Human + Tea = Humanitea

Nepali Tea Traders is taking tea to a higher level.

In a few of my previous posts I've touched on tea and how tea has evolved into more than just a beverage.  Tea is community, it builds relationships between people, cultures, and faiths.  Tea builds bridges, even where there are deep chasms.

Community:
Take for instance my post Tea Builds Relationships, where I discuss my relationship with my boyfriends daughter and how tea has cultivated a common ground between us.  We have sat down and drank tea together and evaluated the teas colour, aroma and flavour.  The other day I even received a text photo from her from a tea shop she was in.  Now that was amazing!!

Intention:
Tea is also associated with intention.  Zen buddhist monks have long used tea as a way to prolong their meditative practices.  In the modern world we can use tea to slow down the pace of life, and reflect on the important things in our lives.  Or just simply sit back and have an opportunity to unwind and relax.  Check out my Meditate With Tea  post here.  We can also be intentional in how we interact with others, what products we purchase and how we choose to spend our lives.

Compassion:
We also use tea compassionately to help others.  Tea offers companionship.  It also consoles in troubled times.  But most often tea lifts us up to face the world and create a better life.  I touch on this briefly in The Oneness of Tea post located here.

Nepali Tea Traders:        

Nepali Tea Traders is taking these three concepts, compassion, intention and community to create a better world.  Their model allows us to come together and help others by essentially helping ourselves. If you've had the chance to drink Nepali tea, you would find it to be as good, as the Darjeeling teas.  It is smooth, with several layers of sweet complexity in the flavour.  It is grown in Nepal across the border from India, which is the Darjeeling region.  The teas are also grown at altitude with first and second flushes.

Nepali Tea Traders  is a social enterprise based out of Colorado, USA located here.  Their model is to import tea from Nepal and sell it in North America.  All profits get donated to the

Nepal Youth Foundation located here, to bring health, shelter and education to the children of Nepal.  This concept is near and dear to my heart.  I truly believe that the best way to assist a country out of poverty is not just to give money to fund projects, but to create trade so that the country can lift itself out of poverty by actively engaging in export of their goods and services to other countries.  Nepali Tea Traders is doing exactly that, and donating all profits to a charity as well.  Education is necessary to give people the ability to engage in trade and move themselves forward.

A weak spot in their campaign, that I feel is important if they truly want to be a social enterprise, is they should be more transparent.  These organizations should provide us with more insight as to what constitutes 'all profits'.  I mean somebody is getting paid, and profits refers to income after expenses, so that would include wages.  How much do the stake holders get paid?  How much profits are actually being donated?  What are they doing to ensure that the tea farmers are getting fair prices and that those fair prices are being passed down to the farm workers?

Nepali Tea Traders is a social enterprise.  They are doing the right things, but I think the consumer requires more transparency.  Consumers want to know that if they choose to support an initiative, that these organizations are doing what they promise to do.  There have been to many disappointments in the past.  Overall I love what they are doing!  Nepali Tea Traders has got it right, but there is as always still room for improvement.

Tea is community.  Tea is intentional.  Tea is good.