Trade and Catering

Canton Tea Co is an independent London-based company, supplying fine Chinese tea to some of the UK’s top restaurants, hotels, deli’s and tea houses – and our foray into Italy is Babington's Tea House at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome.

We Offer

• Exceptional teas: sourced direct from the artisan producer.
• Tea to serve and sell: we supply in 250g packs for food service and in 50g cartons for retail.
• Teaware: suited to your environment - from robust café teapots to glass tea infusers for restaurants. Not all are on our website, please ask.
• Support: in the form of staff training, tasting notes and help creating menus.
• Service: personal, professional and knowledgeable.

If you’d like to know more about serving or selling our whole leaf Chinese tea do call us on 0845 519 5575 or complete the form on our contact page.

The Difference

Canton Tea Co’s unique advantage lies with our buying partners who live and work in Guangzhou. He is French, she is Chinese and together they have unrivalled access to some of the best teas available in the world today.

Very rare Chinese teas are highly sought after in China and extremely expensive, costing thousands of dollars per kilo. Some of the more unusual teas we buy cost hundreds of dollars a kilo - but they're worth it and we only buy small quantities. Most of the teas we buy are extremely high end examples of hand produced artisan teas. They are well known varieties with familiar names - however there is a huge difference between the look and taste of say our high grade Long Jing and the look and taste of a low grade, mass produced Long Jing. What is also of interest to you is that the price may not be that different.

Our Buyers

We buy direct from source. We never use wholesalers, nor do we rely on buying trips to find the teas ourselves. It is almost impossible for an outsider from an alien culture to find consistently high grade teas at reasonable prices each season. You need to be on the spot. Crucially you need to know the language, the terroir, the weather and the trade. And that's exactly what we have with our two dedicated full-time buyers. Our guys in Guangzhou know the inside track and have respect for the small producers, they are still (after many years) mentored by a 5th generation Tea Master - and they have many friends and associates inside the tea trade. With so few people in the Canton Tea Co chain, you get unusually good tea, you know its provenance and you get a good deal because you’re not paying for the middlemen and their mark-ups.

The Farmers

The teas we buy are from reputable artisan farmers who do not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides on their teas bushes. A good tea is always snapped up by the domestic market, so we have to put in our allocation almost as soon as the tea is picked. The farmers we buy from are running small family-owned artisan, tea gardens. Most are certified organic in China (soon to be recognized in the UK) but it is expensive to be registered organic in Europe and they have no need for it. Their output is very small – and it all sells out very quickly.

In Summary

Canton Tea Co teas taste delicious – as proven by achieving gold awards for six teas we entered in the Great Taste Awards (inc a 3 star Gold for the Jasmine Pearls). They are an affordable gourmet treat.

We know the provenance of our teas. They come direct from small, traditional reputable tea gardens in China and Taiwan.

Some are certified organic. All are grown in the traditional way, according to the rhythm of the seasons, without the use of artificial fertilizers or chemicals.

We buy our tea fresh each season.

We have a core range of six teas – one each of Jasmine, White, Green, Oolong, Red/Black and Puerh. Each one has a distinctive look and taste and is clearly named to identify the type and provenance

They are said to have powerful health-giving properties. At the very least they are full of antioxidants and have no calories. Solid scientific evidence is emerging in the West to support what the Chinese have believed for thousands of years.

Tea in the UK is where wine was 25 years ago. The speciality tea market is expanding rapidly as people become aware of the rich culture around tea-drinking and the pleasure that can be derived from drinking different teas at different times of the day – and sharing their enthusiasm with friends.

Because we have experienced buying partners in Guangzhou, we can get the best teas at the fair market price from source. We never buy from wholesalers, nor do we rely on a couple of buying trips a year.

Canton Tea Co packaging is distinctive, attractive but not extravagant.

What sets Canton Tea Co apart from the competition is our buying agility with access to some of the best teas available – anywhere - and the quality and taste of our product.

If you’d like to know more about serving or selling our whole leaf Chinese tea do call us on 0845 519 5575 or complete the form on our contact page.