Brooke Bond

History

Brooke Bond & Company was founded by Arthur Brooke who was born at 6 George Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England in 1845. He opened his first tea shop in 1869 at 23 Market Street, Manchester. Arthur Brooke chose the name because it was his 'bond' to customers to provide a quality tea, hence Brooke Bond. The firm expanded into wholesale tea sales in the 1870s.

In 1903, Brooke Bond launched Red Label in India.

The company opened a packing factory in Goulston Street, Stepney, London in 1911.

Brooke Bond's most famous brand is PG Tips, launched in 1930. By 1957, Brooke Bond was probably the largest tea company in the world, with one third share of both the British and Indian tea markets.

The company merged with Liebig in 1968, becoming Brooke Bond Liebig, which was acquired by Unilever in 1984. The Brooke Bond name has since been significantly decreased by Unilever, however it is possible to still buy boxes of 'Brooke Bond Tea Co' tea in the UK, but not in supermarkets. Gold Crown Foods Ltd was licensed by Unilever to use the Brooke Bond name for the Brooke Bond 'D' and Brooke Bond Choicest brands. Today, the licence for D Tea is held by Typhoo, who sell it through their website - it has identical packaging to before minus the words 'Brooke Bond'. It is also regularly sold across Britain in Poundland stores. The Brooke Bond brand is still used in other countries, especially in India. In Pakistan, Brooke Bond Supreme is the number-one-selling tea brand. Unilever markets it as being stronger than its Lipton Yellow Label blend.

In North America Brooke Bond's primary product was Red Rose Tea. Red Rose is still sold by Unilever in Canada, but in the United States is now marketed by Redco Foods.

The Brooke Bond factory is at Trafford Park near Manchester.

Cultivation and Harvesting

The selection of tea leaves, blending and processing are based on painstaking craftsmanship, honed over thousands of trials and years of experience.The tea leaves that are used to make Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea are grown only in a few estates of Upper Assam,Darjeeling and Tripura. It grows on the northern banks of the great Brahmaputra, which floods its banks every monsoon, creating a rich, humid soil. There is plentiful rain in the monsoon and humidity lasts through the year. The soil and weather together give Assam Tea its 'terroir' - a dark red brew, a strong malty flavor and deep body. Brooke Bond Red Label, the Indian blend is made in tea manufacturing units of Assam, Coochbehar, Darjeeling and some parts of Meghalaya. The manufacturing process of tea includes the stages of withering (leaving tea leaves to dry), rolling/cutting (through which complex series of chemical changes known as oxidation are initiated, drying and then grading into sizes. Brooke Bond Taaza is made of High Quality fresh Green Tea Leaves, packed with the Natural Goodness of Theanine. Theanine which is naturally present in tea leaves, is known to be refreshing and clear the mind.

Brooke Bond Supreme is imported to Pakistan with the best chosen leaves from tea gardens of Kenya providing the perfect tea.

Cards

From 1954 until 1999, packets of Brooke Bond tea included illustrated cards, usually 50 in a series, which were collected by many children. One of the most famous illustrators of the cards was Charles Tunnicliffe, the internationally acclaimed bird painter. Most of the initial series were wildlife-based, including 'British Wild Animals', 'British Wild Flowers', 'African Wild Life', 'Asian Wild Life', and 'Tropical Birds'. From the late 1960s, they included historical subjects, such as 'British Costume', 'History of the Motor Car', and 'Famous Britons'. The last series in the 90s concentrated on the Chimps of the TV adverts. Complete sets and albums in good condition are highly sought-after collectors' items. The inclusion of these cards in packets of tea ceased in 1999. There were a total of about 85 separate titles issued around the world: 59 series issued in the UK (1954-1999), 17 series in Canada (1959-1974; 7 of these were also issued in the USA, 1960–66), 6 series in what was Rhodesia (1962–66), and 3 series in South Africa (1965–67). Many of them have since been reprinted.

Complete List of UK sets

set no / Title / year of issue / number of cards in set