Wissotzky Tea facts for kids
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Native name
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תה ויסוצקי
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| Tea Company | |
| Founded | Moscow, Russia 1849 |
| Founder | Kalman Zev (Kalonimus Wolf) Wissotzky |
| Headquarters | , |
Wissotzky Tea (Hebrew: תה ויסוצקי) is a global tea company. It is owned by a family and has its main base in Israel. They also have offices in London and the United States. It is the top tea seller in Israel. The company started in Moscow, Russia, in 1849. It grew to be the biggest tea company in the Russian Empire. By the early 1900s, it was the largest tea maker in the world. It is one of the oldest tea companies still around today.
The Wissotzky Tea Company is led by Shalom Seidler. He is a descendant of Shimon Zeidler. Shimon Zeidler was related to the Wissotzky family by marriage. He opened the company's Middle East branch in 1936. The company's main office is in Tel Aviv. Their tea is made at a factory in the Galilee region of Israel. About 400 people work for the company.
Wissotzky Tea holds 76% of the local tea market in Israel. They also sell their products all over the world. You can find Wissotzky Tea in Canada, the UK, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Europe. They also sell in Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, and the US kosher market. They entered the wider US market with their "Signature Collection." This collection features "silky pyramid sachets" filled with whole loose leaf tea, fruits, and herbs.
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Meet Kalman Ze'ev Wissotzky
Kalman Ze'ev Wissotzky was born on July 8, 1824. He grew up in Starye Zagare, in northern Lithuania. His family was Orthodox Jewish. He had a traditional Jewish education. At 18, Wissotzky married Keyla Zivya Abramson. With help from his wife's family, he studied the Talmud for three years. This included six months at the famous Volozhin Yeshiva. He also learned from Yisrael Salanter.
When he was young, he joined the "Love of Zion" movement. This movement was called Hovevei Zion/Hibbat Zion. He remained a religious Jew his whole life. Wissotzky, his wife's family, and 18 other Jewish families started a farming group. It was about 32 kilometers from Dvinsk (now Daugavpils), Latvia. Later, he was allowed to move to Moscow. There, he worked for Pyotr Kononovich Botkin. Botkin was an innovative Russian tea trader.
Wissotzky started by selling tea door-to-door. He slowly worked his way up to become a tea trader. In Moscow, he used a Russian name: Wulf or Wolf Yankelevich. His customers knew him as Vasily Yakovlevich. After Botkin passed away, Wissotzky started his own tea business in Moscow around 1858.
After moving to Moscow, Wissotzky founded his famous tea company. He used his wealth to help others:
- He funded a Jewish school in Jaffa.
- He was a big supporter of the Jewish National Fund.
- He helped start the Hebrew-language journal Hashiloah. This journal was edited by Ahad Ha'am. Ahad Ha'am also managed Wissotzky offices in Russia and later in London.
- In 1908, his estate gave 200,000 rubles. This money helped build what is now the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.
In 1885, Wissotzky traveled around the Land of Israel. He spent three months there as a representative of Hovevei Zion. Kalman and his wife Keyla had four children. They had three daughters, including Liba Miriam, born in 1860. Their youngest child was a son named David, born in 1861.
Company History
The 19th Century
In 1885, Kalonymus Zev Wissotzky visited the Holy Land. He later wrote a book about his trip. By that year, Wissotzky was already a rich and powerful man. He had started his tea company in 1849. People called him "the Russian king of tea."
He became a key figure in the early Zionist movement called Hovevei Zion. He was also part of the leadership of the Bilu movement. This movement began in 1882. In 1885, the movement sent him to what is now Israel. This happened after a disagreement with the leaders of the Jewish Yishuv. The argument was about how to use money sent from Jewish communities around the world. Hovevei Zion thought the money should start new Jewish settlements. The Yishuv leaders disagreed. Wissotzky was asked to tour the land. His goal was to find a way to solve the debate and make everyone happy.
Wissotzky Tea quickly became popular. People all over the Russian Empire loved it.
The 20th Century
Early 1900s
By 1904, the company grew even more. It started activities in Germany, France, New York, and Canada. In 1907, Wissotzky created the Anglo-Asiatic company. Its main office was in London. Ahad Ha'am, a famous Jewish writer, managed it. He joined the company in 1903. The company bought tea farms in both India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
From the early 1900s until 1917, Wissotzky Tea Company was the biggest tea company in the world. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the government took over all private businesses in Russia. It took two more years to fully take over Wissotzky Tea. This was mainly because the company offered many benefits to its workers.
In 1917, the company slowly stopped its work in Russia. The Wissotzky family moved to the U.S. and Europe. They opened new branches in Italy, Danzig, Poland, and other European countries.
1920s and 1930s
After the Russian Revolution, Wissotzky Tea Company focused its work in London. This became its main headquarters. Boris Lourie managed it there. They also had operations in Danzig, Poland. Alexander Chmerling and Solomon Seidler ran the Danzig office. Solomon Seidler was a tea expert and part of the Wissotzky family. Many people had moved from Russia. The Polish facility met the demand for the tea they were used to back home.
In 1936, Simon Seidler, Solomon Seidler's son, felt that war was coming. He left Poland for Palestine. In the years that followed, many family members were killed in the Holocaust. The company lost its properties in Europe.
In 1936, Simon Seidler set up a Wissotzky center in the Middle East. Seidler began selling tea to British soldiers in Mandatory Palestine. This helped make the brand famous. Simon built a packing facility. He slowly added more products to the company's range. Simon Seidler passed away in 1957. His wife, Ida Seidler, took over the family's tea business. Ida brought new, modern ideas to how the tea was made and sold.
Mid-20th Century
In 1945, Boris Lourie married Anna Wissotzky. They had two sons, Serge Lourie (born 1946) and Michael Lourie (born 1948). The family's main company, Anglo-Asiatic Ltd, closed after Boris Lourie died in a car crash in 1950.
The 21st Century
Wissotzky Tea Company bought Zeta Olive Oil. Zeta is a leading olive oil company in the Galilee. They also bought Lahmi, a top home-baked goods company in Israel. Lahmi has an international brand called Elsastory.
In December 2012, these three companies joined together. They formed the Wissotzky Group. This group is a collection of gourmet food and special delicacy companies.
More to Explore
- Economy of Israel
- Israeli cuisine
- Russian tea culture
