When was Lipton tea invented?

The father of the eponymous Lipton company was born in 1850s Glasgow to an Irish family.

At home there were no great financial opportunities or prospects for the future, and Thomas, at age 15, tried his luck in the United States doing odd jobs until he became a foreman in a Manhattan department store. In 1871, Thomas was able to return to Scotland and buy a small grocery store with the savings he had accumulated in America. The little store immediately distinguished itself by its originality in presenting products. “I am convinced that a man is able to accomplish anything he desires if he has the will,” wrote Thomas Lipton in his memoirs. All of these characteristics rewarded hard work, and by 1890, Thomas owned 300 stores, some in which were also in London.

In those years the Scotsman James Taylor was doing good business in India and then Ceylon thanks to tea.  Thomas, intrigued, chartered a yacht and set off for Ceylon of all places, where he established his own plantation. Here he was able to mechanize the processing of the leaves and cut the selling price in half.

Thomas Lipton was the first to create tea packets in vacuum-sealed packages to ensure quality. The Scottish entrepreneur also distinguished himself for his creativity. For the opening of tea sales in his London stores, for example, he organized a parade in which some of his clerks dressed as Sinhalese. Later, however, he called in some chemists to study the waters of the various English cities to make blends better suited to individual characteristics.

For these great ideas and the resulting success, in 1902 Mister Lipton was made a baronet by King Edward VII.

Thomas Lipton died in 1931.

To a reporter who asked him what the secret of his fortune was, he replied, “It’s to have none. Also, never miss an opportunity for publicity.”

In my opinion, if Sir Lipton had been born a hundred years later, he would have been the first to create a blog devoted to tea 🙂