Steep Thoughts Q&A: Are There Pesticides in Tea?

Question and Answer: Are There Pesticides in Tea?

Recently, a customer asked: do you know anything about the pesticides on tea? Meaning - I have seen websites talking about the importance of organic -and was wondering if you had an opinion and/or research about that.

Dear Cérémonie Tea fan, Thank you for taking the time to write, I really appreciate it. I have a lot to say about the topic of pesticides actually and decided to use your question to write an answer, and share with the public, since I am sure many people are wondering about this issue.

About our teas, our teas are all tested for pesticides and exceed rigorous health requirements. They are really safe to drink. If tea is grown properly, it is practically organically grown. In high quality tea gardens, tea trees are planted carefully interspersed among a complex ecology of tall trees and other plants in such a way that predators are disposed to avoid the tea leaves. This means that pesticides are not needed if tea is grown in the natural environment that has been traditionally used to grow tea for hundreds and even thousands of years.

At Cérémonie Tea, we choose our tea gardens very carefully. We buy our teas from tea gardens with exceptional international reputations. Our suppliers care deeply about the integrity of their products and about the good name of the tea trade. Then together with our suppliers, we select high quality tea leaves that exceed European Union tea food safety regulations. We only import teas after we have completed all of these steps. We, the Cérémonie staff, drink our teas and serve them to our families, so we care deeply about the healthfulness of our products.

One last point, we do not believe in "organic certification." It is our opinion that official organic certification just takes money out of the hands of the growers, working hard at their trade, and puts it in the pockets of Europeans or Americans who do the certification. It makes it harder for the small grower to compete with large production companies, regardless of whether the small grower is growing high quality tea. This is because organic certification costs money, before the grower sees any income from his or her hard work. Therefore, we only buy from sources we have met and trust. This way you can count on us as well. Sincerely,

Efrat Schorr

CEO

Cérémonie Tea