BrewGroup was a New Zealand

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

and

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

company, which started as Bell Tea in 1898. Bell Tea is the country's oldest tea manufacturer. , over 3 million Bell Tea bags were made each day in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. Its tea brands gave BrewGroup a 40% tea market share . It was acquired by Jacobs Douwe Egberts in 2017.

History

The Bell Tea Company was founded in 1898 by Norman Harper Bell after moving from

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

. Bell partnered with R. Wilson and Co. in 1898 and trademarked Bell Tea, which lasted until 1905 when he ended the partnership, bought the Bell Tea and other trademarks, and found two new partners. The company then became the Bell Tea and Coffee Co. In 1962, Bell Tea was acquired by the supermarket operator Foodstuffs. Due to competition with

Progressive Enterprises Woolworths New Zealand Limited (formerly Progressive Enterprises) is the second largest grocery company in New Zealand (behind Foodstuffs (company), Foodstuffs), with revenue of NZ$6.2 billion for the year to June 2018. Alongside Foodstuffs, Wo ...

, Foodstuffs' main competitor, Bell Tea had difficulty getting into Progressive's supermarkets, which limited the growth of Bell Tea. Bell Tea was sold in September 2013 to Wellington-based Pencarrow Private Equity. In 2006, Bell Tea bought Burton Hollis Coffee, and the company was renamed to the Bell Tea and Coffee Company. The

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. New Zealand Daylight Time, local time (23:51 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the Canterbury Region ...

severely damaged Bell Tea's Christchurch building and it had to be demolished. In 2014, Bell Tea sold its Dunedin factory, which had been used since 1924. This was because the company could not afford the costs for improving earthquake strength and fire safety, as the building had only 34% of the minimum earthquake strength. The costs were over $1 million. During that year the company also divested three of its properties in

East Tāmaki East Tāmaki is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is a largely industrial area adjacent to a rapidly growing population. Prior to the 1960s it was largely a dairy farming area. A landmark is Smales Mountain which in 2010 has the remains of ...

, two of which were adjoined as a factory. In June 2016, Bell Tea & Coffee Company was renamed to BrewGroup after coffee sales exceeded tea sales. BrewGroup was bought in 2017 by Dutch company Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) for over $100 million.

Brands

* Amber Tips (bought 1963) * Burton's * Edgelets * Gravity Coffee * Hummingbird Coffee (bought 2016) * Jed's Coffee * Jura and La Cimbali * Native Infusions * NZ Live * Tiger Tea (bought 1969) * Twinnings

References

{{Reflist Tea companies Coffee companies Beverage companies of New Zealand 1898 in New Zealand Food and drink companies established in 1898 Buildings and structures demolished as a result of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake