Salada tea is a Canadian brand of

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 southwestern China and north ...

currently sold in Canada by

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

and in the United States by Salada Foods, a division of Redco Foods, Inc.

History

The Salada tea business was founded in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

in 1892 by

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

-born businessman

Peter Charles Larkin Peter Charles Larkin, (May 14, 1855 – February 3, 1930) was a Canadian businessman, diplomat and political patron. Business career Larkin, a world traveller who specialized in finding foodstuffs for import, was best known for founding the ...

. His main innovation was to replace tea sold loose from

tea chest A tea chest is a type of wooden case originally produced and used to ship tea to the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. The conventional tea chest is a case with riveted metal edges, of approximate size . The term is now used more wid ...

s with a product packaged in

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ...

. This helped establish a uniform flavor for Salada and the promise of consistent freshness to its drinkers. It became one of the leading teas in Canada and the northeastern United States. Salada_Wilson_Bronze_Door

By 1917, Salada tea was so popular in the United States that Larkin's company (the Salada Tea Company Limited) was able to establish a U.S. headquarters, blending and packaging plant at 330 Stuart Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by architects Densmore and LeClear, the building featured large bronze doors by

Henry Wilson Henry Wilson (born Jeremiah Jones Colbath; February 16, 1812 – November 22, 1875) was an American politician who was the 18th vice president of the United States from 1873 until his death in 1875 and a senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to ...

inscribed with images of the history of the

Ceylon tea Ceylon tea is both the brand of tea which is produced in Sri Lanka and a historic term describing tea from that land. Ceylon tea has been described as not only a geographical descriptor but also a pillar of Sri Lankan culture, heritage and ident ...

trade, as well as Larkin's own contributions to a commitment to quality in the field. Although the building has changed hands several times, the doors are still there. By the 1950s, Salada had established plants across North America. In 1957, the company was acquired by Shirriff-Horsey. From 1969 to 1988, it was owned in Canada by Kellogg Canada. In 1988, Salada was acquired by Redco Foods, Inc., a company formed to produce

Red Rose Tea Red Rose Tea is a beverage company established by Theodore Harding Estabrooks in 1894 in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Estabrooks began his career in trade imports and exports, and soon moved specifically to the tea trade. Realizing the inc ...

in the U.S. under license from

. Not long thereafter, Redco Foods sold Salada (Canada) to Unilever, so that each company produced both brands in their respective country. Since 1995, Redco Foods has been owned by Teekanne of Germany. Since 2018, Salada-branded tea in the U.S. has been produced under license by Harris Tea Company. The Salada brand in the U.S. is still owned by Redco Foods, while Salada tea in Canada is a brand of Unilever Canada.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Salada tea
Salada website (U.S.)Salada website (Canada)
Tea brands Food and drink companies established in 1892 Companies based in Toronto Companies based in Boston Food and drink companies based in New York (state) 1892 establishments in Ontario