Red Rose Tea
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Red Rose Tea is a beverage company established by Theodore Harding Estabrooks in 1894 in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Its orange pekoe tea is said to be made from only the top two leaves of each tea plant sprig, thus ensuring the best quality.
Red Rose's old commercials introduced the catchphrase, "Only in Canada, you say? Pity...." (The catchphrase was transformed by Canadian popular culture to, "Only in Canada, eh? Pity...." Red Rose brand tea has been available in the United States since the 1920s, but it's a different blend of black pekoe and cut black teas compared to the orange pekoe sold in Canada.) Another slogan was "Red Rose Tea is Good Tea."
The brand is owned by Unilever in Canada, and by Redco Foods in the U.S. The brand was formerly owned by Brooke Bond Foods of the UK.
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[edit] Collectable Series
During the 1960s and 1970s packages of tea included tea cards and porcelain figurines. These were issued in annual series of 48 cards each.
| Series | Name | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Songbirds of North America | 1959 |
| 2 | Animals of North America | 1960 |
| 3 | Wildflowers of North America | 1961 |
| 4 | Birds of North America | 1962 |
| 5 | Dinosaurs | 1963 |
| 6 | Tropical Birds | 1964 |
| 7 | African Animals | 1965 |
| 8 | Butterflies of North America | 1966 |
| 9 | Canadian/American Songbirds | 1967 |
| 10 | Transportation through the ages | 1968 |
| 11 | Trees of North America | 1969 |
| 12 | The Space Age | 1970 |
| 13 | North American Wildlife in Danger | 1971 |
| 14 | Exploring the Ocean | 1972 |
| 15 | Animals and their Young | 1973 |
| 16 | The Arctic | 1974 |
| 17 | Indians of Canada | 1975 |
In 1983, a unique series was created for Red Rose Tea being sold in the United States. To this day, there are still figurines found inside the boxes.
[edit] Red Rose Tea TV commercials
The Marquis Chimps appeared in three television commercials for Red Rose Tea in 1960. One had the apes playing golf, and another showed them as cowboys. The most popular ad, "Rock and Roll Tea Party," featured the chimps as plaid-suited musicians, playing a swinging jazz number in praise of Red Rose Tea. [1]
In 1968, Pittsburgh disc jockeys Zeke Jackson and Frank "Crazy D" DiMino played the "Rock and Roll Dance Party" soundtrack on their radio programs. Listener response was so enthusiastic that they licensed the song from Red Rose's parent company, Brooke Bond Foods, and issued it on a 45-rpm single. Record collector and producer Paul Mawhinney pressed 1000 copies of the tune for Jackson and DiMino on their own Gink label ("Red Rose Tea," Gink #9612, no artist credited); the record version extends the TV-commercial soundtrack by playing it through twice; and the "B" side is identical to the "A" side.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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