Dear Friends,
After 35 years of serving the American tea community, nearly 10 years after Devan’s unexpected passing, I must inform you that International Tea Importers is ceasing operations. This decision follows the exhaustion of every option to navigate the challenges that have made it impossible for small tea importers to survive in today’s market.
The global tea industry faces an unprecedented convergence of crises that have fundamentally altered our ability to serve you effectively. Climate change has triggered a 50% global increase in tea prices in 2024, with India’s production falling by over 100 million kilograms. Increased climate instability has caused year-round disruptions affecting both quality and availability.
The aftermath of the COVID pandemic has also significantly disrupted our business. Between 2020 and 2022, container shipping prices nearly tripled. Several ITI customers had to shut their doors, temporarily at first, but more and more became permanent closures. If I’m honest, we were lucky to survive the last 5 years; we shouldn’t have.
In addition to the global existential issues of the last few years, the current US administration’s unpredictable tariff policies have created the final, insurmountable barrier. If we continue, these tariffs will consume our entire cash flow. Given that our tea is necessarily imported from both China and India, and considering the tense relationship between the US and these countries, the future of tea in the US looks bleaker than ever.
When Devan started selling tea in the US in 1990 with just six chests stored in my grandfather’s garage, people told him, “Americans don’t drink tea.” His response was, “Then I’ll teach them!” which became not just ITI’s business model but our family mission.
He spent nearly the next 30 years supporting and, in many cases, establishing local tea communities across the nation. He was instrumental in establishing Indian chai as a coffee shop staple, introducing yellow tea to the US market, and helped create and support some of the nation’s largest tea festivals. His guidance helped create the culture of specialty tea in America.
When he passed suddenly in 2016, I was 23 years old, Bianca was 22, and we had to learn this business from composition notebooks he’d kept everything in and an email account with nearly a million emails going back to the 90s. I’d never read a financial statement, and Bianca was just starting to learn the business directly from Devan. Our family and industry friends stepped in and offered an incredible amount of support. We will always be grateful for that support.
Recommended Suppliers
ITI was a crucial part of many of your companies’ supply chains, and we expect many of you will face disruption. Here is a list of companies that you may reach out to for assistance. No company can replace all the teas we sold in the small quantities in which we sold them. But this list ranges from small brands to large importers, so hopefully you can find suitable replacements.
BizPack (Irvine, CA) – Importer and Co-Packer
Website: https://www.bizpackllc.com
Phone: 562-786-5159
Email: orders@bizpackllc.com
Chado Tea Room (Pasadena, CA) – Brand
Website: https://www.chadotea.com
Contact Person: Siobhan Nasby-Hovsepian
Email: wholesale@chadotea.com
Young Mountain Tea (Marquette, Michigan) – Brand
Website: youngmountaintea.com/
Contact Person: Raj Vable
Phone: 906-281-6970
Email: raj@youngmountaintea.com
QTrade Teas & Botanicals (Brookshire, TX) – Importer and Co-Packer
Website: https://www.qtradeteas.com – Watch: Our Journey and Capabilities
Phone: 949-766-0070
Email: sales@qtradeteas.com
Harney & Sons (Millerton, NY) – Brand and Wholesaler
Contact Person: Paul Harney
Email: paul@harneyteas.com
Eco-Prima Tea (Elmsford, NY) – Importer and Wholesaler
Website: https://ecoprimatea.com
Contact Person: Anupa Mueller
Phone: 914-930-8892
Email: anupa@ecoprimatea.com
Nepal Tea Collective DBA Build A Blend (Hoboken, NJ)
Website: www.nepalteacollective.com, www.buildablend.com
Contact Person: Pratik Rijal
Phone number: 201-885-9921
Email:: sales@buildablend.com | prijal@nepalteacollective.com
JusTea (Vancouver, Canada) – Brand
Website: https://www.justea.com
Contact Person: Paul Bain
Phone: 1-844-832-7827
Email: paul@justea.com
Sarjesa Tea (Calgary, Canada) – Manufacturer
Website: https://www.sarjesagroup.com
Contact Person: Alexandra Daignault
Phone: 403-827-2850
Email: sales@sarjesa.com
Many of you were patient with our growing pains as we learned the business from what was left to us. You trusted us during the transition, supported us through the chaos of COVID, and understood when supply chains disrupted your teas. That loyalty means a great deal to our family.
I cannot adequately express the level of gratitude I feel for all the people who have helped us over the last decade. While I’ve failed to maintain ITI as my father’s legacy, it lives on in the community he helped shape and the one you all help grow. The suppliers we recommend here understand the importance of what Devan believed in and his vision for the specialty tea industry here in the US.
With gratitude and respect,
Brendan Shah
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