I’ve released online courses about tea, I’ve travelled to the best tea rooms I can find, I’ve attended tea ceremonies run by both novices and international masters…. Needless to say, I think I now know a thing or two about the beverage.

“Get to the point!” I hear you yell.

Well basically, three years ago I started up my very own tea business, and I feel as though it is finally time to brag about it.

But I have to be honest: I also want to talk about the tea industry. Because as it happens, it can actually be a pretty awful place.

Why did you start up your tea business?

After years of studying the beverage and working for many other tea companies, I decided that it was finally time to put my knowledge to the use and start up my own.

A lot of companies I worked with still sourced their tea from dodgy places, used artificial ingredients, and didn’t value the farmers behind each brew. Honestly, this broke my heart a little: I wanted to love everything about tea, but could no longer support companies with questionable ethics.

So, I entered my local university competition…

And lost.

However, one of the judges saw potential in the business (and me! 🥺) and offered an office to work in. From there, she introduced me to the local Aberystwyth business community, and I was able to secure a branding grant and a small initial product purchasing grant.

From there, I started a baby business of loose leaf tea, working from a beautiful office in my home country to bring my people the best quality tea from the most incredible farmers across the world.

Very recently, I entered another competition…

And this time, I won!

After months of work and preparation, a (terrifying) sales pitch in front of some of the best business people in the UK, and endless rounds of samples, I secured another grant to produce a range of three iced teas.

Ojalá, this year they will be released!

What’s so bad about the tea industry?

And now we get onto the difficult part of the industry.

To begin with, women are generally handed a pretty disappointing deal when they work as tea pickers on tea fields. With almost all of the estate managers being men, this creates a pretty unhealthy power dynamic – especially when the managers withhold wages and take advantage of their positions.

Whilst this role is incredibly important and takes a lot of knowledge and skill, I wanted to support women in managerial roles. As such, I work directly with small family- and women-owned farms, where they are completely in control of their own crop.

In fact, to raise awareness of the profile of the farmers, I actually have a whole page dedicated just to them titled Meet the Farmers. I love our farmers a lot, they’re some of my best friends.

Is tea from tea farms sustainable?

This brings me onto the second point.

I love the idea of tea being used to support sustainable agriculture, but unfortunately, these two concepts rarely go hand in hand. As such, Eisa Tea Co. only sources tea from small tea farms where sustainable practices are at the forefront.

For example, the trees are fed with nourishing mountain water, all biodiversity on the tea farms are naturally pesticide- and chemical-free, and the land is never overworked. And frankly, it tastes so bloody good.

See? This is what happens when you support family farmers who know and love what they do.

Plus, after doing a whole bunch of research on the journey of an average tea leaf, I was pretty shaken to discover that most teas are picked at origin, sent overseas to a factory to be processed, sent to yet another country to be blended, sent to the auctions, sent here, sent there…

Honestly, it’s ridiculous. The carbon footprint of a single leaf of tea is insanely high for no good reason, so why not bring it down?

the unfair pay on tea farms

Plus, other companies which purchase from middle-men, wholesalers, and brokers takes away the profits from the real heroes (the tea farmers themselves), who I – surprisingly controversially – believe deserve a decent wage.

Most tea farmers are considered “unskilled workers” regardless of the sheer amount of time, effort, and talent that goes into picking a single pound of tea, and as such, they are paid horribly.

But not with me, tío! Instead, when I pay for my tea I ensure that ALL of the wages go directly back to the farmer, rather than any middle-men – and that includes my spice farmers, too.

the world’s first welsh cake tea

And finally, as you may have gathered from my recent post about becoming the first person to walk the river Danube, I’m pretty obsessed with hitting those World Firsts.

As such, it probably makes sense that Eisa Tea Co. created the world’s first Welsh Cake flavoured tea, along with the UK’s first vegan sticky chai. Honestly, they’re also the ones that I’m most proud of.

what teas do you Sell?

Usually, when I write about a tea company, I also write reviews on each tea. Frankly, it feels super weird to do it on my own blog… so I’ll just do a neat lil’ round-up.

Welsh Cake Tea: By far my most popular brew sold in Wales, with clear reason. It incorporates everyone’s two favourites things in the world: Welsh Cakes and black tea. It’s cinnamon-y, sweet, and a little spicy, and frankly, is absolutely divine. You’re going to love it.

Broken Silver Pu’erh: When I was planning which teas we would sell, the first one that I chose was this wonderful Broken Silver shou pu’erh. Infused with Nuo Mi Xiang leaves (the traditional South East Asian herb), it’s sweet, malty, and tastes almost exactly like Digestive biscuits. It also looks like the ancient silver coins from Chinese Dynasties, which I think is pretty cool.

Sticky Masala Chai: A blend created by yours truly, this wonderful chai is sweet, creamy, and, of course, spicy, and then bound together with honey. The honey enhances the flavour, adds a natural sweetness, and makes it a UK First. All in all, it’s pretty sick.

Vegan Sticky Masala Chai: Like the above, but with some added ✨veganism✨

Genmaicha Popcorn Tea: I first fell in love with this tea for its history, and then fell in love with its flavour. The story of Genmaicha dates back to 1900s Kyoto where a Japanese tea farmer came up with the wonderful idea of mixing green tea and rice – and now, Genmaicha is known for its nutty, sweet, and roasted flavours.

Ceremonial Grade Gokou Matcha: This is probably the most incredible matcha in the world, and quite frankly, I am shooketh to be the one selling it. It tastes a little like cocoa with underlying green umami hints, and is so smooth and creamy that I haven’t sampled another matcha since.

Classic Assam Black: This is honestly the best black tea that I’ve ever had, with a malty sweetness that makes my mouth water. Not to trump my own horn, but I’m drinking it right now whilst watching the last episode of season two of La Reina Del Sur (Pote will forever be my favourite character, RIP).

✨transparency✨

Obviously, if you have any questions about the tea business, my farmers, or my tea education blog, let me know in the comments below! I am READY to share the goss* about how beautiful the tea leaves are.

* I was going to say “spill the tea” but I stopped myself