BOH Tea

BOH traces to 1929, when British businessman J.A. Russell - who had arrived in Kuala Lumpur as a child in 1890 and built earlier wealth in tin mining, rubber, railways and coal - partnered with veteran Ceylon tea planter A.B. Milne to secure a concession for Malaysia's first hill-country tea garden, cleared from undeveloped jungle at Habu in the Cameron Highlands. He launched it despite the Great Depression, betting on steady long-term demand for tea rather than short-term conditions. The company's name comes from the Bohea Hills of Fujian, China, the historical source of "bohea" tea, tying the young Malaysian estate back to tea's origins even as it planted an entirely new growing region. Today BOH operates across four gardens - Habu, Fairlie and Sungai Palas in the Cameron Highlands, plus Bukit Cheeding in Selangor - covering roughly 1,200 hectares and producing about four million kilograms of tea a year, some seventy percent of everything grown in Malaysia, under Russell's descendant Caroline Russell as CEO and executive chair. Alongside its loose-leaf black and green teas, the company makes instant blends such as Teh Tarik Kurang Manis, adapting its own leaf to Malaysia's milk-tea culture rather than selling only straight tea. Visitor tours run at the main estate, putting the country's largest tea operation directly in front of the public rather than behind an industrial gate.