Our tea
Tea is our world - it's what we do. We source our teas from the finest tea growing regions around the globe, shipping them back to the port of Tyne, carefully packaged using our unique Leaf lock process to retain flavour.
Once the tea is here with us in the UK, we blend, taste and pack it ready for you to buy on your doorstep. We pack our tea bags using foil, so when you make a cup of Ringtons, it really is the true taste of tea. By preserving flavour and caring for the tea from field to cup, we offer you the ultimate tea experience.
We've been buying, blending and packing teas for over 100 years.
We select only the finest teas, from the best origins in the world.
Our teas have a naturally smoother, sweeter flavour. Why?
...because of the quality of the tea we use and the condition we keep it in.
People are at the heart of everything we do and so we believe that quality tea is better for you, it’s better for tea and it’s better for the farmers and producers who make it. We are and always will be committed to sourcing ethically whilst working with tea growing communities towards a fairer more sustainable future.
A little bit about our teas
Ringtons gold tea is legendary. It's bright, golden, smooth and naturally sweet. Our gold tea is blended using teas from Kenya. Kenya lies on the equator and overlies the Great Rift Valley, an area renowned for producing some of the best teas in the world due to the excellent growing environment.
Ringtons Breakfast tea is full of flavour, malty and strong. Breakfast is made with a blend of teas from Kenya and Assam. Assam is a state in north east India, which is south of the Himalayas, with Brahmaputra river diving the region. Rich soil and a seasonal climate give Assam teas a unique full-bodied flavour.
Ringtons traditional tea is an incredible everyday tea made with a blend Kenyan, Assam and Malawi teas. Malawi lies in the south east of Africa, where the tea's quality benefits from higher altitudes. Due to the weather, teas are only grown for around six months of the year. The red soils help give Malawi teas their vibrant colour.
Making the perfect cup of Ringtons tea
For the best tasting tea, always use water that is freshly drawn from the tap before boiling.
Recent research from the UK Tea and Infusions Association tells us just one small change when boiling your kettle can be good news not only for the environment, but also for our purses – and the added bonus is that you get a better cuppa too!
So, instead of filling your kettle to the top, use your clean mug to measure the water you need and boil this just once. Not only will you save cash and electricity by taking less time to boil, but your tea will taste better.
Tea leaves use the oxygen in water to ‘energise’ the leaf and extract all the character of the tea. If you fill the kettle and boil repeatedly, the water loses oxygen each time, making the tea taste duller.
The trick is to catch your kettle just before it boils to keep as much oxygen as possible in the water, then pour over your tea bag.
Wait, wait, wait
Tea is complex and needs time to release all of its delicious flavours, let it brew for 3-5 minutes.
Always add the milk once the tea has had time to infuse with the water and the bag has been removed.
Making a pot?
If you’ve made the tea in a pot then milk in the cup first or second that’s up to you!
Locking in flavour
Once a sachet has been opened, to keep it at it’s best, store in an airtight container. Keep in a cool, dry place away from light and heat.
Teas explained...
Guess what, green, black, white and oolong tea all comes from the same plant - the camellia sinensis. Once tea leaves have been picked, they're processed and it's the process they go through that determines what tea they become.
The process...
Plucked
The top two leaves and a bud are picked from the tea bush
Withered
Leaves are left to 'air' reducing their moisture content
Rolled
Leaves are rolled, twisted or crushed to shape and release flavour
Fermented
Leaves are laid out to oxidise before drying and shipping
Whatever the tea, it's plucked from the bush and then withered. What truly determines the density of the tea is what happens next. It's the rolling the fermentation process, in particular, that makes all the difference. Time matters. For example, black teas enjoy a long fermentation period to make the tea stronger in flavour and darker in colour. On the other hand, to make green tea, the leaves are heated to stop fermentation from happening to keep the tea leaves nice and light.
