Ahmad Tea is a British tea brand and family-owned company established in 1986 by Rahim Afshar and his brothers. Headquartered in Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire, England, the business has grown from a small family enterprise into an international brand available in more than 90 countries.[1] The company defines its corporate purpose as “Inspiring the Love of Tea.”[1]

Quick facts

The UK entity is registered as Ahmad Tea Limited, incorporated on 13 May 1986, with tea processing and wholesale listed among its registered activities.

Origins

The origins of Ahmad Tea trace back to Rahim Afshar, who entered the tea trade in 1979 by leveraging his family’s background in tea packing and blending. According to the company’s official history, Afshar was encouraged by his mentor, Professor A. H. Ganjavian, to establish his own premium tea business.[2]

In 1986, Rahim Afshar and his brothers formally founded Ahmad Tea. The company initially operated as an importation business from a small office above the family’s Kabir Tea Shop on London Road in Southampton, and was named in honour of their father.[3]

Early operations focused on high-quality loose-leaf tea and the luxury gifting market. In 1987, the first loose tea blend was launched through retailers in southern England and London.[4]

Early expansion

By 1989, rising sales enabled a move to larger premises in Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire, and the company secured a significant retail partnership with the Spanish department store chain El Corte Inglés.[5]

Throughout the 1990s, Ahmad Tea increasingly targeted international markets:

• 1992: Entered the former USSR market, beginning with Russia.
• 1996–1997: Established operations in Sri Lanka to support sourcing and quality control.
• 1998: Opened a manufacturing facility in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
• 1999: Expanded the product range to include green tea and iced tea.[6]

By the early 2000s, Ahmad Tea had developed a strong presence in Eastern Europe, Russia and the Middle East. According to its official history, it ranked among the top five tea brands in Eastern Europe and the Middle East by 2000.[7]

A defining feature of Ahmad Tea has been its international orientation rather than a purely domestic British focus.

In 2003, the company reported availability in 68 countries and claimed a majority share of Britain’s tea-gift market.[8]

In 2008, Ahmad Tea opened a facility in Nanchang, China, responding to growing demand for green tea. This site subsequently became a key centre for sourcing and packing green tea.[9]

In 2010, the current Hampshire headquarters opened, featuring a Tea Tasting Room central to global product development, blending and quality control.[10]

In 2012, a large production facility opened in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Described as the company’s flagship global production site, it produces bulk blended tea for other Ahmad Tea factories, with annual output exceeding 14 million kg of tea.[11]

Today, Ahmad Tea states that it serves consumers in more than 90 countries, with over 30 million cups consumed daily.[12]

The name Ahmad Tea honours the Afshar family’s father, Ahmad. This choice reinforces a distinct family-business identity rather than the image of an anonymous multinational corporation. The company emphasises that it remains family-owned and family-run, with successive generations actively involved.[13]

Family heritage is integral to the brand’s narrative, which can be summarised as:

Family heritage + tea expertise + consistent quality + international accessibility

The central philosophy of Ahmad Tea is quality consistency. Chairman Rahim Afshar is associated with the guiding principle:

“I will not sell anything that I would not drink at home.”

This principle informs the company’s approach to selecting tea, blending, tasting, packaging and product development.[14]

Rather than positioning itself solely as an inexpensive everyday tea provider, Ahmad Tea focuses on accessible premium tea: products with high-quality ingredients and sophisticated blends suitable for daily consumption.

Its stated purpose is:

“To Inspire the Love of Tea”

The company explains this as celebrating tea’s role in both ordinary moments and special occasions.[15]

Tea blending

Ahmad Tea is particularly associated with blended teas alongside single-origin varieties. Its black-tea portfolio includes classic blends such as English Breakfast, as well as origin-specific teas like Ceylon, Darjeeling and Assam.[16]

Blending enables the company to combine teas from different origins to achieve specific characteristics including aroma, colour, strength, flavour, mouthfeel and consistency. This consistency is a core attribute of the Ahmad Tea brand.

Professional tasting

Tea tasting is fundamental to the company’s quality-control system. Ahmad Tea states that its teas are sampled seven times from plucking to consumer delivery, under the supervision of dedicated tasting and blending teams.[17]

Its Sri Lankan operation plays a major role in selection, with the Colombo team tasting approximately 12,000 samples per week linked to the Colombo tea auction and supply operations.

Consequently, the business model extends beyond simple buying, packing and selling to encompass:

source → taste → evaluate → blend → taste again → manufacture → quality-control → package → distribute

This emphasis on sensory evaluation is a key part of the brand’s identity.

Tea is sourced from major growing regions worldwide. Depending on the product, Ahmad Tea works with tea from:

• India
• Sri Lanka
• China
• Kenya
• Other tea-growing regions

The black-tea portfolio specifically highlights Assam, Darjeeling and Ceylon among the origins used.

Where possible, the company selects the top two leaves and a bud and maintains long-term relationships with growing partners. This is particularly important as the final product is often a carefully constructed blend from multiple geographical origins.

Ahmad Tea has expanded significantly beyond traditional English black tea. Its current global portfolio encompasses several major categories.

Black teas

Black tea remains central to the brand. Examples include:

• English Breakfast
• English Tea No. 1
• Earl Grey
• Ceylon
• Darjeeling
• Assam
• Various flavoured black teas

These products form the foundation of Ahmad Tea’s traditional British-style positioning.

Green teas

The company offers green teas including:

• Green Tea
• Jasmine Green Tea
• Flavoured green teas

The green-tea range was significantly expanded from the late 1990s onwards.

Fruit teas

These combine black tea with fruit flavours or pieces. Flavour profiles include lemon, peach, berry, mango, lychee and other fruit combinations. Ahmad Tea describes these as suitable for both hot and cold preparation.

Fruit & herbal infusions

Aimed at consumers seeking caffeine-free alternatives, examples include:

• Camomile
• Peppermint Lemon
• Rooibos Cinnamon

These infusions are described as naturally caffeine- and sugar-free.

Cold-brew teas

The Cold Brew range is designed to be steeped directly in cold water rather than brewed hot and cooled. The company offers black-tea, green-tea and fruit-infusion cold brews.

Decaffeinated teas

The dedicated Decaf range includes classic black tea and flavoured dessert-style varieties such as vanilla, caramel and chocolate & hazelnut.

Tea gifts

Gift packaging has historically been important to the business. The company originally targeted the luxury tea-gifting market, and gift presentation remains part of its portfolio.

Ahmad Tea’s visual identity is strongly associated with a traditional British tea aesthetic. Packaging typically combines ornate decorative elements, dark blue and rich colours, gold accents, classical typography, illustrations and tea-culture imagery.

This positions the brand between traditional English tea culture and international premium FMCG branding. Crucially, the product is not presented merely as a commodity; packaging is intended to make the tea suitable for both everyday consumption and gifting, reflecting the company’s origins in the luxury gift market.

Although Ahmad Tea is fundamentally a British-origin brand, its manufacturing and supply network is international.

United Kingdom

The global headquarters in Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire houses the central tea department and tasting operation.

United Arab Emirates

The Ras Al Khaimah facility is the flagship global production site, blending bulk tea for distribution to other factories.

China

The Nanchang facility specialises in sourcing and packing green tea, producing more than 2.5 million kg annually.

Ukraine

A tea factory in Kharkiv, originally opened in 1999, packs tea for the Ukrainian market.

Sri Lanka

The Colombo operation supports sourcing, tasting and quality control, while overseeing tea packing in Sri Lanka.

This structure illustrates that Ahmad Tea is British in origin and identity, but global in sourcing and manufacturing.

Ahmad Tea has received recognition from the Great Taste Awards, organised by the Guild of Fine Food. The company began entering in 2015 and was named a Great Taste Producer in 2018. Multiple blends have subsequently received Great Taste recognition.

The brand has also increasingly emphasised sustainability and social impact. In 2024, Ahmad Tea received the King’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development. In 2026, it won the Grocer Gold Award for Social Impact Initiative of the Year.

Sustainability is a significant part of Ahmad Tea’s modern corporate identity, organised around three broad areas:

1. Tea gardens

The company aims to create a supply chain where growers and workers receive a greater share of the value generated by tea.

2. Sustainable tea production

Ahmad Tea works to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing through energy efficiency, solar power and carbon-reduction initiatives.

3. Community impact

The company collaborates with distribution partners and charitable organisations on community projects. Its 2025 sustainability reporting highlights work involving tea-growing communities and projects in health, education, water and sanitation.

Ahmad Tea thus presents itself not only as a tea producer but as a business seeking to create social and environmental impact throughout the tea supply chain.

Ahmad Tea occupies a distinctive position in the international tea industry. It is not primarily positioned as a mass-market value brand, an ultra-luxury boutique tea house, or a specialist single-estate producer.

Instead, its core proposition is:

Premium-quality, internationally accessible tea with a strong British heritage.

This gives it broad appeal. Consumers can purchase relatively inexpensive tea bags for daily drinking, while the same brand offers loose-leaf teas, specialty blends and elaborate gift sets. This combination of premium image and mass international distribution is one of the brand’s major strengths.

The brand balances being traditional without appearing old-fashioned. Core black teas communicate British heritage, while cold brews, fruit infusions, decaf and modern flavoured teas address younger and more contemporary consumption habits.

• 1979 — Rahim Afshar enters the tea trade.
• 1986 — Ahmad Tea founded by Rahim Afshar and his brothers.
• 1987 — First loose tea blend launched.
• 1989 — Company moves to Chandler’s Ford and begins major international retail expansion.
• 1992 — Expansion into former USSR markets.
• 1996–97 — Sri Lankan operations established.
• 1998–99 — Manufacturing expansion in Ukraine; green and iced teas introduced.
• 2000 — Becomes a leading tea brand in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
• 2003 — Products available in 68 countries; strong position in UK tea-gift market.
• 2008 — China facility opened.
• 2010 — New Hampshire headquarters and tea-tasting facilities established.
• 2012 — Major Ras Al Khaimah production facility opened.
• 2015 — Ahmad Tea begins receiving Great Taste Awards.
• 2018 — Named a Great Taste Producer.
• 2024 — Receives King’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development.
• 2026 — Reports presence in more than 90 countries and wins Grocer Gold Award for Social Impact Initiative of the Year.

Ahmad Tea is most strongly associated with:

1. English-style black tea

Classic black-tea blends remain central to the brand.

2. Earl Grey and flavoured teas

The company has built a substantial portfolio around aromatic and flavoured blends.

3. Attractive tea packaging

Decorative presentation helped establish its reputation in tea gifting.

4. Consistent blending

Rather than relying solely on single estates or harvests, the company emphasises blending and professional tasting.

5. British heritage

Despite a global supply chain, identity is strongly connected with British tea culture.

6. International availability

The company has grown from a Hampshire family business into a brand sold across more than 90 countries.

Understanding Ahmad Tea benefits from comparison with the traditional British tea market.

Traditional British mass-market tea tends to emphasise everyday drinking, affordability, familiar blends and supermarket distribution.

Ahmad Tea tends to emphasise quality, blending expertise, presentation, British heritage and international premium positioning.

Consequently, Ahmad Tea competes for the everyday tea occasion while also occupying the premium gifting and specialty-tea space.

Several factors explain Ahmad Tea’s international growth:

• Family heritage: The business has a coherent founder story and remains family-owned.
• Quality consistency: Professional tea tasting and blending are central to operations.
• Strong packaging: The brand turns tea into a visually recognisable consumer product rather than treating it simply as a commodity.
• International strategy: Aggressive expansion outside Britain, particularly into Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asian markets.
• Broad product range: Serves traditional tea drinkers while offering green tea, fruit tea, herbal infusions, cold brew and decaffeinated products.
• Accessible premium positioning: Combines a premium image with products generally accessible to ordinary consumers.
• Sustainability: Environmental and social programmes have become an increasingly visible part of the company’s identity.

Ahmad Tea is a British family-owned tea company founded in Hampshire in 1986 by Rahim Afshar and his brothers. Named after their father, the company grew from a small family tea business into an international tea brand through a combination of global tea sourcing, professional tasting, blending expertise, distinctive packaging and strong British tea heritage. Its portfolio now encompasses black and green teas, fruit teas, herbal infusions, cold-brew products, decaffeinated teas and gift collections. With operations and facilities spanning the UK, UAE, China, Sri Lanka and Ukraine, Ahmad Tea describes its products as being enjoyed in more than 90 countries and more than 30 million cups per day. In addition to its traditional premium-tea positioning, the company has increasingly emphasized sustainability and social impact, including receiving the King’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development in 2024 and a 2026 Grocer Gold Award for Social Impact Initiative of the Year.

1. https://www.ahmadtea.com/our-brand-story/
2. https://ahmadteausa.com/pages/our-story
3. https://www.ahmadtea.com/our-facilities/
4. https://www.ahmadtea.com/our-story/
5. https://www.ahmadtea.com/tea_collections/black-teas/
6. https://www.ahmadtea.com/tea-journey/
7. https://www.ahmadtea.com/tea-collections/
8. https://www.ahmadtea.com/tea_collections/green-teas/
9. https://www.ahmadtea.com/tea_collections/fruit-black-tea/
10. https://www.ahmadtea.com/tea_collections/fruit-herbal-infusions/
11. https://www.ahmadtea.com/tea_collections/cold-brew-teas/
12. https://www.ahmadtea.com/tea_collections/decaf/
13. https://www.ahmadtea.com/awards/
14. https://www.ahmadtea.com/infused-with-impact/
15. https://www.ahmadtea.com/
16. https://www.ahmadtea.com/sustainability-report-2025/
17. https://www.ahmadtea.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Ahmad-Tea-Sustainability-Report-2025.pdf