Text 2 English tea brands

Lipton Tea is one of the major tea brands with deep roots in English tea traditions. It was founded in 1870 by Sir Thomas Johnson Lipton and since then became an iconic English brand.

At the age of 15 Thomas Lipton moves to United States looking for his fortune and working on different not extremely exciting jobs, including tobacco farm and rice plantation. His entrepreneurial endeavors didn’t gain a lot of success on the American continent and he decided to return to his motherland where his father owned a small shop in Glasgow. While he was living in the states he witnessed how innovative and creative business tactics can make a real change and bring profits. He wasn’t extremely satisfied with the way his father was running his business and decided to found his own company. He invested all his money into one grocery shop and in less than 10 years he was successfully operating a small empire of 200 stores in England. He became a millionaire and was looking for new adventures.

In 1890 Lipton was traveling to Australia and made a short stop in Ceylon. He immediately identified a new promising business opportunity and bought 5 tea plantations that would supply tea to his grocery empire in England. This deal led a foundation for the famous Lipton Tea Empire. Even though tea has become a traditional English pastime long before Sir Lipton has introduced his products, he was the first British businessmen to make fortune from manufacturing and marketing tea. He was also first to sell tea in separate small tea bags, a smart marketing move that was later adopted by many tea manufacturers world wide. Since then, Lipton name became almost synonymous to tea and a one of the most recognized brands in the world.

Ahmad tea is a relatively new brand, but it succeeded to quickly gain popularity especially in Europe. As it’s implied by the brand name, Ahmad tea has Iranian origins. Hussein Afshar, the founder of the brand, began importing tea to Iran from several manufacturers near the Caspian Sea.

After the disastrous effects of the Iranian revolution the family immigrated to London in 1979 where they continued their family business. Their initial attempts were quite unsuccessful. In order to change brand identity, the family decided to position the brand as an original English product. This move proved to be successful and the company started to secure new contacts. Currently, the brand is well positioned in the European market and offers a variety of black tea blends.

Vocabulary:

Comprehension questions:

1. Are Lipton and Ahmad tea brands familiar to you?

2. What is the secret of their success?

3. Do you know any other recognized brands?