| Type | Tea |
|---|---|
| Owner | Unilever |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Introduced | 1890 |
| Markets | Worldwide |
| Website | http://www.lipton.com |
Lipton is a brand of tea currently owned by Unilever.
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Lipton was created at the end of the 19th century by a grocer, Sir Thomas Lipton, in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1893, he established the Thomas J. Lipton Co., a tea packing company with its headquarters and factory in Hoboken, New Jersey. Lipton teas were an immediate success in the US. Thomas Lipton was knighted by Queen Victoria, who made him Sir Thomas Lipton in 1898 at the age of forty-eight.
In 1929, the Lipton grocery retail business was one of the companies that merged with [Home and Colonial Stores] to form a food group with over 3,050 stores. The group traded as Home and Colonial Stores until 1961 when it took the name of Allied Stores.[1]
Lipton's became a supermarket chain focused on small towns, before Allie's 1982 acquisition by Argyle Group: the supermarket business was re-branded as Presto during the 1980s.
Meanwhile, the Lipton tea business was acquired by consumer goods company Unilever in a number of separate transactions, starting with the purchase of the US and Canadian Lipton business in 1938 and completed in 1972 when Unilever bought the remainder of the global Lipton business.
In 1991, Unilever created a first joint venture with Pepsi Co, the Pepsi Lipton Partnership, for the marketing of ready to drink (bottled and canned) teas in North America. This was followed in 2003 by a second joint venture, Pepsi-Lipton International (LIP), covering many non-US markets. PSI was expanded in September 2007 to include a number of large European markets. Pepsi Co and Unilever each control 50% of the shares of these joint ventures.[2]
Due to the 2008 Chinese milk scandal, food giant Unilever started recalling its Lipton milk tea powder in Hong Kong and Macau on 30 September 2008. The tea powder, which used Chinese milk powder as its raw ingredient, was recalled after the company's internal checks found traces of melamine in the powder.[3][4]
Products target the mass market and are generally positioned in the middle of the price spectrum for tea. .
Like most branded teas, Lipton teas are a blend selected from many different plantations around the world, from well-known producing countries like India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and China. Lipton Yellow Label is blended from as many as 20 different teas.[5]
Apart from black leaf teas (with the long-standing Lipton Yellow Label brand), the company also markets a large range of other varieties, both in leaf tea as well as ready-to-drink format.[6] These include green teas, black flavoured teas, (herbal) infusions, Lipton Linea (a 'slimming tea') in Europe and Lipton Milk Tea in various Asian markets. Apart from Lipton Ice Tea, none of their products are available for retail in the UK as only caterers are supplied.
In a number of markets, including Japan, Russia and Australia, the company is advertising the benefits of theanine, which supposedly have psychoactive properties.[7]
Lipton still owns plantations in East Africa ( Kenya (Kericho) and Tanzania (Mufindi) ) In May 2007, Unilever became the first company to commit to sourcing all its tea in a sustainable manner.[8] 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.[9] Lipton's own tea estates were among the first to be certified.[10][11] Product bearing the Rainforest Alliance seal appeared on Western European markets in 2008 and started appearing in North America in 2009.[12][13]
On 6 May 2009, Lipton received a Corporate Green Globe Award for its work with the Rainforest Alliance.[14]
Lipton's main pillar brands are Lipton Yellow Label and Lipton Iced Tea. Other product lines exist as well, like the Lipton pyramid 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 Sir Thomas Lipton created the first version of the Yellow pack with a red Lipton shield, which to this day typifies the Lipton Yellow Label brand. It is sold in 150 countries worldwide.[15] Lipton Yellow Label is a blend of several types of tea.
Lipton Yellow Label blend is available both in tea bags, the preferred format in Western Europe, North America and Australia, as well as loose packaged tea, the preferred format in much of the Middle East and throughout Asia.
Lipton Iced Tea, in many markets known as Lipton Ice Tea, is an iced tea brand sold by Lipton.
Lipton also produces tea using the pyramid bag format as seen in other tea brands.
Lipton Clear was also launched in 4 variants –Green Tea Jasmine, Green Tea Mint, Green Tea Citrus and Green Tea Pure.
Available in over 110 countries, Lipton is particularly popular in Europe, North America and the Middle East, parts of Asia and Australasia (Australia and New Zealand). Despite its British origins, Lipton black tea (such as Yellow Label) is not marketed in the UK and is not found in mainstream British stores. However, Lipton Ice Tea and fruit teas are available in the UK.
To try to change the negative perception of Lipton Ice Tea (as 60% claiming they do not like the taste before even trying it), Lipton underwent a London based summer experiential marketing campaign under the slogan ‘Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it!’. Roaming demonstrators handed out 498,968 samples over the 58 day run. Post campaign, 87% of consumers claimed to enjoy Lipton Ice Tea whilst 73% said they were more likely to purchase in the future.[16]
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