
Our vision is to create a more equal work place that represents those that are working in the industry. The programme is currently being delivered to participants from UK, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Ghana.
