Global network
Global reach, local expertise
Close to origins, close to markets,
connected by expertise across the globe
Local access, global support
Our local offices strengthen market access and customer support across the chain
Our network keeps us connected to both the origins we source from and the markets we serve. In producing countries, our local teams work directly with producers and suppliers and participate in key tea auctions, staying close to quality, availability and market dynamics at source.
Across the network, specialists in sourcing, tasting, blending, warehousing and logistics work together to match grades, origins and cup profiles, maintain consistency and support larger-volume requirements.
In consumer markets, our local teams provide a nearby point of contact, as well as inventory and financial solutions.
Global coordination
Let us navigate the network for you
Tell us what you need, and we connect your requirement to the right people, origins and capabilities across Van Rees. You do not need to navigate our network of offices yourself: your Van Rees contact coordinates the relevant sourcing, product and operational expertise for you.
Our own teams in key producing countries across Africa and Asia are complemented by direct relationships with producers and suppliers in other origins across Africa, Asia, South America and beyond. This gives us the flexibility to look across origins and supply options to find the right fit for your requirements.
Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, North America, Russian Federation
Meet our teams
Europe | The Netherlands | Rotterdam
Europe is a diverse tea market, shaped by different tea traditions, consumer preferences and product requirements across the region. Van Rees’ roots in the Netherlands date back to 1819. As international trade grew, proximity to the Port of Rotterdam became increasingly important, and Rotterdam remains an important point of contact for customers across Europe today.
From Rotterdam, our team combines commercial support for European customers with local warehousing and blending facilities for tea and herbal infusions. This allows products, blends and inventories to be adapted to different customer requirements while keeping supply close to the markets they serve.
Middle East | United Arab Emirates | Dubai
Dubai sits at the crossroads of major international trading routes between producing origins in Asia and Africa and tea-consuming markets across the Middle East and Central Asia. Demand across this broad region covers a wide spectrum of origins, qualities, grades and cup profiles, making Dubai a natural meeting point for the international tea trade.
Our Dubai team connects regional customer requirements with Van Rees’ sourcing network across multiple origins. Its central location also makes the office a natural link between our origin and consumer-market teams, bringing together local market requirements and the product knowledge available across our global network.
North America | Canada | Toronto
North America is a diverse tea market, spanning large-volume mainstream applications, a strong iced-tea segment in the United States and established hot-tea consumption in Canada, alongside a broad speciality market. Demand ranges from everyday black and green teas to white, oolong, matcha and pu’erh, as well as herbal ingredients, botanicals and spices.
Over the decades, our Toronto operation has developed around the needs of retail brand owners, private-label packers, food-service providers, RTD extractors and the speciality tea industry.
The team also maintains direct relationships with major producers in Argentina, an important source for the North American market, while its local blending capabilities support tailored products and blends for different customer requirements.
Russian Federation | Moscow
The Russian market has a strong tea-drinking tradition, with demand spanning a broad range of black and speciality teas, blends and flavours. African and South Asian origins play an important role, offering the strength, colour and body used in many popular black tea styles.
Our Moscow team works across this broad spectrum, from bulk and speciality teas to herbal ingredients, spices and fruits, and develops both classic and flavoured blends for specific consumer profiles.
From Moscow, the team also works closely with customers across Eastern Asia. While these markets have strong domestic production of green and speciality teas, there is also demand for bold, robust black teas for tea bags, sourced from other origins.
Asia | Sri Lanka | Colombo
Sri Lanka, traditionally known as Ceylon, produces an exceptionally diverse range of teas across seven growing regions. Differences in elevation, monsoons and local microclimates create distinctly different cup profiles. High-grown teas can be bright, fragrant and delicate, while lower-grown teas generally offer deeper colour, greater body and fuller flavour. This diversity makes Ceylon tea suitable for everything from aromatic speciality teas to strong blending teas.
Our Colombo team works with this diversity every day. Specialist tea tasters assess and grade large numbers of lots and select and blend teas to meet specific quality and cup requirements. Alongside bulk supply, the local operation offers private-label packing in formats ranging from tea bags and loose-leaf pouches to cans, jars and boxes.
Asia | India | Coimbatore
India is home to some of the world’s best-known tea regions, each with its own growing conditions, manufacturing styles and cup characteristics. Our Coimbatore office is positioned close to the Nilgiris, where high-elevation gardens produce teas known for their clean, bright and aromatic character, often with floral or fruity notes. The region produces black, green and speciality teas, including distinctive seasonal frost teas.
From Coimbatore, our team combines access to India’s major tea auction system with direct links to Nilgiri producers. Van Rees commercially represents a group of renowned Nilgiri marks, including Havukal, Warwick, Kairbetta, Glendale, Coonoor, Parkside, Sutton and Dunsandle, covering styles from high-quality orthodox black and green teas to speciality frost teas.
Asia | Indonesia | Jakarta
Indonesia has a long-established tea industry, centred mainly in the volcanic highlands of Java and Sumatra. Its tropical climate supports year-round production, with black tea accounting for much of the output alongside an increasingly diverse range of other teas. Indonesian teas are often smooth and balanced with warm, spicy notes. Java generally produces brighter, more aromatic styles, while Sumatra is known for fuller, stronger teas.
Indonesia was the first tea origin where Van Rees established its own local office. Today, our Jakarta team combines participation in the tea auction with direct relationships with established producers, many of which have been part of Indonesia’s tea industry for decades or even more than a century.
Asia | Vietnam | Hanoi
Vietnam has a remarkably diverse tea landscape, stretching from the hills and highlands of the north to Lam Dong in the south. Black teas range from strong, well-coloured CTCs to orthodox teas with malty, woody or roasted notes, while green teas can offer fresh aromas, lively astringency and a characteristic sweet finish. The main production season runs broadly from April into autumn.
Unlike origins where much of the trade comes together through a central tea auction, Vietnam’s many different teas are sourced across a broad network of producers and suppliers. Having a local presence is therefore particularly valuable. From Hanoi, our team works directly with Vietnamese producers and suppliers, providing a local link to the different teas, qualities and production areas available across the country.
Africa | Kenya | Mombasa
Kenya is one of the world’s leading exporters of black tea, with production spread across high-elevation regions including Kericho, Nandi, Kisii, Nyeri, Meru and Embu. Tea is produced year-round, supported by fertile soils, regular rainfall and a climate that combines warm days with cooler nights. Kenyan teas are known for their bright liquor, brisk flavour and excellent colour, bringing strength and liveliness to blends around the world.
Our Mombasa team operates at the heart of the Kenyan tea trade, with direct access to the Mombasa tea auction and the teas and producers represented there. Mombasa also connects us to other East African origins, with teas from countries including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania finding their way into our network through this office.
Africa | Malawi | Blantyre
Malawi has a tea heritage dating back more than 130 years, centred in the Shire Highlands around Mulanje and Thyolo. Tea is produced throughout the year, with the main season from December to March. Malawi teas offer strong colour, good body and excellent redness with milk, making them valuable components in black tea blends where colour, consistency and value are important.
From Blantyre, our team works directly with Malawi’s tea producers and also participates in the country’s tea auction. Being based in a landlocked tea origin also brings a particular logistics challenge. Our local team manages the routes that connect Malawi’s tea industry to international markets through neighbouring countries, including Mozambique and South Africa.
