Treaty

In addition to auctions, tea can also be sold privately from brokers acting on behalf of producers or directly by the producers themselves.

Samples of the teas are sent to the buyers accompanied by an offer sheet giving details such as garden mark, leaf grade, quantity available and asking price.

The buyer will taste and grade each tea and comment back to the broker/producer if they are interested. Depending on the buyer's view of that tea, the price will be either accepted or more commonly bid on and negotiations begin until an acceptable price for both parties is agreed on.

There are still a few trading houses around the world who take a view on the market and buy teas for their own account. Their aim is to make a profit on those teas by selling them at a later date when the market is more expensive. Twinings philosophy is to buy as direct as possible, thus liaising as closely as possible with the producers.