Barry's Tea
 | |
| Founded | Cork, Ireland (1901) |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Cork, Ireland |
Key people | James J. Barry |
| Products | Black Teas, Green Teas & Fruit and Herbal Teas |
Number of employees | 65 (2015) |
| Website | www.barrysteashop.ie |
Barry's Tea is a Popular Cork tea company founded in 1901 by James J. Barry in Cork City. Until the 1960s, tea was sold from a shop in Prince's Street, but thereafter the company expanded its wholesaling and distribution operations.
History
By the mid-1980s Barry's Tea had become a national brand. According to their website, they are currently responsible for 38% of all tea sales in the Irish market (which is worth an estimated €85 million annually).[1] Today, Barry's Tea is also available in the United Kingdom, Spain, and in some areas of Canada, Australia, France, Luxembourg and the United States where there are significant Irish immigrant communities.
Members of the Barry family been elected representatives for Fine Gael: the founder's son Anthony Barry (TD 1954–57 and 1961–65), Anthony's son Peter Barry (TD 1969–97) and Peter's daughter Deirdre Clune (TD 1997–2001 and 2007–11, and MEP since 2014).
Controversies
In May 2018, it was revealed that many of Barry's Tea teabags are made with polypropylene, a non-compostable plastic which is damaging to the environment.[2]
Barry's Tea is a major sponsor of the greyhound racing industry in Ireland.[3] Despite numerous calls for the company to desist, it has refused to cease its sponsorship of an industry which has been the subject of repeated investigations into animal cruelty.[4] As of July 2019, the sponsorship has been pulled.[5]
See also
References
- ^ http://www.barrystea.ie/about-us.htm
- ^ https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/barry-s-tea-says-it-is-working-to-take-plastics-out-of-its-tea-bags-1.3504273
- ^ Fortune, Michael. "Veteran 'Sarahjo' the Barry's tea pick". The Irish Independent. No. June 9 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- ^ "Minister has 'deep concern' over greyhound allegations". RTÉ. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- ^ Horgan-Jones, Jack. "Barry's Tea and FBD Insurance pull greyhound racing funding". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2019-07-25.