Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying Tea

Whether starting a new business, looking for a new supplier, or launching a new product, tea buyers will often face a learning curve as they navigate the process of obtaining teas and botanicals. The process involves not only understanding aspects of the product itself, but also the activities involved in the tea transaction. After speaking with tea sellers about their take on the experience, they outlined five common areas where misunderstandings can arise.

Here are the top five mistakes to avoid when purchasing tea from a wholesaler or seller.

1. Not being helpful in focusing on the specific tea (and quantity) needed.

“One of the first steps in helping new customers is to narrow down the details of the tea they are looking for,” said one seller. “I get calls and emails from people asking, ‘Do you sell black tea?’ When I show them that we stock dozens of black teas based on their origin, leaf quality, and certification (e.g., conventional or organic), some customers are a little overwhelmed at first.

You can start by saying you’re looking for black tea, but that’s just the start of the conversation. From there, the discussion can turn to a few questions to find the best options for you.

• Are you looking for a particular origin or aromatic profile? India produces black teas in the Assam and Darjeeling regions, but their flavor and characteristics are very different. China produces dozens of different green teas with distinct profiles. When you’re unsure of an origin preference, it’s helpful to describe the taste profile you’re looking for, whether it’s malty, chocolatey, floral, sharp, or something else.
• Do you need a particular quality of sheet? The same tea leaf from the same location and taste profile can be sorted into different qualities. These often range from whole leaf to fanning. To make things even more confusing, different tea-producing countries may have different protocols for defining their leaf grades. India, for example, uses a notation system of abbreviations (e.g. OP, TGFOP, etc.), while China often uses a numerical system (e.g. Keemun 1243, 1254, 1265, 1276, etc.) . When you are unsure of the quality of leaves you might need, your tea seller may ask:
  • Will this tea be packaged in a tea bag?
  • Will this tea be combined with other ingredients or flavorings?

2. Not being clear on the product format or capacities needed for an order.

Another tea wholesaler we spoke with explained that customers may not be as familiar with the processes and operations of wholesale tea products. “We see this most often when a new customer assumes that all tea sellers produce the same teas in the same way,” she said.

There is no universally standardized recipe for teas like Earl Gray or masala chai, so tea sellers’ teas may vary depending on the origin/profile of the tea used. Flavors (like bergamot for Earl Grey) differ depending on the flavor house producing the flavor.

Additionally, tea vendors often produce blended and/or flavored teas on demand. As separate ingredients, black tea, cinnamon and ginger can be sold separately or used to produce a range of tea blends. Once combined into a masala chai mixture, these base ingredients are kept until the chai is sold. Blending teas to order can take more time than pulling out a store-bought pre-made blend, but it has its advantages. Freshly made mixes generally give a brighter flavor and longer shelf life.

Another important point: take into account the operational capabilities of your tea seller. Are you looking for teas packaged in boxes or bags? Do you need pyramid tea bags or foodservice packaging? Tea sellers may not have all the equipment needed to package all of these formats, but they may have partners who do. At the very least, your tea supplier can give you information on the minimum order quantity (MOQ), lead time, and shipping location for the teas you want to order.

3. Not having an appreciation of logistics.

By the time tea arrives at a doorstep in North America, these leaves are veritable travelers around the world. Since most teas are produced overseas, in countries like China, India, Sri Lanka and Kenya, the tea traveled across oceans aboard a container ship, unloaded at a port of entry, then transported by truck to a warehouse.

To achieve this, they can be packaged in foil-lined paper bags weighing more than 100 pounds, or in sealed bags inside cardboard boxes weighing between 15 and 45 pounds. Getting from the warehouse to the designated location often requires ground shipping or LTL (less than truckload) service.

Cases weighing less than 50 lbs can generally be shipped by major carriers, such as UPS or FedEx Ground. Paper bags weighing close to 100 lbs often must be shipped on a pallet via LTL.

FedEx and UPS offer convenient delivery to most commercial locations. LTL, however, may require a loading dock or tailgate, which may incur additional costs, as well as a pallet jack or forklift for unloading. Carriers like UPS and FedEx are known for faster deliveries on scheduled routes. LTL trucks may take longer due to different stops and loading/unloading times for pallets delivered to separate destinations.

It is often advisable to insure your order for damage caused in transit, which can add an additional cost, sometimes unexpected.

Regardless of how your order is shipped, logistics always involve human interactions that add to the time required. Confirmation/communication related to order approval and details, physical removal of items from warehouse inventory, securing shipments for transportation, and driver schedules all add to the time required to deliver an order door to door.

4. Not aware of the importance of documentation and records.

With the increasing number of regulatory standards in place for food safety, even a basic understanding of certifications and documentation can make purchasing tea easier. Part of the standard documentation for tea products includes COAs (Certificate of Analysis) and product data sheets. These documents (particularly the COA) record test results for important food safety items, such as the presence of mold and heavy metals in a tea. Product data sheets provide a description of the sensory characteristics of a tea, including color and taste.

Beyond that, wholesale customers may need organic certification documents to verify the chain of custody. Simply purchasing an organic product does not make your business compliant with organic standards. Various documents may also be required for Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) non-GMO, kosher and other sustainability and traceability standards.

5. A lack of appreciation of seasonal and environmental conditions that affect agricultural production.

As anyone who has regularly tended a garden can attest, this year’s vegetables aren’t always the same as last year’s. Precipitation levels and temperature variations cause early/late frosts, droughts, the arrival of pests and other factors that affect the volume and quality of vegetables produced.

To some extent, tea producers can compensate for minor variations by combining lots of healthier leaves with lots of teas that need a boost. These micro batches are mixed to create a larger, more consistent and commercially viable batch. At other times, large-scale seasonal impacts can reduce overall yields and season quality. An example of this type of event occurred in India, when a combination of drought and flooding contributed to Assam stopping tea production a month earlier than the usual season.

Certain teas and herbs are also known to have a narrower window in terms of production season. In this scenario, buyers often must guarantee the entire quantity needed until the following year’s harvest. If their projections are wrong or demand increases, they run out of inventory and there is nothing left to get until next year’s harvest. It’s helpful to work with your supplier to better understand purchasing habits and inventory levels so you can both prepare for eventualities.

Your tea supplier and everyone in the tea industry strives to support new and growing tea businesses, so they are ready to help you find the teas you need and make them available to you . By educating yourself and your sales team on aspects related to the characteristics, format, logistics, documentation and seasonality of tea products, you will help make your tea purchasing process more fluid and more regular.

Jason Walker is Marketing Director for Firsd Tea North America. Prior to working at Firsd Tea, Jason held a variety of marketing and operations roles.

His 15 years of tea and beverage experience includes marketing consulting services for tea brands, publishing a leading online destination for tea consumer education, and operating of a coffee company. Jason was a keynote speaker at the 3rd China International Tea Expo, a regular speaker at the World Tea Expo, and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

Jason’s work with Firsd Tea involves sustainability and traceability projects, including the Sustainability Outlook Report. The report is based on a global survey that collects the views of coffee and tea professionals. Jason regularly shares his sustainability findings in the press and at industry events.

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