What we pay for tea:
Our unique tea purchasing policy
Our unique tea purchasing policy which combines higher prices for farmers, higher social premiums, and additional investment of our profits into the businesses and communities of our farmers, is the reason we’re able to source the highest quality tea.
We buy most of our teas from East Africa, and grade the quality of these teas on a scale from 1(lowest) to 7 (highest). The minimum price we pay for East African tea varies between US$1.77 and US$1.90 per kilo, depending on the grade. The Fairtrade minimum price is US$1.50 per kilo, meaning we pay between 16% and 25% more than the Fairtrade minimum price, depending on the grade.
Similar to the Fairtrade tea prices, we also pay a social premium of US$0.50 per kg. These social premiums benefit some of the poorest communities in East Africa, and are managed by separate, community-run organisations called “premium committees”. These committees are inspected regularly by Fairtrade auditors to ensure the money is spent wisely and fairly to benefit local communities.
The additional support from higher payments and premiums enables local tea factories cover their cost of production and have funds available to maintain and grow their businesses. Our unique Producer Partnership Programme (PPP) was created to further support this process. For example, in Kenya, the PPP has supported Kiegoi and Michimikuru to assess and minimise their environmental impacts and the positive results are astounding.
By buying directly from our tea partners, and not via the Fairtrade register or any other intermediaries, we pass the highest possible value on to them.
Our unique tea purchasing policy outlined above - higher tea prices, higher social premiums,
and PPP investment - keeps growers at the heart of what we do.
our unique trading model
At Cafédirect, 100% of our range of coffees, teas, and hot chocolates is Fairtrade. This means that they are all certified by the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO) and that we meet their criteria for paying a fair price to farmers.
In fact, at Cafédirect we go beyond the Fairtrade criteria and have a unique pricing structure for coffee, tea, and cocoa.
What’s more, our Gold Standard policy also ensures that a significant amount of our profits is reinvested into our Producer Partnership Programme (PPP).
Over the last five years, through our Producer Partnership Programme, we have invested more than £3 million (over half our profits) into the businesses of our grower partners. This is over and above Fairtrade requirements.