About Us
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The first ever bottle with Founder, Annie Young |
Springleaf® was founded by Annie Young with the help of husband, Matt, when she decided to rebalance her life by leaving a corporate career to brew and market a new iced tea concept, allowing her to create a product she believed in, while spending more time with her young children.
A Lifestyle Change
Annie’s son William (then 3) suffered a severe asthma attack while at day care. He was taken to hospital for emergency treatment but neither Annie nor Matt was able to reach William for 5 hours because both were out of the state on business.
The experience was a turning point for Annie, who decided to leave her office career behind, to found the Springleaf iced tea business.
Annie was formerly employed in sales roles in large companies. Travelling constantly, there was rarely a week when Annie was home to spend time with her whole family together.
How Springleaf was Invented
Annie first made real leaf iced tea for friends in her Balmain mothers' group one hot day in February 2003.
When the drink went down well, she began to brew the new iced tea in 30 litre batches (using Matt’s home brewing kit!) The drink became popular with rowers at Balmain Rowing Club, where Annie and Matt are members, and Annie became interested in the potential for a new and different drink.
The Springleaf iced tea production process is literally like brewing and bottling a very big pot of tea - just with some juice added at the end. In fact, when a Springleaf brew is prepared, it is now the largest pot of tea in the Southern Hemisphere.
Springleaf Growth
Since the first commercial production in October 2005, the business has taken off. The regular fresh-brew tea production has increased from 500 litres in a day to over 2000 litres, to keep pace with booming demand for healthy and natural alternative drinks.
Since starting Springleaf iced tea, Annie has become extremely interested in the potential for tea to contribute to an overall improvement in the Australian diet. She is now a campaigner who is passionately committed to telling the world the good news about tea and its health benefits.
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