Us Brits are a nation of tea-lovers, drinking a vast 165 million cups of tea every day! But how much do you really know about the tea you drink? At Headington Fairtrade, we stock a variety of different teas, from breakfast tea and earl grey to fruit teas like ginger and lemon and organic peppermint.

Globally, Fairtrade certified tea is most popular in the UK, with Brits buying over 80% of the total world supply, yet this only accounts for 8% of total tea sales in the UK.

Most of the other 92% of tea sold in the UK is produced on huge estates across India, East Africa, and Sri Lanka, and is picked by labourers who work long hours for low wages. Smallholders growing tea on small plantations find it nearly impossible to compete with the large plantations, earn a tiny fraction of the price their tea is sold for on the international market, and end up trapped in a cycle of debt.

However, when you buy fair trade tea, you’re ensuring that the tea farmers, growers and suppliers involved in producing that cuppa are paid a fair price, are given direct access to markets, are treated with respect, and as equals.

One of our favourite food suppliers, Traidcraft, imported the very first fair trade tea into the UK in 1979, from a little estate in the south of Sri Lanka which was owned by a charitable trust, running homes and refuges for orphaned children and young people with disabilities. Half of the tea profits went to the Trust, and half was received by the tea workers in the form of an annual bonus. In being the first to import and sell fair trade tea, Traidcraft proved that people were keen to pay a premium to make sure the producers had a better deal. Since then, Traidcraft have sourced their tea from various places around the world, but they continue to be at the forefront of fair trade tea development.

Clipper, Essential Tea and the Hampstead Tea & Coffee company are some of our other fairtrade tea suppliers, all of whom try their best to be ethical in every way possible; from 100% organic teas to plastic-free packaging to compostable tea bags.

So let’s get that 8% figure up- what reason is there for not buying fairtrade tea?!