Halssen & Lyon

What Halssen & Lyon does

Hälssen & Lyon GmbH is a fourth-generation, family-owned B2B tea company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, founded in 1879 and registered as a privately held GmbH. It trades, refines, blends, flavores, decaffeinates, and packages a full portfolio of teas (black, green, white, Oolong, yellow, Pu-Erh, Rooibos), herbs, fruits, flowers, and spices, serving international tea brands, private-label customers, specialty retailers, the beverage industry, and the food service sector. The company does not sell directly to consumers and operates exclusively on a B2B, quote-based pricing model with 320+ catalog SKUs and custom product development.

The core technology stack is industrial rather than digital: in-house blending and flavoring expertise (pioneered in 1967), a proprietary decaffeination capability (first developed 1935), certified CO2 pressure disinfestation (30 bar for 1.5–4 hours in a PEX plant) suitable for organic handling, computer-controlled silo mixing with up to 150 tons/day throughput, and what the company describes as the world's largest tea specialty warehouse (25,000 tons across 33,000 pallet spaces) at Hamburg-Allermöhe. A Thuringia partner site adds another 5,000 tons for herbs and fruit components.

Go-to-market is direct sales-led with dedicated regional entities: Haelssen & Lyon North America Corp. (Westport, CT) for the US/Canada market, Taicang Neo FoodTec Co., Ltd (太仓德尼欧食品科技有限公司) for China, and a Gerard Consulting partnership in South Korea. The portfolio has expanded from leaf tea into higher-value concepts — Cold Brew, MATCHA in the MIX, brew T RTD iced tea, Taste Up!, Strong Brew, Eistee-Sirup, Instant Powders, and Coffee Boosters — supported by deep certification coverage (IFS Food higher level, HACCP, EU Bio, NOP, Fairtrade, Fair Trade USA, Rainforest Alliance, ClimatePartner, Kosher) and Authorized Economic Operator customs status.

Name

Halssen & Lyon

Legal name

Hälssen & Lyon GmbH

Website

https://haelssen-lyon.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1879

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Hälssen & Lyon is a fourth-generation, family-owned B2B tea company founded in 1879 in Hamburg, Germany. It blends, flavores, decaffeinates, and packages teas, herbs, fruits, and extracts for international tea brands, private-label customers, specialty retailers, beverage manufacturers, and food service.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Tea Processing & Private Label Tea Manufacturing

NAICS

Coffee and Tea Manufacturing (31192), Coffee and Tea Manufacturing (311920), Beverage Manufacturing (3121)

SIC

Beverages (2080)

akta.pro primary industry

Tea Blending & Flavoring (AFAFADAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Instant Tea, Tea Extracts & Concentrates Manufacturing (AFAFADAH), Ready-to-Drink (RTD) Tea (CRADAHAD), Coffee & Tea Beverage Co-Packing (RTD Coffee/Tea, Cold Brew) (AFAFAIAD), Tea (Leaf, Bagged, Instant, Concentrates) (CRADAHAE)

Keywords

• Tea processing
• Private label tea
• Tea extracts
• Tea packaging
• Tea blending

Headquarters

HQ city

Hamburg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Tea and Tea Specialty Products: Trading, refining, blending, flavoring, and packaging of premium teas and tea specialties from all renowned tea regions of the world. Also includes tea-like products such as herbs and fruits. Products sold in bulk or pre-packaged.
2. Private Label Manufacturing: Custom tea product development and packaging for brands. Includes custom blending, flavoring, and packaging under customer brands. Services range from loose bulk to finished packaged products.
3. Tea Extracts and Instant Products: Hot or cold water-soluble spray-dried or freeze-dried extracts based on black and green teas, herbs, and fruits. Also includes liquid extracts, instant powder mixes, and pre-mixes for industrial bottling.
4. Ready-to-Drink (RTD) Solutions: Development and bottling of freshly brewed teas including brew T concept with real tea infusion. Includes beverage compounds with complete ingredient formulations for RTD products.
5. Raw Material Sourcing Services: Sourcing of raw materials from around the world including high-quality teas, herbs, fruits, and spices through long-standing partnerships with tea gardens and suppliers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Hälssen & Lyon is a B2B tea company that sources, refines, blends, flavors, decaffeinates, and packages premium teas, herbs, fruits, blossoms and spices from all major tea-growing regions. It supplies bulk loose tea, pre-packaged formats (pyramid bags, sewn bags, double-chamber bags, tins, block-bottom bags, zip lock, bag-in-box), tea extracts and instant powder mixes, and ready-to-drink (RTD) tea compounds for the beverage industry, alongside Private Label development, packaging and consulting services.

Product overview

Hälssen & Lyon is a fourth-generation family-owned tea company (founded 1879) based in Hamburg, Germany, offering tea in every conceivable form. The company operates as a B2B supplier providing a comprehensive portfolio centered on teas (black, green, white, Oolong, yellow, Pu-Erh), Rooibos, herbs, fruits, flowers, and spices. The core offerings include bulk loose tea, pre-packaged retail formats, tea bags (pyramid, rectangular, sewn, double-chamber), and various packaging solutions. Value-added products encompass flavored teas (using techniques since 1967), decaffeinated teas (first process developed 1935), organic certified products, Fairtrade/Rainforest Alliance certified teas, and Kosher products. The extract portfolio includes dry extracts, instant powder mixes, liquid extracts, and beverage compounds for RTD beverages. Product concepts include Cold Brew, Tea Powders, Latte Powders, MATCHA in the MIX, brew T (RTD iced tea), Taste Up!, Strong Brew, Iced Tea Syrup, Instant Powders, and Coffee Boosters. Services span raw material sourcing, product development, production & warehousing (world's largest tea specialty warehouse at 25,000 tons), CO2 pressure disinfestation, consulting, and packaging/Private Label solutions. The company also offers eco-friendly packaging using plant-based materials.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Taste Up!: Premium teas enhanced with natural liquid aroma spray for distinctive flavor profiles.
• Cold Brew
• brew T
• MATCHA in the MIX
• Strong Brew
• Eistee-Sirup
• Instant Powders
• Coffee Boosters

Products and services

• Black and Green Tea (Schwarz- & Grüntee) High-quality black and green teas sourced from renowned tea-growing regions worldwide, supplied in bulk and packaged formats to B2B customers.
• White Tea (Weißer Tee) Premium white tea varieties from select origins, offered to B2B tea brands and private label customers.
• Oolong Tea Specialty Oolong teas with partial oxidation, supplied to B2B tea brands.
• Yellow Tea (Gelber Tee) Rare yellow tea specialty supplied to B2B tea customers.
• Pu-Erh Tea Fermented Pu-Erh tea from Yunnan, China, supplied to B2B tea brands.
• Tea Specialties (Teespezialitäten) Exclusive specialty teas including rare and single-origin varieties for premium B2B customers.
• Rooibos Naturally sweet, caffeine-free Rooibos from South Africa, rich in minerals and vitamins, supplied to B2B customers for blending and retail.
• Fruits, Herbs, Flowers & Spices (Früchte, Kräuter, Blüten, Gewürze) Dried fruits, herbs, blossoms and spices sourced globally and used as ingredients in Hälssen & Lyon's tea blends and Private Label products.
• Tea Extracts and Beverage Compounds (Extrakte) Hot or cold water-soluble spray-dried and freeze-dried extracts based on black and green teas, herbs and fruits, plus liquid extracts, instant powder mixes, pre-mixes and complete beverage compounds with tea extracts, flavors, acidulants, fruit concentrates and sugar for industrial RTD bottling.
• Flavoured Tea (Aromatisierter Tee) Tea flavoured using sophisticated techniques developed since 1967, available in black, green, white teas, fruit-herb mixes and Rooibos bases.
• Decaffeinated Tea (Entkoffeinierter Tee) Decaffeinated black and green teas produced using CO2, EA or MC processes, sold to B2B tea customers.
• Organic / Bio Products (Bio-Produkte) Certified organic teas (EU Bio and NOP) including black, green, white, Oolong, fruit-herb teas, Rooibos, Honeybush, spices, flavored and decaffeinated variants, supplied to B2B customers.
• Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance & Kosher Certified Products Tea products carrying Fairtrade, Fair Trade USA, Rainforest Alliance and Kosher sustainability and quality certifications.
• Tea Catalogue (Teekatalog) Registration-gated B2B tea catalogue offering over 320 tea varieties and trendy blends in 1 kg packages to specialty tea retailers.
• Packaging Concepts and Private Label Custom packaging concepts including pyramid and rectangular tea bags, sewn bags, double-chamber bags, flow wrap, block-bottom bags, bag-in-box, zip lock, combination membrane tins and metal cans/tins, with Private Label development for B2B customers.
• CO2 Pressure Disinfestation (CO2-Druckentwesung) Certified CO2 pressure disinfestation service for sensitive raw materials and organic products, eliminating all development stages of storage pests (including eggs and larvae) in a bio-conform, toxicologically harmless manner suitable for organic-certified operations.
• Eco-Friendly Packaging (Umweltfreundliche Verpackungen) Environmentally conscious packaging using plant-based raw materials including PLA tea bags, NatureFlex films and FSC-certified paper packaging, available to B2B customers.
• Product Development (Produktentwicklung) Customized tea product development from concept through development to market launch, including recipe development, flavor composition and creative concepts for B2B customers.
• Consulting (Beratung) Expert consulting covering market and trend analysis, packaging and design concepts, food law, tea training sessions and creative workshops for B2B customers.
• Production & Warehousing (Produktion & Lagerhaltung) Modern production and warehousing services from Hälssen & Lyon's Hamburg-Allermöhe facility, including up to 150 tons/day computer-controlled mixing and flavoring capacity and 25,000-ton storage in the world's largest tea specialty warehouse.
• Raw Material Sourcing (Rohwareneinkauf) Global sourcing of premium teas, tea specialties, herbs, fruits and spices through long-standing, trust-based partnerships with the world's best tea gardens, including contract farming arrangements.
• brew T RTD Iced Tea Concept Ready-to-drink iced tea concept based on freshly brewed pure tea infusion (not tea extract), developed for private label beverage customers to offer authentic tea flavor and preserved tea compounds.
• Cold Brew Tea Concept Sugar-free cold brew tea bag concept designed for preparation in cold water, supplied as a Private Label concept to B2B customers.
• Taste Up! Aroma Tea Concept Premium tea concept enhanced by spraying liquid natural aroma onto first-class tea leaves to deliver distinctive flavor profiles for B2B customers.
• Tea Powders & Latte Powders Micro-ground specialty leaf tea powders (similar to matcha) from black, green or Oolong teas, plus finely ground herb, spice or vegetable latte powders for foaming with milk or milk alternatives.
• MATCHA in the MIX Powder mixtures of finely ground matcha combined with premium herb, spice and vegetable powders and/or extracts, free from sugar and additives, supplied to B2B customers.
• Strong Brew Concentrate Highly concentrated mixture of real tea infusion, fruits and water designed for simple preparation of iced tea and cocktails, supplied to B2B customers.
• Iced Tea Syrup (Eistee-Sirup) Concentrated iced tea syrup of water, extract and sweetener for quick preparation of iced tea at a 1:9 dilution with cold water.
• Instant Powders Instant powder products for cold drinks (iced tea) or hot drinks (e.g. Chai Latte), based on high-quality tea, herb and fruit extracts, supplied to B2B customers.
• Coffee Boosters Sugar-free, natural tea, herb and spice mixtures in small pyramid tea bags that flavor hot coffee directly when infused together.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 25,000 tons storage capacity for tea specialty products
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Kolle Rebbe (Creative Agency)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Long-standing partnership with Hamburg-based creative agency Kolle Rebbe on multiple creative projects including the Tea Calendar (Cannes Lion winner), Teabag Collection (Berlin Fashion Week), LSTea, and Fragilitea (with Rosenthal porcelain).
• Ayzit Bostan (Fashion Designer)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Collaboration with multiple-award-winning fashion designer Ayzit Bostan on the Teabag Collection project creating designer handbag-shaped tea bags presented at Berlin Fashion Week.
• Rosenthal (Porcelain Manufacturer)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Collaboration with internationally renowned porcelain manufacturer Rosenthal on the Fragilitea project - packaging delicate porcelain in specially developed folded tea paper that could be enjoyed as an infusion.
• Sven Helbig (Composer/Musician)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Collaboration with internationally known composer and musician Sven Helbig on the 'Metamorphosis' project. Grew Reishi mushroom on a violin (used to record his album 'Skills') to create unique tea compositions 'Metamorphosis Winter Time' and 'Metamorphosis Winter Fire'.
• SGS Institut Fresenius (Accredited Laboratory)minorOthersExternal accredited testing laboratory used for analytical testing of products in addition to internal quality control processes.
• World's Best Tea Gardens (Supplier Partners)coreOthersLong-standing, trust-based partnerships with the world's best tea gardens ensuring access to premium qualities. Includes contract farming arrangements where selected gardens exclusively produce for Hälssen & Lyon.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Bigelow Tea: US family-owned premium tea company (R.C. Bigelow) with a private-label/ingredients arm serving foodservice and retail. Comparable to Hälssen & Lyon in premium specialty tea blending and North American private-label supply, though more retail-skewed.
• Paulig Group: Finland-based coffee and food company with a growing tea and beverage ingredients business (including acquisitions like Lofbergs). Comparable to Hälssen & Lyon in B2B beverage ingredient and private-label supply, but anchored in coffee rather than tea.
• Dilmah (MJF Group): Sri Lankan vertically integrated tea producer with branded tea, food-service, and B2B tea extract businesses. Comparable to Hälssen & Lyon in premium tea blending and food-service supply, though Dilmah is single-origin-led and has stronger consumer branding.
• Associated British Foods (Twinings): Diversified food group whose Twinings division operates a major global B2B and branded tea business. Comparable in premium tea blending and beverage ingredient supply, but sits within a much larger conglomerate with branded retail scale.
• Tata Consumer Products (Tata Tea / Tetley): Large global tea conglomerate with significant B2B, private-label, and extract operations alongside branded tea (Tetley, Tata Tea). Overlaps with Hälssen & Lyon in B2B supply and ingredient sourcing, but operates at much larger scale with branded consumer revenue.

Direct peers

• Martin Bauer Group: Germany-based B2B manufacturer of tea, herbal, and botanical extracts serving global beverage and nutraceutical customers. Directly comparable to Hälssen & Lyon in tea/herbal extracts, private-label, and ingredient supply to beverage compounders, and one of the largest European B2B botanical players.
• Finlays: Global B2B supplier of tea, coffee, and botanical extracts with operations across Africa, Asia, and Europe. Comparable as a multinational B2B tea and extract supplier serving beverage brands and private-label customers at scale.
• Ostfriesische Tee Gesellschaft (Laurens Spethmann): German tea company with B2B blending, private-label, and food-service tea operations. Comparable to Hälssen & Lyon in regional tea blending, flavoring, and supply to German and European private-label customers.
• Dethlefsen & Balk: Hamburg-based tea trading and blending company with strong B2B and private-label positioning. Directly comparable to Hälssen & Lyon in regional tea blending, flavoring, and German retail private-label supply, and a fellow Hamburg Speicherstadt heritage player.
• Teekanne: German tea company (Düsseldorf) with a significant private-label and B2B business alongside consumer brands. Directly comparable in German B2B tea blending, private-label packaging, and herbal/fruit infusion products.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/152374544803449

Compliance10 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Halssen & Lyon