06 July 2009

Judges in the prestigious Great Taste Awards 2009 picked Punjana, Northern Ireland’s biggest selling tea, for a series of gold awards. The company, a family-owned and managed business which has been blending and packing tea in Northern Ireland for over 100 years, gained a gold award for its Punjana Original tea bags.

PUNJANA STRIKES GOLD IN GREAT TASTE AWARDS

Judges in the prestigious Great Taste Awards 2009 picked Punjana, Northern Ireland’s biggest selling tea, for a series of gold awards.

The company, a family-owned and managed business which has been blending and packing tea in Northern Ireland for over 100 years, gained a gold award for its Punjana Original tea bags. 

In addition, a new Green Tea recently introduced by the company also struck gold with the high profile judging panel.

Ross Thompson, Punjana’s Joint Managing Director, commenting on the awards, said: “We are delighted that our best selling Punjana Original blend has been recognised and rewarded by the judges from the highly influential UK Guild of Fine Foods.

“It was the first time that we had decided to enter products for the awards. Winning gold especially for our new Green Tea, which we source from a single estate in Kenya and blend and package in Belfast is immensely encouraging.

“For over 100 years, we have been sourcing teas from the finest gardens in India and Kenya. We take great care in blending these teas to suit the characteristics of Northern

Ireland’s water, as our home market is all important to us.

“Over the years we have invested heavily in state-of-the art manufacturing equipment and Punjana’s exciting new foil packaging has met with great approval from the province’s tea drinkers,” he added.

As well as being firmly established in market research as Northern Ireland’s favourite tea, Punjana now sells extensively through leading supermarkets in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

It is the fastest growing tea in Scotland and is also on sale in the United States, where its Irish Breakfast Tea is to be found on the shelves of some 700 supermarkets along the Eastern seaboard.

Punjana is extending its new range of speciality teas into packs designed for retail sale and will be approaching leading supermarkets with this new range within the next few months. The new range of speciality teas includes the company’s award winning Green tea and extends into Earl Grey, Camomile and Peppermint. 

The Great Taste Awards are organised annually by the UK Guild of Fine Foods to showcase the quality and innovation underpinning the food and beverage industry.

The awards also attract entries from the Republic of Ireland and other parts of Europe.