Last year was an incredible comeback for many small businesses, especially within the tea industry. Today, many tea companies are still riding the momentum and working hard to keep the industry growing into the future. In fact, the following eight tea companies are doing just that, and they’ve gained a lot of success. They’re all businesses you should keep an eye on over the next 10 months and beyond.
1. HoYum Tea
HoYum Tea is a small tea company that’s bringing the art of Chinese tea and gong-fu cha all across the globe. Led by Pink Luk Sze Wan and Nadi Biran – in Tel Aviv, Israel – this duo slowly built momentum by sourcing single-origin Chinese teas. They’ve since launched both a tea club and tea podcast under the same name, “Smells Like Tea Spirit.” For their tea club, they bring experimental processes and batches of tea to various tea farms and producers across the globe to create one-of-a-kind single origin teas that have never existed in the history of tea. As we speak, they are transforming centuries of tea processing in real-time – with hopes of transforming the way we think about processing tea. This year already, they opened the doors to their first tea house in Tel Aviv. The industry should certainly keep an eye on the work of HoYum Tea, as they try to revolutionize the production of tea.
2. Snarky Tea
Snarky Tea is a Pennsylvania-based tea company that gained significant attention after appearing on Shark Tank. After finding their footing in the world of tea over the past several years, they garnered a loyal fan base that keeps growing in numbers. Recently, on Feb. 3, they announced that they obtained their manufacturing license in the state of Pennsylvania. Now, by moving their production in-house, they’re prepared to see greater success in 2023 and beyond, and they may even become a powerhouse in tea.
3. TeaVoila
TeaVoila is a small woman-owned tea company that very recently broke into the world of tea. While wanting to make tea easy and accessible, and trying to put an end to Keurig K-Cup tea, they launched their innovative new product: a disposable cup of tea with a built-in filter. Unlike the Keurig K-Cup, their disposable cups are made from organic material and are biodegradable and recyclable. And while they’re still in a very early stage, they’ve already become FDA approved. While being in operation for barely a full year, they’ve placed themselves in a position to expand and take over the world of high-quality convenient tea – one recyclable cup at a time.
Serene Tea Cha is another small woman-ran tea company that’s out to bring ethically sourced tea to consumers’ doorsteps. Serene Tea’s Rainy travels farm-to-farm to source unique teas while bringing the fair treatment of the tea farmer to the forefront. Outside of bringing high-quality teas to their online shop, Rainy gained cult-like popularity on social media. While on a steady growth path, the company also launched a new line of handmade tea ware – which sold out in minutes. They also started offering wholesale opportunities and labeling tea for other small businesses. With such a strong start, this young tea company should continue to see success.
Sippsi Good Tea launched during the COVID-19 global pandemic but experienced a strong start by blending teas that routinely sell out to their local community of Southern Mississippi. This woman-owned business spent most of 2022 by making small batch hand-crafted tea blends that have already been featured in one of NYTimes 50 Favorite Restaurants (Elvies Restaurant in Jackson Miss.) and in Mississippi Magazine. In addition, they started bottling and selling their teas to local markets. Certainly, it won’t be too long before they move past the Mississippi market and take on the entire U.S. South and beyond.
6. Tao Teaware
Tao Teaware is a U.S.-based teaware company that’s consistently growing its customer base. This year, they plan to launch a new massive collection of tea ware – something they’ve never done on to this scale. With this, they’re also tapping into the tea community through various social media platforms, including YouTube and TikTok. While they’re gearing up to have one of their biggest years yet, Tao Teaware made one thing clear: They are here to take their place in the world of tea.
7. Tea Drops
Tea Drops is a small woman-owned tea business that specializes in the craft of to-go tea in the form of dissolvable tea pucks (or drops) that instantly dissolve in hot water. While this small business also gained many fans on social media, they announced in February that a small selection of teas from their line-up can now be found in select Target stores across California. With this new deal, they’re on the radar to becoming one of the next big innovative products in retail tea.
Twrl Milk Tea is a woman-owned business that launched canned milk tea with a twist. Instead of being made with dairy products, their products are made with pea milk. With three flavors in their arsenal, including an at-home boba kit, they signed a deal with Costco last year and began selling Twrl Milk Tea in the big-box stores across Southern California. With their rapid success, they were also featured in publications such as Forbes and The Food Network. With this kind of overnight success, they’re on the cusp of bringing their tea to the U.S. national tea market in a big way.
Cody Wade, also known by his blog name, The Oolong Drunk, has been a tea blogger and tea educator for more than eight years. Wade’s passion for tea started with oolongs, but he has grown to appreciate every umbrella of the tea industry. He’s also given lectures at the Houston Tea Festival, Mid-West Tea Festival and the World Tea Conference + Expo, and he’s forward with his passion with tea education and bringing people together to make the community stronger.
Plan to Attend or Participate in the
World Tea Conference + Expo, March 27-29, 2023
To learn about other key developments, trends, issues, hot topics and products within the global tea community, plan to attend the World Tea Conference + Expo, March 27-29, 2023 in Las Vegas, co-located with Bar & Restaurant Expo. Visit WorldTeaExpo.com.
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