Sep 24, 2026Tea Industry Insights
Private Label Tea Manufacturing: From 84 Grades to Your Brand
How private label tea works at SMAARK: 84 catalog grades, custom formats, and an OEM process built for importers.
Private label is how most importers, hotel groups and cafe chains now build a tea range without building a factory. The model is simple in theory and unforgiving in practice: your brand carries the quality risk, so the manufacturer behind it needs range, capacity, design support and clean documentation. Here is how the SMAARK OEM program, run by Yuanjin Tea, is structured, and what you can build on it.
Five Advantages of the SMAARK OEM Program
Our OEM offer rests on five published commitments, and each one maps to a question every buyer should ask a prospective tea manufacturer.
Global sourcing with stable inventory
Yuanjin has spent more than 18 years building a global sourcing network: over 100 tea materials, a standing inventory of more than 1,000 tons, and more than 10 tea bases across China, Germany, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka and Kenya. When one origin has a difficult season, your blend does not collapse with it.
Dual-factory, fully automated production
Two factories back every program. In Chaozhou, a plant invested in 2024 runs 12 automated lines across 30,000 square meters, with output of 24 tons per day and 8,000 tons per year. In Guangzhou, a plant operating since 2017 focuses on imported black teas across 6 lines and 3,000 tons per year. Combined group capacity approaches 11,000 tons per year, on fully automated lines from raw material to finished product.
Professional packaging design support
Packaging is where private label programs usually stall. Our team supports the design work from label to gift box, and our Daily Good Tea line works as a reference structure for your own private label packaging.
Full-channel tea solutions
The same base tea can serve different channels. We build hotel guest-room tea bags in Ceylon black, jasmine and green; waiting-area teas for offices and showrooms; and pre-meal tea programs in floral, herbal and wellness series, six items in each series, plus custom blends where your menu needs one.
Complete qualifications, traceable and import-ready
The factory holds a CQC-issued food safety management certification, China export food producer registration, and operates as an FDA-registered facility. Qualifications are complete and the chain from material to finished product is traceable, which is what your import file and your auditors will both ask for.
An 84-Item Catalog to Build Your Range On
Private label moves fastest when you start from existing grades instead of a blank page. Our catalog lists 84 item names: 11 black tea powders, 20 black teas, 12 Dancong teas, 9 green teas, 9 scented teas, 20 oolong teas and 3 specialty teas, including Dianyun dark tea, Rose Pu-erh and Qingchuan yellow tea.
The range runs deep where demand is. The black tea list spans Ceylon picks such as Ceylon Cloud Summit and Floral Ceylon through Earl Grey, Masala and Lapsang Souchong. The Dancong list covers Milan Xiang, Yashi, Huangzhi Xiang and slow-roast variants. The green tea list centers on jasmine standards, and the oolong list stretches from Baiya Qilan to charcoal-roast and rock-style teas.
For featured teas we maintain full sensory profiles, dry leaf, liquor, aroma, taste and leaf bottom, available on request per tea. Cafe and beverage brands can also start from our nine developed application recipes, which pair fruits and botanicals with catalog teas, for example pomelo and lemon with Yinhua Xiang, or mango, passionfruit and mint with Bailan green.
Packaging Formats Customized to Your Channel
Format follows channel, so we keep all of them customizable: tea bags for hotels and foodservice, loose leaf for specialty retail and cafes, and gift boxes for gifting programs, such as the Baifulshan gift box and the 3-can black tea gift box used in membership redemption and business gifting. Custom blends and custom packaging are part of the same OEM scope, not an exception to it.
MOQ, Samples and How to Start
Two questions come up in every first conversation: minimum order quantity and sampling. Both are set per project and confirmed through inquiry, because the right answer depends on the series, the format and the packaging you choose. We do not quote them blind, and we do not make you wait weeks for a straight answer either.
The fastest way to start is to send your target series from the 84 grades, your preferred format, your destination market and any certifications it requires, through the contact form on our website or on WhatsApp at +86 130 7163 2772. Our export team replies to every inquiry.