Brewing Up

With Savis Tea, Lily Gunawan seeks to grab market for Indonesian premium tea.

- Marella Putri

Indonesia is the seventh-largest tea producer in the world with an output of over 140,000 tonnes ac-cording to a report by the country’s statistic agency (BPS) in 2017. The tea tradition in Indonesia was introduced during the Dutch colonial era, but the type that ordinary people consumed was what was left over from the good tea cultivation. The leaves no longer had their own natural sweet scent and flavor, so people blended them with jasmine and added sugar, thus creating the tea that is now consumed nationwide. However, founder and CEO of Savis Tea (PT Ara Savis Sejahtera) Lily Gunawan wants to introduce the goodness—as its name suggests—of Indonesian premium tea to local people and the world.

Growing up in a family that ran a giant tea business in Indonesia, consuming tea was pretty much an inseparable part of Lily’s life. Lily’s grandfather was the founder of Kepala Djenggot (PT Gunung Subur Sejahtera) a traditional tea brand dating back to 1951. The business was continued by her father until he passed away in 2010, which was also a turning point for Lily, who had been a dentist up until then, to take over the almost seven-decades old company as the CEO.

Her appreciation for Indonesia’s boundless culture and her attention to health and art led to her taking a new step in spreading the

tea culture in the country. In 2015, Lily founded Savis Tea, a premium tea brand under separate management from Kepala Djenggot. The brand is manufactured in Solo.

“Savis presents a combination of tradition, art, and innovation, from the local tea culture and the art of blending and mixing tea, to five-sense pleasing packaging. Moreover, tea is a healthy drink, so why not start something premium about it?” says Lily.