Ronnefeldt

Ronnefeldt was founded in 1823 by Johann Tobias Ronnefeldt in Frankfurt, developing his knowledge of tea through travels to Rotterdam and London before starting the business at home. His earliest customers were the hotels around Frankfurt frequented by visiting Russian dignitaries, a connection that grew until Johann Tobias became a principal tea supplier to the Russian Tsar's court — tea trading conducted, notably, before the plantation regions of India and Sri Lanka that now dominate the world's supply had even been established.

More than two centuries later, the company still hand-picks by the traditional "two leaves and one bud" standard and runs its retail identity through the Ronnefeldt Brandshop in Frankfurt am Main, alongside a hospitality-focused Tealounge concept it has extended internationally. Its TeaAcademy trains hotel and restaurant staff directly in preparation and service, keeping education tied to the same standards the company sources by.

For a house that was already supplying imperial Russia before today's major tea-growing regions existed, the Frankfurt Brandshop is less a modern retail add-on than the current form of a two-hundred-year continuous trade.