Coffee Alternative: George Steuart Tea

While coffee has its benefits there are those who are looking at an ideal alternative. Nothing can beat tea as a coffee alternative. In fact, some people prefer to drink tea than coffee because it has a lot of health benefits.

Here's one person who is espousing the benefits of tea and so he has brought Sri Lanka's famous tea to the Philippines.

If there’s one thing that stands out from his resume it is his affiliation with almost everything that has to do with food and beverages. It is thus not surprising that Rene Esteban is one of the main personalities behind Brixton International Food Corporation, a food and beverage manufacturing company advocating for health and wellness.

But that’s cutting the story short. Esteban was already into the food and food processing industry a long time before he joined George Steuarts Philippines, Inc. in 1990 as its research and development product consultant. He has a Business Economics degree under his sleeves and is a graduate of the University of Hawaii of Manoa’s particularly in Food Processing and Food Designs.

His primary responsibility was to formulate food and beverage products for his clients including George Steuart which is a Sri Lanka based firm. George Steuart is considered one of the world’s oldest companies founded in 1935 by sailor captain James Steuart who sailed to Ceylon in the beginning of the 19th century and saw the area’s potential for business.

George Steuart is a company that started with coffee and ended up with tea. It is funny how the company started as a managing and financing house for coffee plantations but ended up in the tea production business after coffee was abandoned in 1870.

Today, the company owns and manages thousands of hectares of tea plantations in Ceylon. It is one of the major exporters of tea---green, black and herbal---to the Philippines, Taiwan, Middle East and West Africa.

George Steuart Teas are all primed for health and wellness from weight management (Steuarts & Riston Pure Green Tea), antioxidants to combat free radicals (Strawberry, Cranberry and Raspberry Teas) and even hypertension (Pure Organic Black Tea).

His long partnership with George Steuart encouraged Esteban’s love affair with health and wellness products that he decided to form Brixton International in 2007 with the aim of providing healthy and natural beverages to enhance healthy lifestyle and social responsibility.

George Steuarts Philippines and Brixton International are owned by Mr. Benjamin S. Talan and his family in partnership with the global George Steuart.

“More than the profits it should be our social responsibility that should guide us in developing our businesses,’ Esteban, who is now Brixton vice president for research and development said. Barely two years from its inception Brixton is already eyeing international expansion and has received inquiries from some parts of Asia and Europe.

Brixton manufactures ready to drink healthy beverages that do not contain artificial flavoring and coloring. One of the company’s very first concoctions is the Camelya antioxidant drink made of 100% Ceylon Tea with extracts of mixed berries, wild green honey and lemongrass.

Pure Ceylon Tea contains antioxidants like polyphenols which protects the body from free radicals. Lemongrass is one of the main ingredients of Camelya since it is known for its antiseptic, revitalizing, anti-inflammatory, cleansing and anti-bacterial properties. Lemongrass can also be effective in providing relief against nausea, arthritis and PMS.

Camelya is available in three flavors—Green Tea with Lemongrass and Green Honey (Yellow ), Green Tea with Lemongrass and Green Honey with no added sugar (Green) and Black Tea with Strawberry, Raspberry and Cranberry Extract (Red).

“What is unique about Camelya is that it is made of 100% Ceylon Tea mixed with indigenous ingredients including fruits, vegetables and herbs,” Esteban said.

Brixton adheres to stringent quality control, good manufacturing practice and product standards. Esteban is a certified US Food and Drug Administration food processor making him a bona fide food processing supervisor.

Esteban is happy that the Dabawenyos have warmly welcomed the entry of Steuart Teas and Brixton’s Camelya ready to drink beverage. With this in mind, he hopes that Dabawenyos would be more aware of living a life associated with health and wellness.