We recently received our organic certification, something we'd been working toward for a long time. We thought you might like to know what that actually involved.
Who actually certifies you, and what does that mean?
We are certified by the Soil Association. Certification matters, because in the UK, "organic" is a legally protected term. It can't appear on a product label unless the product has been certified by a control body approved by DEFRA, the government department for food and farming. There are a handful of these bodies. The Soil Association is the oldest, and certifies over 70% of the organic food sold in the country.
What did you have to do to become certified?
More paperwork than you might expect. Every ingredient in every one of our blends had to be traced back to its organic roots. All of our suppliers need to meet organic standards. We submitted our recipes, product labels and packaging for review. We documented our key processes, how we store, handle and separate our ingredients. Even our cleaning protocols are subject to ecological standards.
Then an inspector visited our production facility, checked the paperwork against what was actually on the shelves, asked questions, looked for gaps.
Only after all of that, and a signed-off report, was the certificate issued. The process is rigorous and for good reason.
Does certification happen once, or do you have to keep earning it?
You have to keep earning it. Every year. The Soil Association inspects all certified businesses at least once annually. Detailed records ensure that we don’t sell more organic tea than we bought ingredients for, and that everything we produce can be traced back to where and how it was grown. If we don’t continue to meet our certifier’s high standards, our certification can be suspended or withdrawn.
We welcome these responsibilities because we believe in and care about the values that underpin the organic certification.
Why does organic matter specifically for tea?
Organic standards are a step in the right direction for all food production. But especially for our products that are composed entirely of unprocessed herbs and spices, it matters even more that they are produced in a way that works with nature rather than against it. At its essence, organic means no synthetic pesticides, no synthetic fertilisers, no GMOs. Instead: crop rotation, composting, and farming practices that build soil health rather than deplete it. The result is land that supports more life. Organic farms carry on average 30% more biodiversity, providing habitat for bees, birds, beetles and the countless soil organisms that keep ecosystems functioning. Waterways stay cleaner. Soils store more carbon. Choosing organic ingredients is a small, concrete way of supporting all of that, and for us, it was never really a question.
Is there anything the certification doesn't yet cover for you?
Yes. The Soil Association certifies at more than one level. We're currently certified at their baseline level, which meets and is verified against UK organic law. But the Soil Association also sets its own higher standards in certain areas, and one of those is packaging.
Their higher packaging standards require that materials can be verified as free from GMO-derived components. Our biodegradable inner film can't yet make that guarantee; we simply don't have the documentation to confirm it either way. So until we can source sustainable packaging that meets those stricter criteria, we're certified at the baseline level, not the higher one.
We're working on it. When we get there, we'll tell you about it here.
If you have questions about our certification, our processes or our ingredients, we'd love to hear from you.