On the 1st May 1959, Northern Tea Merchants, founded by David Pogson officially started trading. On the 1st May 2019 it will be our 60th anniversary. We’ve seen many changes in the last 60 years, the advent of teabags, the espresso revolution, the rising popularity of the supermarkets but one thing our family have always kept to the forefront of our minds is that we constantly strive to serve good quality, genuine, safe and ethically sound products.
David’s tenacity, foresight and shrewd business-acumen ensured that from 1959 the company has grown and grown. With 60 years of coffee roasting and tea blending under our belt, we have crunched the numbers and worked out that more than 21,000 tonnes of tea and coffee beans has been blended and roasted by us since 1959. Today we manufacture 100 million tea bags a year, roast 200 tonnes of coffee a year, pack over 120 tonnes of cocoa (which is sold nationally in Sainsburys and Waitrose) and approximately 50 tonnes of drinking chocolate per year.
We have become trusted suppliers to literally thousands of restaurants, hotels, cafes, nursing homes, from small owner-run establishments through to well-known national chains. We are members of the United Kingdom Tea & Infusion Association, assisting at board room level with their activities, we became licensed Fairtrade importers and packers in 1998 and have held the Soil Association Organic license for tea, coffee and cocoa since 1993.
Our Directors have spoken at International Conventions, judged national and international tea competitions, lectured to University students (Nottingham University, Loughborough University and Oxford University), given countless tea-tastings, trained journalists in the art of tea and advised on the composition and creation of the perfect Afternoon Tea with top Chefs from some of the best hotels in the country. Additionally, we have achieved Great Taste Award status on four of our products and have even purchased some of the worlds most expensive and exclusive products on behalf of Royalty.
Although the history of Northern Tea Merchants spans three generations of the Pogson family (from 1926), it is good to know that both David and James Pogson are both very active in the business and with their combined experience of over 90 years we are determined to continue sharing the best teas and coffees with our customers old and new. To celebrate our 60th anniversary we will be offering a brand new coffee in our shop which is a delightful honeyed Costa Rican Las Palomas, which has been chosen by both James and David to epitomise the quality the business has striven for over the last 60 years.
