TETLEY
Canada’s largest tea company has been bogged down by bad press. Last year, an investigation by Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute chronicled widespread abuse at two dozen plantations supplying the tea giant. CBC Marketplace found pesticide residues in Tetley, Lipton, Twinings, Uncle Lee’s Legends of China, No Name and King Cole, among other brands. Half the products tested failed to meet Canadian limits for pesticides. (Red Rose, by the way, was the only tea tested that was pesticide-free and should be entirely Rainforest Alliance certified in 2015.). Since then, Tetley’s owner, Tata Global, announced pilot studies on phasing out pesticide use. However, Unilever (which owns Lipton and Red Rose) has made a firmer commitment to go 100 per cent sustainable by 2020.
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CELESTIAL SEASONINGS
This big-name herbal tea brand pushes a cuddly bear image, but its sourcing policies aren’t all that sweet. It offers countless “100% natural” teas, but very few are organic. The company maintains it regularly tests to ensure pesticide levels fall under government limits. But it’s actually facing a false advertising suit for claiming to be natural when one report by an investment research group found pesticide residues in 91 per cent of its teas. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says herbal teas are generally lower in pesticides than oolong or white. Nevertheless, it’d be nice to see more than five certified organic, fair-trade teas in CS’s roster. Its unrecyclable plastic K-cup pods should be avoided.
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CHOICE ORGANIC/NUMI
There’s a lot of certified organic tea on the market, and a little fair trade, but Seattle-based Choice Tea offers over 60 teas that are both. California-based Numi, which blends some of the most creative teas out there (think tomato mint black tea and chocolate earl grey) are also entirely organic, and half are certified fair trade. Not to oversell the benefits of fair trade certification (just check out controversial research on Indian tea plantations by human rights prof Peter Rosenblum), but fair trade seals should, generally, offer better worker protections. Numi launched its own third-party-verified fair labour supply chain certification. Both brands steer clear of plastics like epichlorohydrin in their tea bags and are available at health stores.
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GUAYAKI YERBA MATE
Need an energy kick without worrying about worker rights violations and pesticide residues? Guayaki’s yerba mate is one good way to get a pretty guilt-free buzz. As with most teas, they ain’t local, but they are organically shade-grown in the rainforests of Argentina, Paraguay and southern Brazil, and Guayaki’s on a mission to reforest 200,000 acres by 2020. The company also goes beyond fair trade certification by paying workers a living wage, a rarity in the tea business. For a list of local retailers, head to guayaki.com.
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ALGONQUIN TEA COMPANY
Unless you dry and steep your own backyard herbs, there is no more local tea than Algonquin. It doesn’t offer black or green teas (not really doable in our cool climate, though BC’s Teafarm.ca is poised to give it a go). However, its handpicked, certified organic, indigenous Canadian herbs are “ethically wildcrafted” in the Algonquin bioregion. Even the packaging is all Canadian-made. Awakening tea has “chakra stimulants” like Labrador tea, mint and ginseng. Peace tea makes a beautiful bedtime brew with nearly a dozen soothing herbs, including blue vervain and lemon balm. Plus you can get cool teas for lucid dreaming or immune-boosting. And if you want to learn how to grow your own healing herbs, Algonquin also offers sacred gardener workshops come summer. In The meantime, their (unbleached) bagged and loose-leaf teas will keep you warm. algonquintea.com
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