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Organic Tea Explained

Some tea farmers prefer to cultivate their tea plants without the use of chemical fertilisers, weedicides, herbicides, and pesticides.

A basket of organic tea leaves
If a tea farmer wants to sell his teas as ‘organic’ and have them certified by one of the many organic certification bodies around the world, anything he adds to the crop must be made from natural materials. 
Organic teas are always more expensive because production is much more labour intensive and the yields from the plants are always lower.

Why Choose Organic Tea?

1) Drinking organic tea is better for you.  When choosing your favourite cup of tea, whether it be a black tea, green tea or herbal tea, you often have an organic tea option.  Chemicals are used on tea to help growth and to keep away pests.  These chemicals are mostly broken down when the tea is processed, however not all chemicals are broken down, allowing some chemicals to remain on the tea.  When ingested these chemicals enter your body and over time can build up to cause problems such as cancers, hormone imbalances and other health issues. 

2)  Organic farming practises are better for the health of the tea plantation farmers.  Working with chemicals can be hazardous to the health of the farmers.  Whilst today many of them may use protection, many of them still are not afforded this luxury.  Chemicals can be absorbed through the skin and inhaled, causing health issues.

3)  Organic farming is better for the environment.   Pesticides are designed to kill pesky insects.  However, they do not discriminate and will kill all insects.  Bugs such as bees' butterflies, spiders and ladybugs will also be killed when coming into contact with these pesticides.   In addition, when it rains, these harmful chemicals will wash off the tea plants and into the rivers, polluting the water and affecting the creatures who live in, or consume the water.

hand picking tea leaves from the tea plant

Is Buying Organic Tea Worth the Extra Cost?

Yes absolutely.  The cost of organic tea and other products is reducing as more people are becoming aware of their health and choosing organic products.  At Tea by Birdy, we have an organic collection of teas which include black tea, green tea and health teas.  Our health teas are blended onsite, and we have made the decision to always choose organic ingredients (where available to us).  These organic health teas cost us more to produce, however we believe this to be an investment in the health of our customers and the planet.

Cup of organic tea

Most of the green tea blends from Tea by Birdy are made up with organic green tea, however the actual tea can only be labelled as organic if ALL the ingredients in the tea are also organic.  For example, our organic Kimono Blend is made from 100% organic ingredients such as organic green tea, organic rose petals, organic calendula and organic purple cornflower.  Whereas, the Everyday Green Tea, which contains similar ingredients may use some organic components but the green tea is not classified as organic and it contains nature identical flavouring, therefore it is not an organic tea.

Some examples of Tea by Birdy organic teas include: Dark Roast Oolong, lemongrass twist, icy breeze, spa blend, and women's strength blend.

Shop our whole range of organic teas here.

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