CATCH-UP - Lipton Tea

On Catch-Up this week we are spotlighting on Lipton. Yes, that all-time-available pleasant tea most of us can’t do without.

Lipton is a British brand of tea, owned by Unilever. Lipton was also a supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, later sold to Argyll Foods, after which the company sold only tea. The company is named after its founder Sir Thomas Lipton. The Lipton ready-to-drink beverages are sold by "Pepsi Lipton International", a company jointly owned by Unilever and PepsiCo.

In 1871 Thomas Lipton (1848–1931) of Glasgow, Scotland used his small savings to open his own shop, and by the 1880s the business had grown to more than 200 shops. In 1929, the Lipton grocery retail business was one of the companies that merged with Home and Colonial Stores, Maypole Dairy Company, Vyes & Boroughs, Templetons, Galbraiths & Pearks to form a food group with more than 3,000 shops. The group traded in the high street under various names, but was registered on the UK stock market as Allied Suppliers. Lipton's became a supermarket chain focused on small towns. Allied was acquired by Argyll Foods in 1982; the supermarket business was rebranded as Presto during the 1980s.

Lipton produces instant soup mixes. In the 1950s in the United States, Lipton ran an advertisement campaign promoting French onion dip prepared at home using Lipton's French onion soup mix, thus helping to popularize chips and dip. Hundreds of new commercially produced varieties of dips were later introduced in the U.S.

Today, Lipton teas are a blend selected from many different plantations around the world, from well-known producing countries including Sri Lanka, India, Kenya, and China. Lipton Yellow Label is blended from about 20 different teas.

 

Apart from the usual black leaves tea (with the long-standing Lipton Yellow Label brand), the company markets many other varieties, both as leaf and ready-to-drink beverages.[12] These include green teas, flavoured black teas, herbal teas, Lipton Linea (a "slimming tea") in Europe, and Lipton Milk Tea in various Asian markets. Lipton's owner Unilever sells PG-Tips tea in the UK, and does not retail any Lipton-branded products except Lipton Ice Tea there.

In a number of markets, including Japan, Russia and Australia, the company is advertising the benefits of theanine, which has psychoactive properties.

Lipton still owns plantations in East Africa (Kericho, Kenya and Mufindi, Tanzania). In May 2007, Unilever became the first company to commit to sourcing all its tea in a sustainable manner. Working with the Rainforest Alliance, an international environmental NGO, Lipton and its parent company, Unilever, announced all Lipton Yellow Label tea bags sold in Western Europe would be certified by 2010 and all Lipton tea bags sold globally by 2015. Lipton's own tea estates were among the first to be certified. Product bearing the Rainforest Alliance seal appeared on Western European markets in 2008 and started appearing in North America in 2009.

On 6 May 2009, Lipton received a Corporate Green Globe Award for its work with the Rainforest Alliance.

Lipton's main pillar brands are Lipton Yellow Label and Lipton Iced Tea. Other product lines include the Lipton pyramid (tetrahedron) range in Europe and North America, and Lipton Milk Tea in East Asia. In 2008, the brand launched Lipton Linea in Western Europe.

Lipton Yellow Label has been sold since 1890, when Thomas Lipton introduced the first version of the Yellow pack with a red Lipton shield, still in use. It is sold in 150 countries worldwide. Lipton Yellow Label is a blend of several types of tea, sold both in tea bags and as loose tea, rolled into small balls like gunpowder green tea.

Lipton Iced Tea or Lipton Ice Tea is sold in five flavours, lemon, peach, peach & nectarine, mango and raspberry. Green Tea and Rooibos flavours are also available in some regions.

Two other flavours are sold exclusively in the Arab world: red fruits and exotic fruits.

Brisk, formerly Lipton Brisk, is an iced tea brand distributed primarily in North America as a joint venture between Lipton and PepsiCo. It differs from Lipton's other iced tea brands in that phosphoric acid is added to the blend, giving the beverage a distinctive sharp flavour.

Lipton Pyramid Tea. Lipton also produces tea using the tetrahedral bag format as seen in other tea brands. Lipton Clear was launched in five variants, Earl Grey Tea, English Breakfast Tea, Peach Mango Tea, Green Tea Mandarin Orange, Mint and Camomile Tea.

Pure Leaf is an iced tea brand distributed primarily in North America by the PepsiCo-Lipton joint venture. Unlike Lipton Iced Tea and Brisk, which use a freeze-dried instant tea powder, Pure Leaf is brewed in liquid. The brand is sold in square bottles made of recyclable PET plastic.

Available in over 110 countries, Lipton is particularly popular in Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East, parts of Asia and Australasia (Australia and New Zealand) as well as Latin America, and the Caribbean. Despite its British origins, Lipton black tea (such as Yellow Label) is not marketed in the UK, as owner Unilever sells PG Tips tea there. Lipton Ice Tea and fruit teas are available in the UK.

Okay, that’s all for now about this wonderfully delightful product. You have something to say about Lipton, perhaps, your experience with the product? Drop your comments here.

All information provided as culled from Wikipedia.