Before Thomas Lipton, tea was a beverage only for the rich.

Sir Thomas was a Scottish-born entrepreneur who, in 1880, decided he wanted to make tea accessible to all – not just the wealthy – at acceptable prices with guaranteed quality. So he acquired tea estates in Ceylon (today Sri Lanka) and organized packaging and transportation at low cost. As Mr. Lipton himself said, he wanted to sell his teas "direct from the tea garden to the tea pot." In 1893, he established the Thomas J. Lipton Co., a tea-packing company.

Thomas Lipton was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1898, a well-deserved achievement. Thanks to Sir Thomas Lipton, Lipton® is the world's leading tea brand and is available in more than 80 countries! Tea is the second most commonly consumed beverage in the world, after water, and Canadians drink about seven billion cups of tea each year.

Lipton® Tea employs tea-tasters – all of them masters in the harvesting, production, purchase, and blending of more than 3,000 types of tea. The tea is sourced from as many as 35 countries to ensure tea-leaf integrity, quality and freshness. Lipton® Tea is owned by Unilever, one the world's largest consumer products companies.