Quality & Consistency

Quality and consistency are central to Nambarrie Tea Company's success

Our specialist buyers select only the best quality teas each season, expertly chosen both for their flavour and appearance. Nambarrie Tea Company imports from the Assam region of North East India, the world's premium tea growing region and the best tea gardens of Africa. The teas are quality assured by tasting in the field and on receipt in Belfast, by trained tea tasters.

Tea tasting is a skilful process only undertaken with a great deal of experience. The special technique involves drawing liquor into the mouth with a practised sharp intake of breath. This sprays the palate with tea and air, releasing in an instant the flavour characteristics of the tea. The tea is then blended to a secret formula passed down through the generations where quality in terms of consistency, colour and flavour is never compromised.

The tasting and blending required to maintain a top quality tea has been compared to that of the blending of non-vintage champagne. Both blenders have to work with plants whose crops are affected from year to year by the season's weather conditions to create a blend which tastes and looks the same to its customers.

Teas are tasted, blended and packed at the company's production facility in Belfast City Centre. The four storey building has been continually modernised and updated to incorporate technological innovations and legislative demands. Teabags are filled into sealed cartons at high speed. Current capacity allows production of 11,000 bags per minute. In January 1998 Nambarrie Tea Company became one of the first companies in Northern Ireland to receive joint certification for ISO 9002 and ISO 14001.

These awards for Quality and Environmental Management Systems respectively were achieved through the implementation of a totally integrated management system which also incorporated Health and Safety Management.