Tea News from 2017 Revisited: Four Headlines and What Happened Next
First published January 3, 2017 as a weekly tea news roundup. Updated October 15, 2026: each headline now has a short note on what happened next, with figures checked in October 2026.
At the start of 2017 I scrolled through tea news and saved four headlines: a $1,499 smart tea machine, a TV debate on what tea pickers earn, bath teas flooding Etsy, and the first UK tea price rise in about ten years. Nearly a decade on, here is how each story turned out.
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Then and now · 2017 → 2026
Nine years later: how the four stories moved
Tracked from this post’s first publication in January 2017 to October 2026.
Assam tea estate minimum wage, rupees a day (Brahmaputra valley)
Up 104% in rupees before inflation, yet still about three US dollars a day.
Teforia, the smart tea infuser
- 2016Raises $12 million
- JAN 2017Sells for $1,499; pitched as the Keurig of tea
- OCT 2017Shuts down; last machines go for $199
- 2025Adagio Teas revives the brand
UK tea prices
Bath teas
Sources: Assam Labour Department notifications as reported by PTI and NewsClick; TechCrunch, Fortune and The Spoon (Teforia); UK Tea and Infusions Association, The Grocer and Quenelles (UK prices). Wages are nominal.
Teforia, the $1,499 smart tea infuser
The 2017 headline: Teforia’s founder and CEO, Allen Han, told the Los Angeles Times he hoped his $1,499 tea infuser would become as popular as the Keurig is for coffee.
What happened next: Teforia shut down on October 27, 2017, after raising roughly $17 million, saying it could not raise enough to keep teaching people why they needed the machine. The last infusers sold off at $199, and a final firmware update let owners brew their own loose leaf instead of the company’s tea pods. In 2025 Adagio Teas announced it had revived Teforia and was selling the infuser again.
By most accounts the machine brewed well; it was named the best electric tea brewing device at World Tea Expo in 2017. But loose-leaf tea never needed a computer. A glass mug with a steel infuser or a porcelain gaiwan gives you the same control over time and strength for a small fraction of the price.
The real cost of a cup of tea
The 2017 headline: Al Jazeera’s The Stream asked who pays for cheap tea, with a focus on pickers’ wages on Indian tea estates. The episode is still online:
What happened next: In Assam, India’s largest tea-growing state, the minimum daily wage on tea estates in the Brahmaputra valley was 137 rupees when this post first ran. It rose to 167 in 2018, to 205 in 2021 (a promised 217 was blocked in court), to 232 in 2022 and 250 in 2023. Since April 1, 2026 it is 280 rupees a day, and 258 in the Barak valley. That is a little over three US dollars for a day of picking the leaf that fills much of the world’s breakfast tea.
The most direct thing a tea drinker can do is buy from sellers who name the estate or farm behind each tea; I keep a list of them in where to buy loose tea online.
Bath teas
The 2017 headline: Simplemost reported that bath teas, sachets of dried flowers, herbs and salts that you steep in the tub, were flooding Etsy.
What happened next: Bath teas stuck around and are still easy to find from small soap and herb makers. They are also simple to make: fill an unbleached paper tea filter or a large mesh tea infuser with dried chamomile, lavender, rolled oats or a couple of used green tea bags, and let it steep in the bath. They are for soaking, not for drinking, and if your skin is sensitive, try a small amount first.
UK tea prices rise for the first time in ten years
The 2017 headline: British tea makers warned that the weak pound after the Brexit vote would push up the price of tea for the first time in about a decade, as the Daily Express reported.
What happened next: The rise came. In January 2017 the UK Tea and Infusions Association put an ordinary cup at two to three pence; by the end of that year supermarket tea sales were growing in value only because prices had gone up. Prices have kept creeping since: in August 2026 the food benchmarking firm Quenelles found tea bags 11% dearer than in 2022. Growers see little of it. Kenyan tea averaged about $2.28 a kilo at the Mombasa auction in the first half of 2026.
If you are watching prices, my guide to matcha alternatives covers Japanese green teas that cost 50 cents to $1.60 a cup.
Frequently asked questions
Teforia shut down in October 2017 after raising about $17 million, and its last machines sold for $199. Adagio Teas revived the infuser in 2025.
Since April 1, 2026 the minimum daily wage on Assam tea estates is 280 rupees in the Brahmaputra valley and 258 rupees in the Barak valley, a little over three US dollars.
Yes. Prices began rising in 2017 after about ten years without increases, and a 2026 study found tea bags 11% more expensive than in 2022.
A sachet of dried flowers, herbs, oats or salts that you steep in bath water. It is for soaking, not for drinking.
Read next
- Tea news roundup, week 5
- Tea news digest — global tea culture and industry stories
- Tea culture stories from around the world
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