In a world full of bad news here is something rather wonderful...
In a world where we often feel powerless to help, here is something we can do together to make our lives immeasurably better and support one of the best tea gardens in the world.
Jun Chiyabari Tea Garden
Jun Chiyabari Tea Garden
Nepal
#teachange
Prepurchase an entire harvest...
As part of our #teachange campaign we are asking for your help to reshape the tea world and support a tea community directly – by pre-purchasing a harvest together.
Between now and the end of October we are taking orders for a special 2020 Autumn harvest that will be picked and crafted over the next few weeks in the Nepali Himalayas at Jun Chiyabari.
They will make a special handcrafted black tea from the finest autumn tips - just for us. Something truly unique and exceptional.
This is an exclusive and limited harvest, please order now to ensure availability.
A black tea that is beautifully rich yet light. Highly aromatic; fruity with deep chocolate notes. It sounds rather good doesn’t it? The autumn harvest at Jun Chiyabari is incredible, and these hand-crafted tips exemplify why this special terroir is so precious and why their tea is considered some of the very best in the world.
We have been working with these wonderful people led by Bachan, Lochan and Morris, for a decade and we have such a deep love and respect for all that they do – we would like to support them as much as possible.
But we need your help to do this.
All our teas are harvests purchased directly from farms and we ship, pack, warehouse and supply them to you across the world over the coming year. But we have suffered with our friends and customers in hotels, restaurants, cafés and bars across the world facing lockdowns that have closed or vastly reduced their business. We sadly find ourselves in a position where we can’t buy as much as tea as we would like to support our farms.
We have always had to find new ways.
Back in the early years of Rare Tea Company, Henrietta got a contract to supply tea to a major retailer, but she didn’t have the funds to buy the tea. The banks laughed at her. It was during the banking crisis of 2008 and there was no lending to small businesses; crowdfunding wasn’t yet a thing.
Henrietta contacted her best customers (in those early days she knew them all; she used to make up every internet order herself, early adopters will remember her often illegible handwritten notes and hair caught in the packing tape).
You got her through and lent her the money.
Some years later Rare Tea is bigger but still an indomitable independent business. We continue to work direct with farms and to reach out directly to our customers. This direct collaboration between farm, tea company and customer we hope will forge a new model and disrupt the status quo dominated by the big industry players.
7 companies supply around 90% of the tea sold in Europe and North America. That tea passes between them and through many hands before it reaches the consumer. The vast majority of tea communities supplying this tea continue to live in poverty.
And it doesn’t have to stay with just you. This makes a marvellous Christmas gift delivered in time, wherever you are in the world.
For a pound a day you can help ensure the future of a farm.
£365 gives you a kilo of tea; 400 pots; at least 800 cups.
That’s enough for an amazing pot of tea every day for a year; and enough extra to share when your very good friends come to tea.
Also available 300g for £110 and 500g for £185.
Included in your box will be a storage tin to keep the tea fresh and a card that tells the story of this tea. The box can be shipped anywhere in the world your loved ones might be, and includes a personalised gift message.
