Whatever your meal is, be sure you drink Teh Botol (Bottled Tea), this is somewhat the rough English translation of the tagline of Indonesia’ s most renowned beverage, Teh Botol. Having a history of approximately 40 years, Teh Botol consists of Jasmine tea, sugar, and water, a very simple formula, which became Indonesia’s idea of a thirst quencher. So how did this initiator of bottled tea come to existence?

History has it that in 1940, Sosrodjojo, father of Soetjipto, started his business in a small town in central Java, Slawi. When he started his business, the product that he sold was dry tea with the brand name Teh Cap Botol. The distribution was limited in areas in central Java.

In 1953 Sosrodjojo started expanding his business to Jakarta with the strategy ‘Cicip Rasa’ (Taste the flavour). He went to markets to introduce the Teh Cap Botol by brewing it in place, which then he would distribute to the people in the market. However, this strategy didn’t quite succeed due to tea that was served too hot or the serving time which according to customers took time. With persistence, Sosrodjojo made a change in plan by pouring the ready-to-consume Jasmine tea in pots and pans, this plan didn’t prove to be successful as the large pots would spill over on the way before reaching the market.

His last grand idea was a winner, he came up with an idea to pour the brewed tea into a clean used soft drink bottles.  And in 1970, this bottled tea was mass produced. The Sosro family then established PT. Sinar Sosro in 1974 in which they claim as the first bottled tea in the world

The packaging of Teh Botol Sosro was revised three times, in the year 1970, 1972, and in 1974, which is the last design that you see today.