On June 23, 1896, LONDON TEA COMPANY LTD was founded in London by 2 Swiss and 5 Englishmen. The head office was located at 9 + 10 Great Tower Street in London, the successful business performance soon enabled the opening of branches in BASEL, MUNICH and ST. LOUIS in Alsace
On August 6, 1896, the registered office of LONDON TEA was entered in the Commercial Register of Basel-Stadt. As a result of the 1st World War, the Basel branch became an independent company on September 16, 1915, with headquarters at Petersgraben 20. A short time later, the company moved to the corner property Petersgraben 67/Rosshofgasse 8. It was the former administrator's and servant's house of the "ROSSHOF", which now served the LONDON TEA COMPANY LTD as a store, office, packing and storage room. At that time the tea assortment consisted of 12 blends, teas from China, Ceylon and India. Even then, the principle was to import only the best quality tea directly from the plantation. Martha and Hans Iten - direct ancestors of today's owners - contributed with prudence and skill to the prosperity of the house. It is hard to believe in today's technological world how simple and modest the work was back then. The teas were mixed by hand and some of the packages were even made by hand, using home-made paste made from fish meal. After the 2nd World War, when the boom slowly began, many changes took place. With some skepticism, the first tea bags or tea capsules were produced. At first, this was done by hand and with the help of self-made filling and sealing machines. Only after a few years, when it became clear that the tea bag was an indispensable part of modern times, did the company switch to fully automatic machines.
A major fire in 1955 at the Nadelberg, which also affected parts of the Rosshof, led to the demolition of the entire Rosshof, with the exception of the manor house. The LONDON TEA store was moved to Spalenberg and the administration, warehouse and shipping department moved into the new building on Reinacherstrasse in Münchenstein near Basel.
Today, the traditional house is managed by the Bisang family in the 3rd & 4th generation and has been striving for decades to offer tea connoisseurs the best quality tea in the freshest condition. London Tea is characterized in particular by its own tea manufacture, which is unique in Switzerland in this form. All blends are freshly mixed daily in Münchenstein near Basel and immediately filled into the special aroma protection packs. The tea testers of London Tea purchase the most exclusive garden teas worldwide and are engaged in the creation of new trend varieties. Thus, London Tea has a wide range of pure and strictly
controlled plantation teas and many wellness and lifestyle blends. The unique tea world is rounded off with many tea accessories and gift ideas.
