Providing Better Prices For Tea Farmers

Based just around the corner from where I work in London, Cafédirect is the UK’s largest 100% Fairtrade hot drinks company, with a 35% share of UK Fairtrade tea and coffee sales.

They have just launched Teadirect, a unique minimum pricing scheme that means growers are always protected from the extreme lows of the commodity market.

Cafédirect has recently increased its minimum price to ensure that all growers supplying Teadirect are rewarded for the quality of the tea that they produce. This way they can make a decent living from their crop and you can enjoy a decent cup of tea. Teadirect is available in packs of 40, 80 and 160 tea bags and for those who wish to cut down on caffeine there is also a decaffeinated version. Expect to pay around £2 for a box of 80 Teadirect tea bags.

Cafédirect’s range of teas, coffees and drinking chocolate is 100% Fairtrade and is available from most supermarkets, Oxfam shops, Traidcraft mail order and independent wholefood retailers. You can also enjoy Cafédirect and Teadirect away from home, as more and more offices and public places stock the range.

Cafédirect’s new minimum tea pricing structure consists of three elements:

1. A base price, which covers the total cost of production for most of Cafédirect’s tea partners.
2. A sustainability allowance, which covers any remaining costs of production and for the most efficient groups, provides a business income. This is used by the factories to further strengthen and stabilise their businesses through investment in infrastructure such as buildings, human resources, systems or additional payments to the farmers.
3. A quality differential, which differs according to the standard of tea produced. This is to provide an incentive and reward to the growers for continual improvement in the quality of their crop.

For further details check out Cafédirect.

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