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By Bob Fish

Would you like a shot of bug-spray in your tea?

That may as well be an upsell at any coffee shop that is serving tea that is not organic. You see, tea is a leaf that gets picked, withered, dried, sorted, packaged, and then sold to a consumer (READ: This “Bud” is for You!). Never in that process does it get washed, and so therefore whatever is applied to the leaf including ‘bug-spray’ just gets concentrated on the leaf waiting for you to bring it to life when you make that perfect cup of tea.

Tea being handprocessed in India.

Our business model has changed over that last couple of years as we have been on a journey torwards Conscious Capitalism. We have moved from a shareholder format to stakeholder format. The difference being a shareholder format maximizes profits for the shareholders alone, not taking into consideration the hidden costs. A stakeholder format considers 6 major groups… the Consumer, Employees, Shareholder, Vendors, Community, and Environment. 

The hidden cost of serving tea that’s not organic (READ: Only if it’s Organic) is that it is likely full of pesticides, and although it’s cheaper, that’s only true if we do not take other stakeholders into consideration. Who is impacted? In this case it’s the BIGGBY Fanatics (Consumer), Employees, Vendors, Community, and the Environment. In other words, nearly everybody.

Organic tea from a tea field in Nepal.

Photo Credit: Saurav Thapa Shrestha

You would never open your mouth and spray a shot of bug-spray into it. But that’s what we would be doing to our Fanatics if we did not move our product line to Fraser Tea: a line of Organic and Fair-Trade tea. There is a real responsibility to account for the run on costs of serving up Petro-Chemical laden products from a health perspective to our fanatics, our employees, our tea farmers (vendors), our community, and the environment.

Fraser Tea is family-owned by three brothers that are all tea sommeliers and master blenders. (READ: Meet the Frasers) They source only fresh, whole leaf, organic teas, flowers, and herbs from the finest sustainable farms. They have made tea interesting again by creating blends that capture the imagination of both a traditionalist and a young first timer. Thank you, Bernie, Tom, and John !!

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