Michael said

Compiling a list of organic/ chemical free & sustainably cultivated tea sources

The tea drinking experience for me is deeply personal & meditative. Tea drinking sessions offer me time to step aside from my thinking and experience my senses to be present. Im sure many of you feel similar and also drink tea everyday (or a few times per day…). Thinking about how much tea I consume (and how much collectively we consume together) I have been trying to make myself more aware of how teas are grown, where, and the environmental impacts of big business tea. I don’t want to drink teas that have been cultivated with chemicals/pesticides, especially for the amount that I drink daily.

The tea drinking experience is deeper and more personal for me when I know a little bit about the farm, the farmer and how he/she grows and processes their teas.

That said I am looking for companies that sell tea from small farmers who cultivate responsibly and without chemicals.

Does anyone have a list of places to buy tea that would meet these requirements?

If not we can start it here!

7 Replies
LuckyMe said

Check out this thread: http://steepster.com/discuss/6276-pesticides-in-tea

Many of the popular tea shops on Steepster buy from small farms that grows teas sustainably without the use of chemicals.

Michael said

Thank you !

Login or sign up to post a message.

AllanK said

Yunnan Sourcing tests all of its current teas for pesticides but I don’t know if it’s just their puerh or if it includes black tea etc. I’m not sure when they started testing but it was either 2013 or 2014 I think. I think the US retailer puerhshop also tests the teas they sell for pesticides. At least I remember seeing something about it on their website.

AllanK said

I should add I mean the Yunnan Sourcing brand teas.

Michael said

I just checked out the yunnan sourcing page, thanks for the reply! I noticed that they had a whole page on organic teas they carry. Looks like they even have some organic 2015 spring harvest teas. awesome! thank you

AllanK said

Even many of their non organic teas are tested for pesticides. They test all their current batch of Yunnan Sourcing Brand teas. I don’t think they test other brands. I think they began testing in 2013 but am not sure.

LuckyMe said

I emailed them about this once and Scott replied that the tea farms that supply their tea do not use chemical pesticides. It’s reassuring to know they take the extra step of testing for pesticides as well.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.