About us

The Tea Enthusiasts was founded by Mother and Daughter team Carol and Liza in 2004. Liza was the foodie with a passion for tea and Carol was a biomedical scientist who thought she had retired. It began as many businesses do in a spare room, but it quickly grew into its own premises. Liza had begun to explore the world of tea when she found the taste of coffee unpalatable during pregnancy. She was importing samples from all over the world and sharing them with friends. Its this ethos of sharing teas and knowledge with friends that still forms the foundation of the Tea Enthusiasts today. 

Way back in 2004 Liza sat her Mom down and described how she had decided to take her love of tea and turn it into a business. Carol rightly pointed out that Liza was a single Mom with 2 young children and how was it going to work running a shop. That is when Liza shared her amazing idea to sell tea over the internet! These days that may sound straight forward but in 2004 the technology was still young, and liza had no web building or coding skills! Still here we are 18 years later!

In 2016 Carol took the decision to retire for good and Liza moved the company to a warehouse in the north of County Durham. Interestingly our building used to be a coaching inn and local pub. It had been closed for 11 years by the time we took it over and renovated but the building in some form has been on this spot since the early 1800s. From there we began to branch out from Internet sales to wholesale, stocking some of the finest delis, cafes, restaurants and shops in the region. 

So today you can still buy our full range right here on the website, but we also have a list of local stockists you can find here. if you want to keep up to date with what we are up to, or learn more about tea, you can sign up to our mailing list, read our blog or follow our socials.