Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Earth Day Tip #2 - Choose Kind Tea

Happy Earth Day! I hope you take time to reflect today on the bountiful goodness from the earth.

Earth tip #2: Choose kind tea. I've thought a lot about my love of tea. Sometimes, I fret over it. Tea travels a very long way to get to me, which uses tons (literally) of nonrenewable resources. Yet, I continue to purchase this simple evergreen leaf. I try to be conscious in my choice, meaning that I try to purchase teas that are grown on plantations that are kind - both to the earth and to the people who live and work there.

When possible, I encourage you to consider purchasing tea that is certified as either fair trade or from a plantation that is credentialed from the ethical tea partnership (ETP). (Serendipity Teas come from ETP plantations.) Moreover, it's a good idea to support organic teas when they are available.

Tea in an inexpensive luxury. The few pennies extra we may pay to support the items above go a long way toward shaping the tea industry of the future. And it just feels good! Here's to happy tea drinking!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't notice Tea G on the list on the ETP site... does that mean they don't participate?

Steph said...

Good question! Tea Gschwendner does not appear to be part of ETA. You can read about Tea G's philosophies in the "About Us" and "Quality" sections of its website.

I will say that Tea G has an extensive list of organic teas, and I was impressed with that.

Anonymous said...

I had not hear of the ETP. Thank you for sharing this and for your always-thoughtful blog!

La Tea Dah said...

I agree with all you said, and thank you for the link to the ETP site. I am still learning about fair trade practices and haven't been certain as to how to determine sources of such. My sister has visited tea plantations during trips the past two winters and shares with me the needs of the workers. This is a very worthy cause. Thank you for your post!

LaTeaDah