IT WAS a rainy day in Kuala Lumpur when we met up with Caroline Russell, whose family founded Boh Plantations which is celebrating nine decades of cultivating tea in Malaysia this year.
Over cups of piping hot tea (naturally), Caroline, who has been Boh’s chief executive officer since 2003, related her family’s long history in this country.
It reaches all the way back to the time of her great-grandfather, who brought his wife and five sons – including six-year-old J.A. (John Archibald) – to live in then-Malaya in the late 19th century, with a large part of that legacy revolving around the Boh Plantations company that her grandfather, J.A., started in 1929.
That same year, on the other side of the world, the United States was facing the start of the Great Depression. But grandpa Russell noticed that the demand for tea never waned even during the economic downturn.
“Tea is such a basic household product. Good times, bad times, people still drink tea,” stated Caroline, who pointed out that tea was consumed daily in many households.
Her grandfather eventually bought some land in Cameron Highlands to cultivate tea. With help from veteran tea planter A.B. Milne (who learnt about growing tea in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka), Russell took a single steamroller, a few labourers plus mules, and transformed Cameron’s jungle slopes 1,500 metres above sea level into the lush Boh tea garden we see today.
Today, Boh Plantations has four tea gardens, covering an area of 1,200 hectares, and produces over 4.5 million kilogrammes of tea annually.
Caroline said that before starting the plantation, her grandfather had been involved in other industries such as mining, rubber and construction. “But he decided to go into tea cultivation because he felt that it was not subject to economic variables like other businesses.”
In the years since grandfather J.A. kicked things off in Cameron Highlands, Pahang, the company under the stewardship of her father, Tristan, had purchased more land in the area, as well as near Banting in Selangor.
Going back to the tea that was produced during her grandfather’s era, Caroline said it would take about seven years to get a proper yield and start production. Initially, most of the tea produced by Boh was exported.
“It was largely sold in the London market,” she added. “In those days, the main trading place for tea was London.”
However, she explained that the actual development of the brand was after World War II. “We were selling tea in Malaysia before that, but the real brand development was post-1945.”
From marketing simple tea leaves, Boh has since come out with new products, as well as continuously uplifting the brand and meeting customers’ expectations.
“Right now, there are a number of trends,” said Caroline. “Currently, convenience is a big thing among Malaysians – the whole three-in-one, two-in-one kind of thing.”
There has been a huge shift in demand as well, she explained.
While some still prefer the relaxed method of making tea, like using dried tea leaves and waiting for them to steep in hot water, others just like to open a packet and throw the contents into hot water for that perfect instant cuppa.
She also noted that health is a big concern among Malaysians.
“We looked where we could move in the tea category,” she said, adding that she sees a lot of potential for tea in the health and wellness sector.
Tea itself is a healthy product because it is full of antioxidants.
“There has been a lot of research on tea – both black tea and green tea. Both contain high levels of antioxidants. You just have to be careful about how much tea you put in it.”
As to weighing the brand against its many other competitors in the various tea categories, Caroline admitted that “as a brand you have to be nimble, you have to be creative, and most importantly, you have to be able to listen to your customer”.
True to those words, Boh Plantations has been nimbly overcoming the many ups and downs of the industry for nine decades, to become the household name it is today among Malaysians.
In celebration of its 90 years of Ummph! here in Malaysia, Boh Plantations held a big internal company celebration on its official anniversary date, April 23, while other events have been planned throughout the year.
They include the official launch of the new wing of Boh’s Sungai Palas Tea Centre next month, which is set to enhance visitors’ experience, as well as the creation of a special blend of tea for its 90th anniversary called the Emerald Blend, which will be available in selected outlets from the end of June.
Then in September, there is the Boh Happy 90th Birthday Run with proceeds going to the Tropical Rainforest Conservation and Research Centre (TRCRC).
Aside from that, new tea variants with a unique blend of Malay herbs, such as ‘herba ratus’ and ‘sirih pulut’, are being developed under the Boh Pyramid tea collections.
And tea lovers can head to special tea booths set up in selected department stores to check out Boh’s newest offerings from June to August.
For more, visit the Boh Plantations website.
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