Premium Quality Tea
The quality of the leaf is central to our mission to source, blend, preserve and serve the world’s finest teas.
SOURCE
We only use hand-picked leaves. Mostly by the fine-picked method which selects just the bud and the top two leaves. Less precise machine picking methods are never used. We begin by selecting solely hand-harvested leaves from prime seasons – or flushes – for all our traditional teas. Our tea tasters evaluate thousands of cups from a selection of different gardens, choosing only the season’s best harvests. Not tied to single gardens where quality can vary from season to season, we buy both directly from producers and at auctions to ensure we can sample all the season’s teas and buy only the most memorable.
BLEND
Our dedicated team of expert tasters then blend these exceptional leaves to achieve a cup with a truly unforgettable character. Our tasters are trained personally by Newby’s Chairman Nirmal Sethia, whose knowledge of tea has developed over decades of experience in the tea industry.
PRESERVE
Creating the perfect blend is meaningless if it is not protected. Tea leaves are fragile and easily contaminated by heat, light, humidity and air pollution. We assure the integrity of our leaves at our one-of-a-kind preservation and packing centre in India. Located close to the world’s finest tea-growing regions, the centre receives teas from as far east as Japan and as far west as Africa, as well as tisanes from Europe. The location ensures we receive our teas within two weeks of selecting them, minimising their exposure to corrupting influences. With mechanisms to control temperature and humidity levels, the centre guarantees that each bespoke blend is painstakingly protected from environmental contaminants. The only one of its kind in the world for tea, the centre receives the highest accreditation in safety and quality by BRC Global Standards and HACCP year after year.
SERVE
Our teas are sealed in foil to further protect the tea from heat, light, humidity and air pollution. They possess the same quality and character when you drink them as when they left the tea garden.