Honest Tea Commits to Fair Trade

Honest Tea Commits to Fair Trade Certified Tea for All Bottled Teas
(from a press release)

Honest Tea, the nation's top-selling organic bottled tea company, announced today that it will be expanding its Fair Trade Certified offerings to include the entire tea portfolio. In conjunction with this announcement, the company is also publishing its first annual mission report.

In 2003, Honest Tea launched the world’s first Fair Trade Certified bottled tea in the U.S. with its introduction of Peach Oo-la-long. Since then, the company has continued to expand its Fair Trade offerings. Over the past three years, Honest Tea expanded its Fair Trade offerings from seven to 19 varieties and with this new initiative, all 28 of its teas will become Fair Trade Certified starting in December 2010. The company expects the transition to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2011.

Fair Trade offers tea workers fair wages, community investment funds called Fair Trade premiums, and the business skills training necessary to produce high-quality products that can compete in the global marketplace. Fair Trade certification also requires tea gardens to comply with workplace standards set by Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International and Fair Trade USA to ensure safety, equality and fairness. A joint body of workers decides democratically how to invest Fair Trade premiums earned from the tea to support community development projects.

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