The next time you’re at a roadside diner, and ask for a cup of tea you will probably be handed a cup of hot water and a bag of tea. Undoubtedly this bagged tea will be Lipton’s. Lipton Tea is the company that prim and proper Scotsman Sir Thomas Lipton started over a hundred and fifty years ago. Sir Thomas Lipton created a marketing empire that in short time successfully linked his name to tea for generations to come. But how did it begin? Blame the coffee blight of the mid-1800′s, and good old fashion British colonialism.
The coffee blight of the 1800′s took place across Asia as entire coffee fields were wiped out. Sir Thomas Lipton bought bankrupt estates in Ceylon and cultivated tea. Because of his shrewed real estate bargaining he was able to undercut the compettition. His snazzy slogan “Direct from the Tea Gardens to the Teapot” proved you didn’t need an ad agency on Madison Avenue for compelling copy. Lipton was the first tea merchant to sell bagged tea, a move that The Tea Club for Men does not endorse. Lipton took the exotic angle in promoting his tea; drinking Lipton tea was like taking an adventure in Ceylon. The entire British Emprie, and soon America went along for the ride.
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Admirable stache.
I’m a muttonchop man myself.