COP 28 Adopts Transition From Fossil Fuels | AVAP Winners Celebrate in Paris | Kenya Budgets Expansion of Tea Blending and Packing Capability

HEAR THE HEADLINES – UAE Consensus Calls for a Transition Away from Fossil Fuels | AVAP Contest Winners Celebrate at a Paris Awards Gala | Kenya Budgets Expansion of Tea Blending and Packing Capability

| NEWSMAKER – QTrade Teas & Botanicals CEO Manjiv Jayakumar

| FEATURED – Tea blending is more tech-intensive than ever as the industry responds to consumer demand for more sophisticated tea blends and functional herbal beverages in convenient formats. Economies of scale favor manufacturers that have invested in robotics, automation, bottling lines, and environment-friendly packaging solutions, explains QTrade Teas & Botanicals CEO Manjiv Jayakumar. Last week, Jayakumar announced a friendly merger with Sun Garden Tea, a specialty tea wholesaler. Manjiv joins us this week to discuss the merger and current trends in blending, formulating, and packaging tea.

Tech-driven Tea Manufacturing at Scale – Manjiv Jayakumar, a Harvard University graduate, worked on Wall Street as a financial analyst for Goldman Sachs for several years before joining QTrade Teas & Botanicals in 2005. QTrade was founded by his father, Manik Jayakumar, in 1994. Manjiv is the company’s chief executive officer.

“Since I joined in many ways, it's been a whirlwind," he said. "I have tried to keep up with our clients, who grew in exciting ways, who innovated in exciting ways, and who pushed us to support them in ways that we never thought possible. And so, I've enjoyed the process of helping build this company and to help advise and support the businesses of our clients.”

During QTrade’s early years, coffee roaster and retailer Craig Min, founder of LAMILL coffee roasters, began wholesaling and blending specialty tea. His Alhambra-based Sun Garden Tea and Cerritos-based QTrade were nearly neighbors in the vast expanse of the industrialized belt east of Los Angeles. Their proximity and compatibility led the two companies to collaborate frequently, a relationship formally recognized in the merger.

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