India is the second largest producer of tea in the world but more than 80% of India’s tea is consumed domestically. Twinings sources its tea from different regions in India: Assam and Darjeeling in the North East and Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the South. The plantation model, with large number of workers living on the estate with their family is predominant, but there is a growing smallholder sector. On the plantation, workers and their families are provided with housing, education, subsidised food ration and healthcare, as per the Plantation Labour Act (PLA). All the sourced gardens in India are certified by third party certification standards.
Assam: Amgoorie1; Bargang1; Behali1; Borbam1 2; Borsapori1; Corramore1; Deamoolie1; Dejoo; Dekorai1; Dhoedaam1 2; Dimakusi1; Dirai1 2; Dirial1 2; Dirok1 2; Dufflaghur1; Harmutty; Hunwal2; Itakhuli1 2; Keyhang1 2; Koombergram; Langarghan1; Margherita1 2; Mijicajan1; Nonaipara1; Numalighur1; Orengajuli1; Rajahali1; Sewpur1; Thowra1 2
Darjeeling: Badamtam; Bannockburn; Barnesberg; Castleton; Chamong; Dhajea; Ging; Lingia; Margaret's Hope2; Marybong; Nagrifarm; Phoobsering; Pussimbing; Soom; Sree Dwarika; Thurbo; Tukdah; Tumsong;
South India: Burnside; Chamraj; Chanduverrai; Korakundah; Kotada; Lockhart; Panniar; Patumally; Wellbeck; Wentworth.
1Estates covered by the programme on improving the life of tea communities (nutrition, protection and empowerment with UNICEF)
2 Estates covered by Sanitation work
In Kenya, our tea comes from smallholders and private estates. Smallholders own both the small pieces of land where they grow tea as well as the factory where the leaf is collectively process. They are organised under the Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA), which markets the tea on behalf of farmers. Large private estates are operated by companies located around the Kericho region and providing housing to workers and their families. Tea is grown in Kenya all year round.
Bondet; Changoi1; Chemomi; Chomogonday; Gacharage1; Gitugi; Itumbe; Kagwe; Kaimosi1; Kaingaita; Kapchorua1; Kymulot; Makomboki; Michimikuru; Olenguruon; Savani1 ; Sitoi; Tinderet1.
1 Sites (plantations and/or smallholders) covered by Twinings women’s health and empowerment programme
Malawi is Africa’s second largest tea producer, after Kenya. Tea is grown in the Southern districts of Mulanje and Thyolo. Malawi’s cool winters and hot, wet summers, produce bright coloury teas. All estates have their own processing factories and also receive green tea leaf from smallholders. Twinings sources from a small number of estates in Malawi and is part of Malawi2020 coalition.
Bloomfield; Esperanza; Lauderdale; Limbuli; Mini-Mini; Sayama.
The tea growing areas are in the centre and south of the country and are categorised by the elevation at which tea is grown (high, medium or low grown) as each area has their own taste characteristics. Twinings sources its tea from both large plantations as well as private tea factories who process smallholder leaves, from different regions including speciality teas.
Albion; Agra Ouvah; Aislaby; Balmoral; Bearwell; Bogawantalawa1 ; Bridwell; Broadlands; Campion; Ceciliyan; Dambetenne1; Dessford; Diyagama West; Fetteresso2; Galpaditenne; Great Western; Hauteville; Hidellena; Hinduma; Holyrood; Idalgasshinna; Kelliebedde; Kiruwanaganga; Kotiyagala1 ; Laxapana; Logie; Lumbini; Moray; Nayabedde1; New Vithanakanda; Norwood1 ; Opatha; Pedro; Pothotuwa; Sithaka; Somerset; St. James; Strathspey; Uva Highlands1; Wattegodde;
1 Estates covered by Community Development Forum (CDF) project
2 Estate with existing CDFs
Some of our teas also come from Argentina. The highland region of the Misiones provinces in the northeast of Argentina has the largest concentration of tea estates. There the climate is hot and humid and the land relatively flat to allow for highly mechanized harvesting and production. Tea is harvested during Argentina's summer months of November to May.
Don Basilio; Don Eduardo; Las Treinta
Tea is grown all year round on the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia which benefits from rainforest, mountains and rich volcanic soil. Our teas are sourced from state-owned companies, private plantations and smallholders.
Dewata; Gunung Kencana; Kertamanah; Malabar; Megawati; N.Kanaan; Pasir Malang; Sedep; Sperata; Santosa.
China is the world’s largest tea producer and despite over three-quarters of this production remaining in China, it’s still the 2nd biggest exporter. The majority of tea in China is grown by smallholder farmers who cultivate their own tea bushes and sell the green or slightly processed leaves to surrounding factories. In some instances, smallholder farmers even cultivate rented land. Our teas comes from carefully selected farmers across many regions, including Yunnan, Hunan, Zhejiang, Anhui or Hubei, as they give unique tasting teas, black, green, white, jasmine or Oolong.
Hunan Tea Company2; Hunan Yiqingyuan Everspring; Green Fountain International1; Zhejiang Caiyunjian Tea Co; Zhejiang Tea Co; Shanghai DBM; BaoShan Changninghong.
1 Producers with smallholders covered by Save the Children project
2 Producers with smallholders covered by livelihoods project
Rooibos is only grown in the mountainous Cederberg region 250 km to the north of Cape Town, South Africa. Here, the clean air and pure mountain streams nourish the mountain slopes on which Rooibos is grown. Our Rooibos is purchased directly from one producer in South Africa which works with around 180 farmers in the area, who grow it with other crops including citruses and stone fruits.
Hibiscus farming is an important part of rural life in arid areas of Sudan. The plant is drought resistant, relatively easy to produce and generate much needed income for villages. Hibiscus is grown by farming families, near villages where farmers and their families live, but some are more remote and farmers may have to camp out at the site during the harvest season. The hibiscus is sold to local traders and then to a processing plant in Sudan.
The wide variety of climatic and soil conditions across Egypt render it an ideal country for herb cultivation, notably peppermint. Egypt is one of the oldest peppermint growing countries in the world; farmers have been growing peppermint in Egypt for thousands of years. Once the peppermint has been picked and dried, it is sieved, with larger pieces used for peppermint oil extraction, and smaller pieces for tea infusions.
Our peppermint comes partly from farmers in Poland. The herb is grown, harvested and then dried by the farmers directly before being transported to the blending and packing facility, where various lots are combined to achieve our pre-determined standards. Each farmer get approx. 400Kgs per field and are paid based on the quality of the product.
Our cinnamon is largely sourced from cooperative smallholder farmers in Indonesia. They grow their cinnamon in a unique area on the island of Sumatra, called Kerinci (Jambi province), which is ideal for growing cinnamon trees due it its high altitude. A tree needs to be at least 10 years old before its bark can be harvested. Bark from younger trees are used to produce cinnamon sticks, while older trees’ bark is converted into cinnamon powder.
These smallholder farmers directly supply the cooperative that we buy from, cutting out the middle men and meaning the farmers are able to achieve the best possible price for their crops. All of their farms are Rainforest Alliance certified.
Twinings sources various packaging materials from China, from cardboard tea boxes and metal tins, to teabag paper and string. Most of this packaging is supplied to our plant in China, but some is exported to our factories in the UK and Poland. Typically, our Chinese packaging manufacturing suppliers employ around 150 people, but some of our suppliers are large scale operations with up to 300 employees. As with all of our key suppliers, our packaging suppliers in China understand our high ethical standards, and demonstrate this by undergoing periodic independent ethical audits.
Many of the packaging components sourced by our Andover factory are bought from the UK. Some UK suppliers actually provide packaging for our tea factory in Poland. This includes the gold the foil you will find on our tea boxes, teabag paper, and the outer cardboard packaging we put tea boxes in to transport them to shops. These suppliers are based all around the UK, from Gloucestershire to Berwekshire, Scotland, and many have been supplying us for decades. They employ anywhere from 60 people up to 300.
Twinings sources various packaging materials from Poland, including cardboard tea boxes, envelopes for tea bags, and the little paper labels at the end of teabag strings. Typically, our Polish suppliers’ factories have between 100-200 workers, some of whom will have been working for our suppliers for decades. Many of our suppliers are located near our production site in Swarzedz, and will be longstanding Twinings partners, to ensure consistency and high quality.
Linden is wild harvested in forests in Bulgaria, the collection is regulated by the Forestry administration which issues special permissions. Our partner takes the collectors to the area and organises the transport of the products to the factory where it is dried.
