Put the water on

Who is EWTC/Yogi Tea?

Our company was founded to benefit people’s lives. We create healthy products, do good in our communities, and promote the wellbeing of people around the world. The generous spirit of Ayurvedic remedies drives our pursuit of excellence.

Our sustainability strategy is the culmination of this mission. Quality sourcing, responsible packaging, and a commitment to ethical practices brings goodness to everyone touched by our work.

To put it simply: We are a tea company devoted to providing you the best tea we can, enhanced by all the good energy that ethical business practices can provide.

Our corporate structure:

In the U.S. and Canada, we are East West Tea Company:

TeaPak blends, packages, and distributes our teas throughout Europe: In Europe, we are Yogi Tea GmbH:

Meet our Brand Managers

Yogi US

My name is Meghan Hastie. As the Brand Manager for Yogi in the US, I have the opportunity to inspire our consumers in supporting their well-being with our deliciously flavorful wellness teas that are good for both body and mind – all while striving to do good for people and the planet.

Choice Organics US

My name is Carla Marchese and I have had the pleasure to be Choice Organics’ Brand Manager since June 2021. I bring our Live Fully positioning to life, use our delicious and unique organic blends to fill the tea category with excitement, and do my part to create a world that’s better off because we’re in it.

Hot Tea Europe

My name is Jenny von Eynern. As Marketing Manager for Hot Tea in Europe I have the pleasure of nurturing and developing our unique and delicious brands alongside great colleagues. I’m always aiming to bring excitement and positivity into people’s tea cups, and to be a mindful inspiration every day.

The new Choice Organics tea

The first American tea producer to use exclusively organic and nonGMO ingredients, Choice Organics was welcomed into the Yogi Tea family in 2019. With our company’s focus on sustainability and high-quality standards, Choice was bound to fit in perfectly as the fun and bold little sister to Yogi Tea.

While Yogi elevates wellness tea blends with functional health benefits, Choice Organics is keenly focused on offering consumers amazing tasting teas from tried-and-true staples like English Breakfast to flavorful, unexpected blends like Grapefruit Honeybush. Sustainably sourced from around the world, Choice teas are carefully balanced to perfection for a delicious cup every time, with blooming flavor in every sip.

Let’s be honest:

Tea production’s sustainability challenges

Sustainability begins with transparency. We have a lot of great initiatives to share, but first we want to explain the challenges that our efforts address. After all, this was the first step on our sustainability journey: We can’t fix problems if we don’t understand what they are.

We think it’s important to share this knowledge. Everyone – producers, consumers, and everyone in between – should know where we stand. To that end, the following is an honest, unfiltered look at the sustainability challenges tea production creates. Consider this our to-do list of things we’re changing for the better – the starting line in our race to sustainability.

It starts with us: Our production facilities

As manufacturers of tea, our impact begins with the creation of waste during the manufacturing process. Our two production facilities, in Eugene, Oregon, and Imola, Italy, have designated Green Teams to track our waste streams.

Here’s a snapshot of their findings during 2021.

Eugene HQ: generated 255,416 lbs (115,855 kgs) of trash Eugene HQ: composted 51,270 lbs (23,256 kgs) of organic material

Eugene HQ: used 1,871,000 gallons of water TeaPak: generated 214,384 lbs (97,243 kgs) of trash TeaPak: recycled 301,413 lbs (136,719 kgs) of material

In transit: Tea on the move

Making great tea means finding the best ingredients from the right farms. Our blends use nearly 200 different botanicals from sources around the world! Sharing such rich diversity means lots of travel: Global shipping generates both CO2 and packaging waste as our ingredients travel from farm to cup.

Transportation emissions 2021: 10,000 tons CO2

To get rooibos from fields in Graafwater, South Africa, to our European processing plant in Imola, Italy, and on to stores in London, it must travel – at a minimum! – about 9,700 kilometers.

At the farm: Growing pains

In Kerala, India, foragers couldn’t harvest sarsaparilla due to climate change-related flooding. In Assam, tea estates risk losing their organic status as farmers struggle to contain pest outbreaks.

Changing weather patterns worldwide threaten generations of traditional farming practices. Covid-19, drought, difficulties in global shipping, persistent economic inequality – it is a difficult time to be a farmer.

Topsoil degradation:

Conventional agricultural methods make soil a little less fertile every year, as all its nutrients are given to crops without ever being replenished. Eventually, it becomes dead land – spoiled by extractive agricultural practices. (See page 24 for a regenerative solution)

Our global impact

Measuring our carbon footprint

ADDRESSING OUR GLOBAL CARBON FOOTPRINT

Last year we brought in a leading environmental consultancy group, Quantis, to investigate the full scope of our greenhouse gas emissions for 2020.

These emissions are a measure of our contribution to global climate change. Quantis measured all greenhouse gases that we emit, and, for ease of understanding, reported their findings in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide.

Our footprint includes our own facilities as well as more distant sources, like emissions generated when water is boiled to make a cup of our tea. This was a big step in taking responsibility for our carbon footprint: With this information we can direct our energy where it is needed the most.

Our goal is to reduce our emissions as much as possible. Plans are already in the works to target each of the listed categories and work intentionally to reduce our footprint. Updates will be forthcoming on our websites and social media over the coming year!

Tea brewing accounts for 37% of our total emissions.

Corporate footprint contributions

Tea brewing End of Life ingredients Upstream transportation Capital goods Packaging Downstream transportation and ... Ingredients End of Life packaging Manufacturing site electricity... Employee commuting Waste generated in operations Business travels Manufacturing site Natural Gas...

0 10’000 Carbon Footprint (t CO2 eq./year)

83,825 tons of Co2-eq

20’000 30’000

Source: Quantis

Envelopes, the paper sleeves containing our tea bags, are our most impactful packaging item. Cardamon is our most impactful ingredient.

Ready for some good news?

Now that you know what we’re up against, here’s what we’re doing about it. The following section details how we’re rising to these challenges by working intentionally to heal, empower, and unite.