Business Name and what it does

Big Black Tea is a global tea brand that sells craft tea for people who live an active lifestyle and need a caffeine boost without the jitters of coffee. The company was founded in October 2020 by Lindsey Tod, Cameron Yoder, and Tim Salau at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Big Black Tea offers two flavors of their craft tea, a rich zen black tea, and smooth harmony jasmine green tea. What makes Big Black Tea so unique is their focus on making tea a part of your lifestyle vs. a one-off thing you do every season, but rather something that’s a core part of your wellness routine or weekly workout. 

They are available online, on Amazon, Walmart, and Ebay. Not only do they serve customers Business 2 Consumer (B2C), but they also sell Business to Business (B2B) to corporations like Linkedin and small businesses. 

The challenges the business/market is facing

Since founding their company in 2020, the small team of founders at Big Black Tea have faced multiple challenges dealing with the supply-chain delays caused by COVID-19, creating a new perception around tea, and building an authentic tea community. 

Because they launched their tea brand during the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team had to learn how to adapt their supply-chain during a pandemic and a busy fall season. When they initially launched their brand, they sold almost over $1,500 worth of tea in the first few months with no advertising. 

The demand for their tea brand was instantly validated, but they had to learn to balance inventory availability with demand as seasons changed. In addition, the tea market isn’t a net-new market, there are thousands of tea brands that exist like Red Diamond Tea, Capital Teas, & Numi Organic Tea. 

In parallel, there are thousands of wholesale sellers and vendors online who sell tea and other herbs which have decades of expertise, brand recognition, and an established community.

Because the founding team knew they were entering a highly competitive and crowded market, they decided to position their tea brand as a lifestyle brand. From day one, they oriented their product around helping people find a moment of peace, a departure from the chaos, isolation, and depression many of us were experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Convincing customers that they just aren’t a seasonal tea brand hasn’t been easy. They’ve had to evolve their positioning over the last two years and are now reinforcing their positioning as a tea brand for those with an active lifestyle.

The opportunities the business/market is facing

The team sees huge opportunities in re-defining what it means to be a tea-brand in this new neo-era we’re living in, post-pandemic. 

They recently dropped a limited edition bag called Molten, a super exclusive collector’s bag that features a fictional hero. They designed the bag in partnership with two young local artists in Los Angeles, with permission from their mom of course. Right now, most people perceive tea as a seasonal occasional beverage and they want to do more to shift this perception by meeting their customers where they’re at through creative limited edition drops and merging tea with their day-to-day lifestyle. 

Advice to others about business

We asked one of the Co-Founders, Tim Salau, what’s his biggest advice to others about business. He simply said, “Never give up. Keep going and trust the process. There’s always more in store. Trust. The. Process.” 

You can learn more about the brand on: 

JustCBDuk

JustCBDus

Olio Lusso

Loxa Beauty

Pictures of Owners & Founders