BOH Plantations

BOH Plantations Sdn Bhd (doing business as BOH) is the largest black tea manufacturer in Malaysia, with both domestic and international distribution. The BOH tea plantation, which is located in Cameron Highlands, Pahang, is also the largest tea plantation in the country.

BOH Plantations was founded in 1929 by J. A. Russell, a British-born businessman, during the British colonial era in Malaya. Russell arrived in Kuala Lumpur at age seven, in 1890; the country's primary export at the time was tin. Prior to BOH, Russell had worked in the Straits Trading Company, learning to speak several Chinese dialects (along with Malay) and making connections with wealthy Chinese tin miners. Besides investing in tin, Russell and his brothers (Philip, Donald, and Robert) put money in the nascent rubber industry in 1908. J. A. and Philip also invested in railway-related construction, including the new Kuala Lumpur railway station. In 1913, Russell purchased almost a third of the real estate in the town of Ipoh. He and Donald (a mining engineer from the Colorado School of Mines) founded a colliery at Batu Arang, Selangor, around 25 kilometres from the capital.