Charity Tea

The tea that nourishes ♥

Charity Tea

I recently came across an article about a tea company born in New Zealand that was helping to combat child hunger in Haiti and New Zealand. I was intrigued, and pretty proud too. New Zealand isn’t a big country – 4.7 million is our total population as of 2019 – and yet we as a nation manage to achieve a lot of really good things. Yes we have the mighty All Blacks (national rugby union team), Silver Ferns (women’s national netball team), it is the home of our national icon the Kiwi, amazing artists, songwriters, authors, adventurers, and dare I say it some pretty impressive politicians…but we have something else too; good-hearted, genuine, down-to-earth people who care. And one of those people is Gill, founder of Charity Tea. I asked Gill some questions on how Charity Tea came about:

Do you have any family traditions that may have swayed you in your choice to chose tea as your base for this company?
I don’t really have any family traditions regarding tea, other than growing up the UK and my mum used to drink buckets of breakfast tea. She was never without a cup of “Tetley’s” with milk and 2 sugars. 

How did Charity Tea start?
Charity tea came about from a dream I had. Prior to this I started a charity as I heard about children in Haiti starving. Read more about this in the GOOD magazine article. https://good.net.nz/article/tackling-child-hunger-with-every-brew

What does Charity Tea sell? We sell 18 flavours of tea, blended by herbal specialists and packed with love in compostable or refillable packaging. We have 4 ranges; our classic range (Organic Breakfast, Organic Earl Grey, Peppermint and Chamomile). A Herbal range (Sleep Tea, Immunity Boost, Purple Leaf Tea, Cleanse Tea and Hormone Help Teas). Our rejuvenate range which focuses on caffeinated teas (a variety of green tea and Yerba Mate). Finally our restore range which is caffeine-free and nourishing – Kawakawa, Peach Honeybush, and Spice (red bush). 

How does the Charity work?
We have something for everyone and we provide a meal for a hungry child with every packet of tea we sell. We are an accredited social enterprise through the Akina foundation FORWARD programme. This gives us more credibility and will open up social procurement opportunities for us. Businesses can use their supply chain power to make a huge difference in lives of children in NZ and across the world. Changing your tea supplier in your staff room will reduce your waste, feed a child AND nourish employees. Focusing on health and wellness through drinking organic tea should impact sickness rates and encourage a more socially conscious culture. We have a range of compostable teabags available for cafes or our business clients.

What is your long-term vision?
Our vision is “zero hunger” and we hope that every child in New Zealand will have access to a school lunch. 

What is your favourite thing about tea?
My favourite thing about tea is the ceremony. It’s the “pausing for peace” as you wait for your tea to brew. I love special tea pots and fancy tea cups. I love the connection that sharing tea brings. It’s almost like tea can fix anything. We can drink it to wake up, drink it to go to sleep. Drink it hot or ice cold. We drink it to celebrate and commiserate. We drink it to nourish our bodies and treat health symptoms. Now tea can feed hungry children and take care of the planet. Tea truly is the hero ♥

Charity Tea Values:

• Quality ingredients
• Fair wages for suppliers
• Luxury Brand
• Organically grown loose-leaf (no chemicals, dyes or plastics)
• Elegant and Recyclable packaging    
• Sustainability
• Nourishing – optimal health benefits
• Social innovation and responsibility
• Strong customer care
• Abundant life for all
• Volunteer led

Charity Tea currently partner with Kai Kitchen Trust in New Zealand to support their school lunch programs. They also partner with Little Footprints, Big Steps in Haiti to run feeding programs.

Have a browse through the Charity Tea website. They have some unique ideas such as subscriptions to tea, Gold, Silver and Bronze, Gift Boxes and Legacy Gift Cards with meaningful quotes on them. Such a fabulous idea. I know where I will be purchasing my Christmas gifts this year ♥ Charity Tea is on Facebook too ♥

“Love is the secret ingredient”

Disclosure: Occasionally I link to companies using affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link and chose to make a purchase I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I appreciate you supporting my blog ♥