Over the last several years, the tea industry has had a major transformation or “wave,” as more consumers turned to tea for health and wellness reasons.
Now that we're coming out of the COVID-19 Pandemic, many tea companies are hitting the ground running and actively trying to change the tea industry for the better, while gaining the interest of consumers.
These six companies have not only persisted through the last few years, they’ve worked hard to actively bring a positive change to the world of tea. Indeed, they’re all worth paying attention to, as they push the industry forward.
1. Volition Tea
Volition Tea is a new tea company that launched out of Chicago, Ill. It started strong with a business model that allows them to be transparent about honoring both the tea and the tea farmer. Volition Tea is also a woman-ran company, and it quickly garnered the love and attention of the local Chicago tea community, as well as the online global tea community.
While still very young, Volition has become a force in bringing forth social awareness and being inclusive, in addition to providing exceptional teas right out of the floodgate. They’ve also garnered a cult-following and seem to be unstoppable.
2. Karma Tea Company
Karma Tea Company is a woman-owned tea company in London that quickly set a strong standard to redefine what it means to be transparent. While they’ve become popular on social media, Karma Tea proves its boldness of transparency by not only stating the region where the teas are sourced from but also highlighting the exact tea farms they work with – along with a bio and history of each farm.
In addition, the company only sources tea from small producers, and it also provides its teas in packaging that’s fully biodegradable. While bravely redefining what it means to be transparent, the Karma Tea Companies' trajectory is set very high.
3. Longleaf Tea Company
Based in Laurel, Miss., Longleaf Tea Company is a rather unique tea company, primarily for its production of Mississippi-Grown tea. After spending more than half a decade of cultivating a tea farm, they were finally able to release their first batch of tea in 2021. After building momentum on social media, they quickly sold out of their first batch after release. With their second-ever harvest to be released soon, keep an eye on them now as they’re set to break into the global tea community on a bigger scale. They’re already a Laurel fan-favorite and they’ve been featured on HGTV.
4. Nepal Tea
Founded in 2016, Nepal Tea broke Kickstarter records in 2017 by receiving support from more than 500 backers. The campaign was the biggest crowdfunding campaign in the organic tea industry at the time. The company is a social enterprise that distributes fresh teas around the world, connecting producers to consumers. They also have a strong mission to give back to the Nepalese community with their own foundation – Nepal Tea Foundation – which gives back to schooling, housing and various charitable efforts in Nepal.
Nepal Tea is clearly setting a great example that tea companies can have humanitarianism as their core-belief system while creating a delicious product.
5. Flowerhead Tea
Flowerhead Tea is a Northern-California based company that’s trying to redefine the tea blend game. This woman-ran and owned company is not only making small-batch tea blends (and even single-origin teas), but they’re also innovative in bringing the fun of blending directly to the consumer.
Flowerhead Tea – which recently competed in the Devan Shah Tea Tycoons competition at the World Tea Conference + Expo 2022 – released two versions of a chai tea kit, where the ingredients of the blend are packaged separately in a box, so the tea drinker can partake in the fun of making blended tea themselves.
While Flowerhead Tea Company launched right before the start of the pandemic, they’re now finally able to promote their products at in-person events like World Tea Expo, and they’re quickly gathering a name for themselves while spreading the love of tea.
6. Kiani Tea
Kiani Tea is a female-owned, London-based tea company that launched in 2020, and it has quickly received some attention. Kiani Tea is not only driven to promote the support of tea farmers, but they also partnered with Eden Reforestation Project – a deforestation project that’s working to plant trees to help rebuild the environment. Outside of assisting with the global climate crisis, they even assisted their local community by running a line of teas, where proceeds were given to the Chinese Community Centre in London’s Chinatown. While they've released a wide variety of tasty teas, Kiani Tea only just started and will continue to go further and further…
World Tea News contributor Cody Wade, also known by his blog name, "The Oolong Drunk," has been tea blogger and tea educator for more than five years. His passion for tea started with oolongs, but he has grown to appreciate every aspect of the tea industry. He's also given lectures and presented at the Houston Tea Festival, the Mid-West Tea Festival and the World Tea Conference + Expo, and he notes that he's enthusiastic with his passion for 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, co-located with Bar & Restaurant Expo. Visit WorldTeaExpo.com.
To book your sponsorship or exhibit space at the World Tea Conference + Expo, contact:
Veronica Gonnello
(for companies A to G)
e: [email protected]
p: 212-895-8244
Tim Schultz
(for companies H to Q)
e: [email protected]
p: (917) 258-8589
Fadi Alsayegh
(for companies R to Z)
e: [email protected]
p: 917-258-5174
Also, be sure to stay connected with the World Tea Conference + Expo on social media for details and insights about the event. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.