Chirolife said

Organic Tea

Who can recommend a good supplier/online shop for certified organic, sustainable tea varieties?

11 Replies
Rich select said

Yuuki Cha has some great organic Japaneseteaa.

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Arby said

Westholme tea farm (www.teafarm.ca/) and Tea Forte (https://www.teaforte.com/store/gourmet-tea/organic-tea/) offer some tasty organic teas.

Yunnan sourcing also does testing on all their teas for heavy metals and pesticides. Most of the little family farms they buy from can’t afford to get the official certification, but he only sells teas that don’t have pesticide or heavy metal residues.

On Yunnan Sourcing’s website there is no mention whatsoever about heavy metal testing, only pesticides. Any link?
I do buy from them and i’m sure it’s one of the safest sources; yet i wonder where you got the info about heavy metal residues and testing for it. It would be nice, but it seems it’s not the case; hope i’m wrong.

Arby said

Check out the European Commission’s Safety Standards for pesticide content. It includes heavy metals, that is what makes most pesticides dangerous. The less dangerous ones (usually not organic) are far safer because they are only toxic to certain organisms (insects or fungi, usually) and not mammals. Pesticides containing heavy metals are banned in most places because they are toxic to most/all life forms and do not degrade like synthesised compounds do. Luckily, the EU and most developed countries continue to ban dangerous broad spectrum pesticides in favour of safe alternatives. However, they are sometimes used overseas (or contaminated soil/water is used in the growing). Most regulatory committees mandate that food/consumables are tested for heavy metals, especially because imported items have a chance of being unsafe.

Here is a good place to start if you want to learn about which substances are being tested for by Yunnan Sourcing, and anyone else who follows the EU guidelines.
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:l21290
https://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/pesticides/max_residue_levels_en

But still yunnansourcing don’t do any heavymetal testing. And pestecides is a different. You can have no pestecides but heavy metal contamination easily

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I read the links; still: testing for pesticides imply testing individually for each pesticide. If you find one over the legal limit, it will bring with it it’s associated heavy metal content.
You are NOT testing specifically for heavy metals that might be there for other reasons or in other compounds, nor i suppose considering the total heavy metal content of all the pesticides that individually can be under the legal linmit.
Unfortunately there is no specific information on this at the links…
Still, to quote your first message: “Yunnan sourcing also does testing on all their teas for heavy metals and pesticides.”; thisi is not corerect, as they only test for pesticides and they declare so. To find heavy metals while testing for pesticides is NOT the same thing as specifically testing for heavy metals…

Arby said

If you aren’t satisfied with pesticide testing and the heavy metal testing the EU standard specifies, you are welcome to do your own research on what YS and other companies test for, or you can find tea companies that specify they do not do testing.

If you are really curious, you can email the store owner. I was just providing information, I’m not here to argue with you.

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AllanK said

Your post makes me realize I don’t know a single tea shop that specializes in organic teas and I have bought from many web stores. I know of a couple that test for pesticides and offer some organic teas but none that sell them exclusively. I do know that when you buy from China and buy an organic tea unless your source is very reliable like Yunnan Sourcing they may be organic but by what standard? There are quite a few standards for organic, some more stringent than others. Organic Chinese teas have a reputation for low grade organic certificates that don’t meet the American or EU standards.

Arby said

I’ve heard that the organic standards for China can’t be trusted, but I think if they are imported into EU or North am. then they can’t be sold as organic if they don’t also fit the local standards. The Chinese regulatory body seem to compare themselves to other standards (or at least plans to aim towards them), but does not provide a lot of information on the subject.
http://www.ioas.org/certification_body/organic-food-development-certification-center-of-china/

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jamin said

When researching pesticides in tea recently, I ran across the blog from 7 Cups Teahouse. There was lots of information in there about this subject. Some points were that tea being properly exported from China is tested to a higher standard than tea sold within China (meaning that small packages of tea shipped direct to us from China are not tested whereas tea we buy from US vendors that are importing in bulk are tested). Chinese organic standards are modeled after EU standards and are more stringent than USDA standards. China in general didn’t follow the western industrial farming practices that were brought to India, Africa etc (it’s not black and white, and things are constantly changing but for the most part China has a larger percent of smaller farms than other places). China seems to be serious about their tea (the head of the China version of the FDA got his brains blown out over a controversy involving tea tainted with pesticides). I didn’t fact check any of this so take it or leave it. I’d recommend reading the blog.

It’s a nuanced subject this pesticide thing. Wish it were easier to navigate. I appreciate any feedback or any suggestions on resources to look at.

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jamin said

To answer the original question:

Camellia Sinensis teahouse seems to be a good source for og teas (retail and wholesale) I haven’t tried any but have heard a few podcasts with one of the owners and he sounds pretty dedicated to safe and environmentally friendly teas. (Talking Tea Podcast).

I’ve enjoyed some good teas from Rishi over the years. They are most if not all og.

7 Cups, haven’t tried but they personally guarantee that every tea they sell whether certified or not is clean of any agrochemicals.

Taiwan Sourcing hasn’t been mentioned yet on this thread. Same guy as Yunnan Sourcing involved in TS. Have bought and enjoyed certified og black and oolongs from here.

Tealet for wholesale.

Essence of Tea seems to be very good at sourcing clean teas and their quality (in my limited so far experience) is top notch.

Song Tea
Silk road has some og.

What types of tea specifically are you looking for?

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