ekimondo – the Directory of Responsible Destinations and Traveling

Travelling Through Fair Trade Markets - Zoom in on Tea :: by Inês Lopes

Written by ines November 10th

In this series on fair trade, it’s teatime.

Millions drink it everyday.  Whether it be for its taste or its virtues, tea remains one of the most highly consumed beverages around the world. However, when tea follows conventional trade routes, much social and environmental harm follows.

Photography by: Éric St-Pierre (www.ericstpierre.ca)

Tea has many great properties: it helps digestion and kidney circulation, stimulates thinking, works as an antioxidant, purifies and fortifies skin, it soothes and even helps out your teeth’s enamel. Amazing attributes for anyone who drinks it. The next step is to integrate the virtues tea can have for the person producing it. When it is fair trade, you can add these benefits: fair salary and working conditions, access to education and to a healthy environment, developing a community… If you are unable to read your future in your cup of tea, at least you’ll be able to read theirs.

Green tea, black tea, white yellow tea, oolong tea, Darjeeling tea, Chinese, Japanese, African or Indian teas…savour them all, but choosing a fair trade tea is once step further on the path towards environmental and social justice. As for me, consuming non-fair trade product simply isn’t… my cup of tea.

Next week, the last post in this series on fair trade takes a look at fair trade cocoa.

Source:
Équita

Websites:

Éric St-Pierre, photojournalist
Équiterre – Fair trade tea
Équita – Fair trade tea