In 1837, two brothers, Joseph and Edward Tetley started to sell tea and became such a success that they set up as tea merchants. In 1856, in partnership with Joseph Ackland, they set up "Joseph Tetley & Company, Wholesale Tea Dealers".
Business was so good and the company grew. As well as selling tea, Joseph Tetley & Co also began to blend and package the tea. In the 1880s they began to sell tea to the United States of America, and started to bring ideas back; one of these was the tea bag.
Tea had to be rationed during World War II, it was not until 1953, just after rationing finished, that Tetley launched the tea bag to the UK and it was an instant success.
The rest, as they say, is history. The tea bag had captured the public’s imagination and desire for convenience. Within 10 years it revolutionised how Britons drank their tea and the old fashioned tea pot had given way to making tea in a cup using a tea bag.
Since the 60s, Tetley has continued to develop the tea drinking experience by introducing innovative and exciting ideas in many different countries. In 1989 they launched the round tea bag, latching on to the fashion to drink tea in a mug, rather than a cup. Next came the Drawstring ‘No drip, no mess’ tea bag.
1974 Tetley Tea Company was purchased by J Lyons who merged it with the Lyons tea business to form Lyons Tetley. 1978 Allied Breweries acquired J Lyons’ Businesses then as Allied Domecq sold them in the 1990s. The Tetley Group was created in July 1995, when a group of investors bought what was then the world-wide beverage business from Allied Domecq. On 10th March 2000, The Tetley Group was sold to Tata Tea Limited, one of the world’s largest integrated tea businesses.
More recently in the UK, Canada and Australia, we’ve launched new blends of green teas and fruit and herbal infusions, some delicious new ready to drink iced teas and spicy chai latte teas.
