Tea | Tī
Time for a cuppa?
Whether you take it white, black or green – it’s a drink thousands of years old and enjoyed by millions. While it’s a life source for countless workers, the sector’s colonial legacy of poor wages and inadequate working conditions has been hard to shake.
A small leaf, some big problems
Tea is a multi-billion dollar industry with millions of workers. But often, the balance of power sits in the hands of just a few multinational tea brands.
Let’s break the problems down. The bulk of all the tea around the world comes from large plantations. The workers or ‘pluckers’ – who do all the tea leaf plucking – live nearby or on the estate. The conditions they face include very low wages and poor working conditions, this is especially tough when you’re there with your family, as is often the case. If you’re a small-scale farmer your issues may be a lack of bargaining power or decent agricultural tools. That’s where Fairtrade comes in.
Fairtrade collaborates with the estates and small-scale farmers to improve working conditions, wages and daily life for the workers. Fairtrade is also part of an international coalition to address the low wages of tea workers across the globe. So buying Fairtrade tea means you are supporting these initiatives and ultimately, the workers who tirelessly pluck away at all those tea crops.
Make a cup of Fairtrade tea. Make a difference.
After more than two decades working in the sector, here’s how far Fairtrade Tea has come:
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Farmers and workers in 11 countries work with Fairtrade
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Of all Fairtrade workers work in Fairtrade Tea
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The number of Fairtrade Tea producing organisations
Other Fairtrade products
Where to buy Fairtrade tea
We can guarantee you will find a Fairtrade tea out there that will tickle your fancy, just look for the Fairtrade Mark in the aisle where you find tea, coffee and other hot beverages.