Wissotzky’s Russian Tea

The Wissotzky Tea Company was founded in Moscow in 1849 by Kalman (Kalonymus) Ze’ev Wissotzky, a tea trader who changed his name to Wulf Yankelevich Wissotzky. In the early 1890s, the company opened branches in Odessa and Simferopol; by 1898 W. Wissotzky and Co. owned six tea-packing factories. In 1904, the company opened offices in Germany, France, the United States, and Canada. Three years later, The Anglo-Asiatic Company Ltd., with headquarters in London, was established. Wissotzky was a member of the Ḥoveve Tsiyon movement who supported the Jewish National Fund and Hebraist and Zionist work of various sorts. He bequeathed his share in the company to these ends as well, contributing to the construction of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. After the October Revolution, the Wissotzky Tea Company was nationalized and its properties were confiscated. David Wissotzky, who was then the head of the company, left Russia and continued his business abroad. Today, the company operates out of Israel.