LET'S TALK
ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY
The first thing that usually pops into people’s heads when they hear the word sustainability is the preservation of the ecosystem.
What's at the heart of the conversation?
- Scale
- Paths
- soil
- pests
what does tea need?
Tea needs rich, healthy, well-draining soil to thrive. Without a complex ecosystem to support it, it can fall prey to a host of different pests.
In the absence of these conditions, people will turn to chemical fertilizers and pesticides which can have a lasting impact on the surrounding ecosystem.
However, around the world farmers have combined traditional knowledge of local ecologies with a global network of resources to improve the growing conditions and protect their tea plants naturally.
it starts with the soil
The first step in cultivating good tea is starting with healthy soil. Many of the farms we partner with have been cared for by the families for generations, and caring for the soil is critical in ensuring the plants will thrive for future generations.
When plants are viewed as an investment in the future, the importance of caring for the soil is front and center. While using chemical fertilizers might increase yield in the short terms, it leads to a decline in health in the long run.
By planting cover crops, grazing animals, and using local or homemade organic plant or fermentation waste as compost, soil health can be improved naturally without the need for chemical interference.
TEA AND EROSION
As with fast fashion, trends in the tea world can have devasting effects on the local ecology.
When certain styles of tea or cultivars become "trendy", entire hillsides of old growth or native tea trees can be ripped out and replanted with cuttings of new cultivars.
Roots from these new trees spread outwards (while roots from tea seeds go straight down) and can't anchor as well to the hillsides as established or seed-grown trees.
The result can not only be the loss of old-growth tea trees, but also the washing away of soil and hillsides as storms intensify.
RESPONSIBLE REGULATION
In many places, tea farming is regulated. In the JingMai mountains, for example, vehicles are checked upon entering the mountain to ensure no chemicals are brought up that could be used on what are considered to be some of the oldest tea trees in the world.
how to avoid pesticides
The smaller the farm, the more of the natural ecology is preserved surrounding the gardens.
Better yet, is when native plants grow intermingled with the tea plants.
Farmers we work with implement several ways to control pests including:
- planting beneficial and sacrificial plants to deter and feed pests
- Planting buffer zones through larger gardens to give insects and animals a pathway through the garden
- Using natural oils to keep them away
- Using solar-powered speakers in the gardens that emit a sounds pests cant' stand
NOT ALL BUGS ARE BAD
Many insects are beneficial to tea plants. Healthy tea gardens have spiders, bugs and weeds.
Seeing tea gardens ridden with dead bugs and brown weeds is a sign that pesticides and/or herbicides are used.
Remember, some of our most popular teas are made possible because of bugs. Leafhoppers and thrips bite the tea leaves causing it to release terpenes, which enhance the honey-like aroma and flavor of certain teas.
Incorporating Regenerative Agriculture
In addition to planting and maintaining a rich and healthy mix of plant life, several tea farmers we work with enlist the help of animals to maintain the tea gardens.
- Goats keep the weeds low to enable easier picking, and animal manure is added to compost piles to enhance nitrogen in the soil.
- Ducks play a dual role of controlling weeds around baby tea plants where goats might eat the whole plant. Plus, they offer the added benefit of using their webbed feet to tamp down the soil, keeping the new growth stable.
- Chickens roam free among the tea plants, eating bugs and leaving behind fertilizer.
Methods of enhancing the growing conditions and protecting the plants vary from place to place, and more and more tea farmers are embracing biodynamic farming practices to restore and enhance the viability of their tea gardens for future generations.
let's talk organic
We believe in full transparency, and you can search our organically-grown teas easily.
If you are interested in our reasoning for ending our organic certification and embracing a system based on equal access and community accountability, read more here.
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Empowered by global knowledge sharing, tea farmers are blending tradition with technology to reshape the industry. Through collective effort, they are sowing the seeds of a more sustainable future.
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