Tea

Warm on a cold winter's day or chilled to beat the summer heat, your favorite tea starts with skilled workers on farms around the world. The cost of buying and cultivating seeds through harvest can be a heavy burden in developing nations. Fair Trade Certified tea estates are cooperatives made up of tea farmers who are able to gain access to credit, set fair prices for their products, and make democratic decisions about how to best improve their business, their community and their tea.

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Featured Producer

Putharjhora Tea Estate

Putharjhora lies in the plains beneath the fabled hills of Darjeeling. Literally meaning ‘stone streams’, the Putharjhora gardens are not only home to the tea workers, but also to the wild elephants that come from as far away as the Bhutan hills. Putharjhora specializes in CTC teas which are developed through the ‘cut, tear and curl’ method to the leaves.

Fair Trade Crucial Ingredient in Numi Organic Teas

A little more than a decade ago, two Iraqi American siblings were vacationing at the Grand Canyon when they decided to create a tea company that prized art and social justice.

Today, Numi Organic Tea in Oakland is the leading brand importer of fair-trade certified teas in the United States.

For co-founder Ahmed Rahim, the desire to build a people-focused company came out of his experience as a child growing up in Cleveland, the son of Iraqi immigrants.

San Francisco Chronicle: Fair Trade Crucial Ingredient in Numi Organic Teas

Fast Facts

New interest from major importers and brands, spurred by growing awareness and demand from consumers, propelled an average annual growth rate of 38 percent in tea imports from 2005 to 2008.