IT’S ALWAYS TIME FOR A TEA! We make no secret of the fact we’re super proud of our tea range! Of course, we’re a little bit biased, but we’re here today to give you SIX reasons why our tea is the best of the best!
1
The history of fair trade tea in the UK dates back to 1979, when WE imported the very first fair trade cuppa into the country. Being the first to import and sell fair trade tea, we proved that people were keen to pay a premium to make sure the producers had a better deal. Even in the 1980s, tea tasted all that much better for it. We’re so proud of how far our journey with fair trade tea has come.
2
It’s been harvested by carefully selected, traditional farmers in East Africa, who are able to provide for their families and communities thanks to the fair wages they receive for their tea leaves. Many of the smallholders that our suppliers 10 traidcraftshop.co.uk
work with have farmer-owned factories, which means that they earn better returns for their work. See here to meet some of them for yourselves! Conversely, a lot of non-fair trade tea is produced on large plantations and estates across India, East Africa, and Sri Lanka, and is picked by employed labourers who endure long hours for notoriously low wages. In countries like Kenya and Sri Lanka, most of the tea is grown on smallholder farms, which are often less than half a football pitch in size. These smallholder farmers find it nearly impossible to compete with the large plantations, who always own and control the tea processing facilities which are essential in handling the
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perishable tea leaf, which has to be processed within 24 hours. In return for their handpicked, garden-grown tea, the smallholders receive low and unstable prices from either the large plantations, or the international broker companies. These growers earn a tiny fraction of the price their tea is sold for on the international market, and frequently end up trapped in a cycle of debt and dependence.
3
The full range is Great Taste Award-winning. Did you know Great Taste is the largest and most trusted food and drink accreditation scheme. Only around 2% of products entered each year, receive the highest award of 3 stars.
