Tea and the environment

We're hugely concerned with the impact of our tea on the environment. It's probably quite important to you too that your daily brew is high quality and not environmentally damaging, so we'll keep this page updated with links and information.

Carbon footprint of our Chinese tea

Evidence suggests that drinking loose-leaf Chinese tea is extremely low-carbon when compared to other drinks like traditional tea-bag tea, or soft drinks. In-depth studies show that the biggest carbon impact is seen at the end of the consumption chain (ie. in packaging or in the home).

However, a loose-leaf tea made traditionally with less intensive farming and processing methods is usually less carbon intensive than a factory produced tea - it means you've already made a good start if you've switched from tea bags to loose-leaf teas.

Air shipping impact

Our teas are shipped by air from China to the UK. Obviously, this does have an impact on the carbon footprint of our tea, but it's an unavoidable process - for our teas to remain fresh and high quality, they must be shipped quickly from China to our warehouse in the UK.

What can you do in the home?

It might suprise you, but in the life-cycle of a cup of tea (PDF), the largest carbon producer is you, in the home! Luckily, there's a few things you can do to help improve the carbon profile of your tea:

  • Brew only enough water to fill your cup
  • Re-brew your tea leaves (good tea like ours will not lose its flavour)
  • Try to reuse your tea leaves after, in compost or in other ways
  • Recycle any packaging the tea comes in.
  • Store your tea correctly to reduce wastage

Interestingly, one huge factor in the carbon footprint of a tea is whether you take milk. Because of the high impact of milk production and transport, taking tea without milk will make a huge difference. Luckily, most Chinese teas are best without milk, so you're already starting out on the right foot!