As one of Singapore’s oldest heritage brands and a family business, The 1872 Clipper Tea Co.’s origins date back to – as its name suggests – 1872, when the company’s founder, BP de Silva, left Sri Lanka for Singapore, to set up a jewellery store. As BP de Silva loved his daily tea, he began offering jewellery customers a taste of Ceylon’s finest teas. This led to the setting up of a new company, The 1872 Clipper Tea Co., which refers to the clipper ships, which speedily sailed around the world, delivering fresh tea leaves.

Over the next century, The 1872 Clipper Tea Co. expanded; in geographical reach, as well as in business areas, to include tea plantations, R&D in areas such as tea blending, sourcing, cleaning and packaging, and launching retail outlets. Oddly enough, The 1872 Clipper Tea Co. only developed its brand identity in 1988, a hundred years after the company was founded.

“Back when my great great grandfather set up the business, the market size to absorb a product like tea was smaller – creating a retail brand back then was not yet important. My father conceptualised our brand identity in the 1980s. In those days running the day-to-day operations was extremely busy, and protecting one’s trademark was not a top priority. My father registered the trademark in about 20 countries and felt that the job was done,” said Rehan Amarasuriya, Executive Director, The 1872 Clipper Tea Co.  

Use it or Lose it

However, when it comes to registering trademark, it is a matter of “Use it or Lose it”. If a trade mark has not been put to genuine use within a period of 3 to 5 years (depending on country), a registered trade mark may be revoked. And unfortunately, this happened to The 1872 Clipper Tea Co., when they lost the use of their trademark in Sweden in 2019.

“This was a tough period for me. As an entrepreneur, I am used to business moving fast. However, settling trade mark disputes can be a long-drawn process that requires long-term strategic planning and continuous management. I am now a strong trade mark advocate. Any brand owner, who plans to sell internationally, has to take international trade mark registration seriously,” explained Rehan.

Protecting the business’ IP assets

In order to avoid future losses, Rehan – who joined the business in 2012 – leveraged upon EnterpriseSG’s Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) grant to take a more future-proof view in protecting the business’ intellectual property. The MRA grant helped him to search, strategise and apply for trade mark rights across 30 jurisdictions worldwide, including the US., Canada, SE Asia, China, Australia and New Zealand.

Rehan also realised the uniqueness of the brand, and took steps to stand out from other competitors through a number of initiatives. In 2016, The 1872 Clipper Tea Co. was commissioned to create a customised tea blend, known as Orchid Majesty, as part of Singapore’s gift to mark the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. The company also set up a number of retail outlets, starting with Raffles City Shopping Centre in 2016 and then launching its flagship retail store at ION Orchard in 2017, which also serves a wide range of freshly-brewed teas and tea-infused pastries and desserts. In 2021, the company secured a good location at Jewel Changi Airport, a retail complex linked to the passenger terminals at Singapore’s iconic airport.

Next Steps

To help modernise the tea trade, Rehan has also been involved in a new tech start-up, called Profile Print. This has a unique technology that is able to analyse the molecular signature of dry food ingredients, such as tea leaves, and use this information to predict the quality and profile of the sample in seconds. And while Profile Print’s main IP protection revolves around applying for patents to protect the underlying technology, Rehan also ensured the company’s trademark was securely registered and will be used in all intended markets.

While 1872 Clipper Tea’s name is strongly associated with premium quality tea, moving forward, Rehan also wants it to be associated with strong CSR values.

“In Sri Lanka, we do not directly manage tea plantations anymore. Instead, our tea factory buys premium tea leaves from plantations around Sri Lanka. 68% of the price of tea goes to the tea pluckers. We buy top quality tea leaves – the top 2 leaves and a bud, which is the youngest part of the tea plant. By paying for top quality tea leaves, we ensure that our tea pluckers earn higher wages. In addition, we have also started supporting educational programmes for tea plantation worker’s children,” said Rehan. “Moving forward, now that we have sorted out our TM registration, our intention is to push our internationalisation efforts. We already are present in some 20 – 30 international markets. We will both deepen our presence in existing markets and venture into new markets.”

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