As an e-commerce-led SME, tea retailer, JP’s Originals, faced the challenge of implementing a secure and reliable online payment system that could integrate seamlessly with its Shopify website. Ensuring payments were easy to set up, simple to manage and scalable for growth was a key priority. JP’s Originals selected Worldpay eCommerce to overcome this challenge, enabling fast and secure online payment processing. JP’s Originals’ Founder, Urvashi Agarwal, speaks about the heritage of the brand and how the payments system has met the business’ specific needs.
JP’s Originals’ Founder, Urvashi Agarwal, was inspired by her grandfather, Jaideo Prasad (JP), a well-respected tea grower in India, to create JP’s Originals to make authentic teas accessible with an emphasis on provenance, sustainability and plastic-free packaging. The company also offers CBD-infused blends, a range developed after Urvashi experienced a health issue and subsequently actively sought natural wellness solutions.
Agarwal always felt disappointed with the tea offerings from retailers, so she sought to create a brand that would really stand out from the crowd. The focus was incredibly simple: high quality, whole leaf teas with transparency on leaf grading and provenance.
Agarwal offers her diverse range of products online through the JP’s Originals website, and they are also available at major retailers, including Harrods, Daylesford and Whole Foods.
It was important that when it came to JP’s business, the payment system Agarwal selected would have to be very easy to integrate with its Shopify-based website and accept CBD products. She was looking for a worldwide brand she could trust. This is where Worldpay came in.
JP’s Originals uses Worldpay eCommerce for processing fast, secure online payments, and Worldpay Dashboard for valuable insights and a view of each stage of the payment process in real-time – from transactions to settlement to invoicing. Worldpay was able to advise on the best course of action to take in addressing the business payments needs, and for Agarwal, Worldpay’s reputation in the payments industry provided a source of comfort for both her and her clients.
Agarwal took the time to answer further questions from Intelligent SME.tech.
What initially prompted you to set up JP’s Originals?
JP’s Originals came from a mix of personal discovery and family inspiration. I used to be a massive coffee addict but when I started exploring the world of tea, I realised how much more there was to it in terms of quality, flavour and ritual. I had also become increasingly frustrated by the tea available through mainstream retailers and felt there was a gap for something better.
I wanted to create a brand focused on quality, with transparency around provenance and leaf grading because that level of detail is so often missing in tea. I was inspired by my grandfather, Jaideo Prasad, who was a respected tea grower in India. That connection made me want to create a brand that could make authentic, high-quality tea more accessible for everyday drinking.
How important is provenance to you and why?
Provenance is at the heart of what JP’s Originals stands for. Tea has a rich story behind it, from where it is grown to how it is produced and I wanted to build a business that respected that. For me, provenance matters because transparency is a big part of how we build trust with customers. Every ingredient in our tea comes from the most premium sources which makes our tea taste authentic. It also ties closely to our wider focus on sustainability and thoughtful packaging.
Tell me more about your grandfather and his tea growing business.
My grandfather, Jaideo Prasad, was a well-respected tea grower in India and a big inspiration behind JP’s Originals. He dedicated his life to the tea gardens in Assam. The business is named in part as a tribute to him, and that heritage helped shape my thinking around authenticity, quality and provenance from the beginning. More broadly, tea runs through my family history. My great-grandfather, Hanumanbux Kanoi, helped pioneer the technique of planting tea by hand in India and was awarded the Padma Shri in 1965 for his contribution to trade and industry.
For me, JP’s Originals is not just inspired by my grandfather as an individual, but by a much longer family connection.
How has CBD helped you?
Our CBD, sourced in the UK, offers an accessible way of consumption that is enjoyable, calming and relaxing. My interest in CBD came after I experienced a health issue and started looking more actively at natural wellness solutions. That led me to develop our CBD-infused blends as part of the range. It was about exploring products that could sit naturally within a broader wellbeing offer and responding to something I had become personally interested in. Since introducing it into our products, we have been able to use CBD-infused blends for battling pain and inflammation, skin issues, daily stresses and to help people sleep.
Why did you choose Worldpay, now Global Payments?
We needed a payment partner that could support the specific needs of our business, accept international currencies so customers could shop online wherever they are and give customers confidence at checkout – a trusted global brand like Worldpay does exactly that.
In practical terms, our website is built on Shopify and because we do not have an in-house developer, we needed a provider that would be straightforward to integrate. That combination of practicality, customer reassurance and ease made Worldpay the right fit for us.
How does Worldpay, now Global Payments, make it easier to run your business day-to-day?
The set-up was simple and the platform does exactly what we need it to do. Once we had been onboarded, it was simply a case of downloading the plug-in, integrating it with our Shopify website and getting up and running quickly.
It has also been helpful having a team that took the time to understand the business properly. We had good conversations with Worldpay about what the business currently does, what we want to do and what we needed from a payment processor. From there, they were able to advise us on the best plan for the business and the right way to move forward, which was really valuable.
From a day-to-day management perspective, I also find the dashboard useful because it gives me access to everything in one place. I like the fact that I receive a statement every month and can clearly see what I am being charged for, which makes things much easier to track. The support has been strong throughout, and it feels like we have the right solution in place for the business.
What’s next for JP’s Originals?
As a small B-Corp certified brand focussed on luxury sustainability, we are continuing to grow by finding partners that have the same business ethos as us. We are also working on growing our product offering by always researching the best tea blends and ingredients. For JP’s, the sky is the limit, who knows, you may be served us on a plane next!
