FROM LEAF to CUP Purveyor of Fine Teas "Let us BE YOUR guide through the wonderful world of tea.  We will share our knowledge of tea and keep you informed ABOUT THE LATEST tea trends in the tea industry.  We want to ensure that your tea experience is amazing and to make sure it is a ritual beyond belief."

... FROM  the plantations of China, Africa, Japan, and India...

...the tea  LEAF...

...JOURNEY TO...

...your CUP of tea in the morning.

...Fair Trade Teas & Ethical TEA Partnership Teas...

What is Fair Trade?

The Need for Fair Trade

     International trade may seem a remote issue, but when commodity prices fall dramatically it has a catastrophic impact on the lives of millions of small scale producers, forcing many into crippling debt and countless others to lose their land and their homes.

     Too many farmers in the developing world have to contend with fluctuating prices that may not even cover what it costs to produce their crop.

The Development of Fair Trade

     Development agencies recognized the important role that consumers could play to improve the situation for producers. By buying direct from farmers at better prices, helping to strengthen their organizations, and marketing their produce directly through their own one world shops and catalogues, the charities offered consumers the opportunity to buy products which were bought on the basis of a Fair Trade.

Fair Trade Labeling

     Fair Trade labeling was created in the Netherlands in the late 1980s. Max Havelaar launched the first Fair Trade consumer guarantee label in 1986 on coffee sourced from Mexico.

     Today, there are now 19 organizations including the Fair Trade Foundation, that run the International Standard Setting and monitoring body Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International (FLO).

     Producers registered with FLO receive a minimum price that covers the cost of production and an extra premium that is invested in the local community.

     This international body incorporates various stakeholders including elected producer and commercial representatives. It sets standards and ensures the international regular auditing of producer and commercial partners.

     Members of the FLO Board include four producer representatives selected at the bi-annual forum, two commercial partners and six national Fair Trade Initiative Representatives. The marketing and promotion of Fair Trade products remain the responsibility of the individual national initiatives.

     In September 2004, there are 422 Fair Trade certified producer groups (including many umbrella bodies) in 49 producer countries selling to hundreds of Fair Trade registered importers, licensees and retailers in 19 countries.

What is Ethical Tea Partnership?

     Since we began monitoring in 1997 we have gained a great deal of learning in the techniques we use and how we approach our monitoring.  This learning continues, and directs our development as an organization.  

In 2004, we have:

• continued our four year rolling monitoring program.
• continued to work with estates to rectify non-conformances
• began monitoring for the first time in Indonesia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. We gave presentations to tea producers and tea producers associations in Zimbabwe.
• introduced graded certification and wrote to every estate to explain its introduction.
• visited Sri Lanka and India to present graded certification to tea producers and tea producer associations.
• presented the Ethical Tea partnership initiative to the World Tea Forum in China as part of our forward planning for monitoring there.
• began to engage more actively with stakeholders – the stakeholder Forum held in June was a significant milestone.
• continued our involvement in the Ethical Trading Initiative, supporting the work of the Smallholder Working Group.
• held our own Strategic Review in July, to develop our agenda for action in the coming years.
• added three new tea packing companies to our membership.
• renamed our organization and launched our new website.  As part of this we wrote to every tea estate on our lists advising them of the changes.
• agreed that, if they wish, our members can include information about the Partnership on the brands of tea they pack.
   

For our year 2005-2006 our priorities and targets are:

Strategic

• Review our 5 year plan.
• Develop KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) to support it.

Operational

• Continue to implement our monitoring program for 2004/5 covering the seven countries in which we are active, including beginning monitoring in Indonesia which was delayed for security reasons.
• Develop legal and monitoring plans for new countries to the scheme: South India, Argentina, Brazil and China.
• Continue to remedy non-compliances.
• To encourage as many estates as possible to take part in the initiative.

Membership

• Continue to increase our membership and expand the number of brands covered by the Partnership. In 2005 we will open membership to packers in Australasia.

Secretariat

• Implement our database management project

Communications

• Develop and plan the next stage of our communications strategy.  We have delivered Part I, we now need to looks at Part 2, which would include ongoing plans for communicating with producers, member companies, stakeholders inside and outside UK and consider how we can communicate in a less UK-centric way to our European and North American members.

Other Projects

• Carry out gap analysis of Ethical Tea Partnership/ETI/SA8000 and EUREPGAP schemes.
• Carry out pilot head office monitoring visits in India in order to address long-term and systemic compliance issues that are found within the Industry in Assam.
• Carry out pilot project to employ a person based in one tea producing country to increase communication between the Partnership and estates.

Stakeholders

• Develop, plan and scope brief for Stakeholder.  We plan to hold more stakeholder meetings inside and outside the UK.
• We are considering the feasibility of two pilot stakeholder engagement projects in Kenya:
  • producer forum to allow local estate management to share best practice,  discuss rectification issues, hear expert opinion and to foster further buy-in amongst producers; and
  • a program of engagement with regional and national union representatives to allow the ETP to build their knowledge of key compliance issues in the country and to build relations with the unions.

  OUR  TEAS...White Teas, Green Teas, Oolong Teas, Black Teas, Yunnan Teas, Decaffeinated Teas, Pu-erh Teas, Chai Teas, Artisan Teas, Organic Teas, Whole-Leaf Bagged Teas, and Reserve List of Teas.

  OUR TISANES (tisane=herbal; contains no tea leaves, therefore no caffeine)...Herbal Tisanes, Iced "Tea" Infusions, Herb & Fruit Tisanes, Rooibos Tisanes, Honeybush Tisane, Organic Tisanes, Whole-Leaf Bagged Tisanes, and Reserve List of Tisanes.

FROM LEAF to CUP

Purveyor of Fine Teas

"Quite Possibly the Most Wonderful Tea Company in the World!"  

7718 Greenridge Court, SE *  Snoqualmie, WA  98065 *  Phone 425-396-0643 *  Fax 425-396-0647

EMAIL US...info@FromLeaftoCup.com *  www.FromLeaftoCup.com

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