Heaven of Tea

In last week’s post, we brought attention to our CARE® in Every Tea Leaf/ EquaTradeTM Program that we founded in order to create social change and assist women and children who are so deeply involved in the tea growing communities. We donate 1% of our annual sales to fund education, access to safe drinking water, and economic development opportunities.

In 2010, India is being added to the list of areas supported by EquaTradeTM. As we work towards funding a new, long-term project in India, we wanted to enlighten our readers about their world and share why we so passionately care about empowering them and changing their future.

According to certain historical documents, tea has been harvested and consumed in India since the 12th century. The Camellia Sinensis plant (tea plant) was a wild plant grown and brewed in India for thousands of years. In 1820, the British East India Company transformed vast portions of land in India for mass tea production, however, they lost their power over the land in 1874 and India regained power.

Known for their black tea from the Assam and Darjeeling regions, we are familiar with the champagne of teas, Darjeeling, Masala Chai, and the most popular black tea, Assam. Even though we may be familiar with the tea growing regions, we need to take a closer look beyond the sip to see how we can help the lives of those women and children who are risking their lives to pick the tea.

Fast forward to present day, the tea industry in India is one of the largest around the world. Although the tea producers are technologically equipped and offer advanced methods, many of the women and children who support this industry through their tireless labor live in impoverished conditions. Women have suffered from severe illness and sometimes death from contaminated drinking water on countless tea estates. The incredible poverty has also lead to a rising number starvation deaths amongst children.

As we become more aware of these horrendous conditions, we are determined to help these women and children via funds from CARE® in Every Tea Leaf/ EquaTradeTM Program to not only restore their living conditions, but to also empower them to build better futures for the next generation.