Exclusive interview with Mr. Nirmal Sethia, Chairman, NEWBY TEAS

As the Chairman of Newby Teas, what personal experience or early memory first sparked your determination to safeguard the world’s finest teas?

I was born a contrarian. I never believed in what the world defined as wealth, nor did I follow what others spoke or accepted. I wanted to do things no one had done before. To search not for the root, but the seed from which the root emerges. Searching for the pedigree of the character.

I left home early as a young boy, and someone offered me the job of a tea boy at a tea broker’s house in London, where auctions were held in those days. Little did I know then that I would fall in love with the scope of learning. I never forgot my respected late father’s words:

1. Never lie.
2. Never steal.
3. Never pretend to know what you don’t know, otherwise you will never learn.

That is where my first love for tea truly began. Tea was discovered in 2737 BC by the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung. He, was an herbalist who created tea because of its antioxidant properties and its ability to support longevity. The brew fought bacteria and strengthened the lifeline. It became a magic of time, people drank it, and their longevity increased.

Tea is what you serve at home to connect-moments. How does Newby Teas reimagine that domestic ritual, so it feels elevated for today’s homes?

In earlier times, aristocrats and highly educated people drank fine teas. Over thousands of years, tea became the second most popular drink in the world after water, which created a great opportunity for thugs and fraudulent merchants. As demand increased, so did the market for cheap teas, driven by immoral traders and tea growers supplying poor-quality leaves.

Tea is very much like human life. The finest tea today sells for multi-millions of dollars per kilo, and the cheapest sells for two dollars. The best carries the character of a king, the worst, the character of a crook. Many families unknowingly buy cheap teas, saving pennies while risking their health — later spending millions in hospitals and inviting misery, especially for the elderly, children, and women.

Newby’s charitable institution restores honour to the home tea ritual by ensuring every cup is pure, safe, and worthy of the family that drinks it. We buy fine teas, store them securely, and protect them from contamination, humidity, and pollution. Every tea undergoes rigorous testing by Eurofins, one of the world’s most respected agro-labs. Each tea carries a QR code linking to its certificate. No other tea company in the world offers such transparency.

Mr. Sethia, you’ve said you returned to tea because it was your “first love”. How did that personal reconnection shape the brand journey with Newby Teas?

When my wife was alive, she was my first love, and tea was my second. Both taught me spirituality, the truth of life, and history. Today, history is a concoction of falsifications, especially where time has left no real trace.

This realisation led me to establish the Chitra Collection, named in tribute to my late wife. In 2011, I began collecting the finest surviving teaware and artefacts, pieces that would otherwise have been lost to time.

The collection spans from the 2nd century BC to the 20th century, tracing how civilisations lived, drank, and expressed refinement through tea. For the 21st century, we have gone a step further, designing new teapots that reintroduce affluency and aristocracy through a contemporary lens. It is our commitment to craftsmanship, artistry and cultural heritage. 

With over two thousand pieces, the Chitra Collection is today the world’s largest private collection dedicated to the historic culture of tea. It is not nostalgia. It is a responsibility to protect truth, craftsmanship, and heritage, so they may continue to teach future generations, just as tea once taught me.

As someone who has witnessed the erosion of tea culture over decades, what specific traditions or rituals where you determined to revive through your brand’s philosophy?

Tea cultura has not only been eroded — it has been stripped of its integrity. It has been turned into a slow poison for innocent and ignorant families, because nobody taught them the truth. As a contrarian, I realised that tea is the mother of human learning through nature. That understanding is what I was determined to revive.

I saw Newby Teas has adopted full carbon-neutral operations and is part of the Ethical Tea Partnership. How does this sustainability promise reflect in your newest collection and home-living angle?

The world is loudly promoting sustainability, but many use it as a bluff to sell contaminated cheap teas with high fluoride levels and harmful chemicals from pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides. They hide behind sustainable packaging while offering unsafe products through retail, F&B, and hotels. Newby does not operate this way. Every tea we produce is tested, and transparent. No tea company in the world matches what Newby does or achieves in purity and safety.

Every big dream has its believers. Who were the friends or close confidants who stood by you in the early days as you turned your wife’s dream into a global brand?

I am probably the greatest believer in God’s grace and human dignity. The world is full of cheap bluffers, and as a contrarian, I have always chosen to stand aloof. My greatest friend and closest confidant is God, Allah.