Have y’all noticed that packets of Bushells’ tea bags have disappeared off the shelves in Woolies, Coles, IGA and who knows where else?
It does not affect me 'cos I don’t drink tea but it sure affects Mrs CharlevilleCharlie who is addicted to the stuff and to the Bushell’s brand in particular. The poor girl! She has had to drink other brands and apparently they just don’t taste the same as Bushells.
Bushells must be having some terrible supply chain issues.
Not a tea drinker myself, but the local Woolies lists 4 types of Bushells Tea, 2 in stock, and 2 due to be restocked next Monday and Tuesday.
Our local Woollies is similar. Ours has loose leaf and round bags. Tea bags are out of stock.
If one is desperate, there are a number of online sellers with boxes of 1000 teabags available. I haven’t done the numbers to see if they are a good unit price (price/teabag).
Bushells tea bags have no ETA on the shelves of Woolies or Coles Sydney city and inner west stores. I was at three such supermarkets today.
Not the only Unilever tea brand, Lipton is another.
Assume the leaf tea shown as available has a similar blend. If brewing just for one an infuser might offer temporary relief.
A suggestion is Bushells’ is packaged in Indonesia with teas of various origins. The packaging should offer confirmation. We would need to ask Unilever the owner why?
Leaf shortages, factory issues, declining supermarket demand for the brand, low profitability?
Yes, even the round teabags are now out of stock at our local Woollies. Only loose tea is available.
Bushells Blue Label is now available in very few Woolworths’ stores in Sydney (I saw it today).
But my go-to product, “Australian Breakfast” remains MIA.
16DEC23
Breaking news:
By chance, today, I was at Roselands Shopping Centre in western Sydney. At Coles I found not only Bushells Blue Label, regular and strong, but also its Australian Breakfast. Hallelujah!
I then popped into Woolworths in the same centre and while they sell the Blue Label, regular and strong, they do not sell Australian Breakfast.
Checked our local Woollies today and they are totally out of Bushells tea, including loose leaf. The only Bushell’s branded tea available is Bushells Lan Choo Loose Leaf.
Every time that I go to Woolies or, in fact any supermarket, I check to see if they have any Bushells’ tea bags. As a testament to what was drummed into me when growing up, ie that “nothing is impossible,” I found that my local Woolies in Brisbane had some Blue Label tea bags (100 pack) when I went there yesterday. Well, that is that they had some until I took their one and only packet. Anyway, the cook will be happy now that she has a supply of her favourite brand. I have never been a tea drinker but apparently the different brands taste differently. Sort of how Coke and Pepsi taste differently, I suppose. 
BTW, whilst Woolies now has ample supplies of Bushells’ Tea Bags as evidenced by the shelves at my local Woolies, it is clear that there are still supply chain issues in play. That is because the place of manufacture of the tea is…wait for it…the United Arab Emirates!
I kid you not. Pick up a packet of the tea bags and have a look!
Welcome to the international supply chain.
For the northern part of the globe tea harvesting can last from March to Sept/Oct. Stockpiled and processed leaf would need to be sufficient to last through the off season to assure supply for tea bag filling.
Is it possible the multinational owners of Bushells - Unilever either:
There are other possibilities including any related to processing and packaging. Consumers can only speculate if Unilever or the retailers are saying little. Perhaps Unilever might respond to a Facebook post or two or of many thousands?
Checked ours earlier today and the shelves are still bare. The shelf has a label indicating that they are still temporarily unavailable. There was Blue Label loose leaf tea though.
That is where they will be blended and the tea bags are made. The previous ones were blended and packed in Indonesia. Bushells Tea is owned by the multinational Unilever, which also owns Lipton tea. Unilever has an automated process plant in Dubai (UAE) and this must be where they have shifted their Bushells Tea bagging operations.
