Many of us start and punctuate our day with a cup of tea or coffee. But how sustainable is our chosen beverage?
Where is tea and coffee grown?
The biggest tea producers in the world are China and India, but both countries also consume a large percentage (around 70-80%) of the tea they grow. Tea has been drunk in the UK since the 17th Century, and the UK imports more than $300 million worth of tea a year, with almost half of this coming from Kenya – a reflection on our taste for black tea.
Brazil tops the list of coffee producing countries, producing an astounding 39 per cent of global production. Coffee is produced in what is known as the ‘bean belt’, roughly between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. This covers areas of South America, Central America, Africa and Asia.
Labour rights
Tea is a crop – like chocolate and sugar – with colonial roots in many parts of the world. China had a stronghold on the market until the 19th Century, when the British established plantations in the Assam and Darjeeling regions in India (the latter growing tea plants stolen from China), clearing land and using indentured workers to produce the tea.
The legacies of these colonial structures still have impact today, with much tea-growing land in India remaining in large estates, where workers are underpaid and have few rights. There is a rising small growers movement though, with around 36 per cent of Indian production now produced by small growers.
Over 60 per cent of Kenyan production tea is on small farms, however studies have shown that child labour is prevalent across tea farms in Africa, and more common on small farms due to the low income they receive for their tea.
Coffee also has colonial roots, with the growing popularity of the drink in the 17th and 18th Centuries resulting in plantations and slave labour across Brazil, Java and Suriname. While now a majority of coffee is produced on small farms – around 80 per cent of production comes from 25 million small coffee farms – because of low prices received by farmers, working conditions are often poor, and child labour and human trafficking is still present.
The global coffee market is also incredibly volatile. This means that prices can change drastically and significantly, making it difficult for farmers to know what price they will be paid when they plant their crops.
Pricing
Like many commodity crops, the farmers receives little of the final consumer price for tea and coffee, with research suggesting tea producers only receive 1-2 per cent of the final price, and the retailer taking the biggest cut – often over 50 per cent of the price.
Coffee farmers generally only receive a few percent of the consumer price as they are producing low value green, unroasted beans, and the majority of the profit is made in the end country.
While it can be good to support local roastery businesses and buy locally roasted coffee, this doesn’t automatically mean that the producers are receiving a fair price for their beans so ensure you ask about the roastery’s sourcing policies.
Equality
Women provide around 70 per cent of the labour in coffee production, but often have little power, as Casey Lalonde, founder of Girls who Grind explains; “They’re the ones doing the crucial work – picking, sorting, labouring – but they rarely get to be the decision-makers or business owners.”
Girls who Grind source 100 per cent of their coffee from women producers; “Representation matters because it shows other women in coffee that success is possible, that their work has value, and that they deserve to be business owners and decision-makers too. We’re not about romanticizing producers with photos of smiling faces picking cherries – we’re about treating these women as the serious business professionals they are and amplifying their stories and successes.”
Fairtrade
Fairtrade producers receive a minimum price for their tea and coffee, which varies country to country for tea, and is different for Arabica and Robusta coffee beans – and then a Fairtrade Premium for community investment. There are also additional standards related to tea plantations, which focus on worker rights and working towards paying a living wage to workers.
One of the main challenges is the relatively small market for Fairtrade tea – when compared to the big suppliers. Many certified producers only sell a small amount – around 7 per cent – of their production as Fairtrade, thereby not receiving the price and premium for the vast majority of their tea.
Rainforest Alliance
Rainforest Alliance certification focuses a lot on the environmental impact, encouraging farmers to use fewer chemicals and grow in a way that protects the soil, as well as looking at worker rights. Farmers receive a Sustainability Differential payment for being certified.
Organic
Organic certification is focused on the method of production rather than the social impact of the tea, so ensures farmers aren’t applying synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, and implementing organic practices to build soil fertility and encourage biodiversity.
Hampstead Tea sell only organic tea, as founder Kiran Tawadey explains; “Tea is very intensively cultivated so organic tea benefits not just the tea and soil, but also the health of the people and the animals living on the tea gardens.”
Shade grown coffee
Historically, coffee was grown in the shade of larger trees, which protected the coffee plants from the direct sun, provided shelter for birds and other wildlife, and dropped leaves onto group to provide mulch on the ground. In the 1970s, hybrid coffee plant varieties were developed that could tolerate the direct sun and produce higher yields – albeit often at a cost of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. This has had a huge impact on bird populations (especially migratory birds) and soil erosion.
A growing number of farmers are moving back to shade grown coffee in a bid to encourage greater biodiversity and protect the soil, and there are now Bird Friendly and Shade Grown certification schemes (for which the coffee must also be organic) that help support this market growth. “By buying shade grown coffee, consumers are helping to protect soil health, biodiversity and smallholder farmers, as well as arguably being more flavourful (since the coffee beans take longer to grow when they’re not in direct sunlight),” Guy Wilmot, founder of Bird & Wild explains; “The fact that there is a way for coffee farmers and migrating birds to coexist for the long term makes so much common sense to me.”
Other certifications
As with chocolate, many of the bigger coffee brands/chains have developed their own certification schemes. Starbucks stopped using Fairtrade certified coffee in 2022, using its own Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E) standard and claiming 100 per cent ethical sourcing. However, a recent lawsuit found trafficking of migrant workers and child labour are present in their supply chain. Likewise Nescafe has its own Nescafe Plan, but this has been widely criticised for poor working conditions and low pay.
Plastic and metal usage
With polypropylene traditionally used as a sealant in teabags, Hampstead Tea were the first company in the UK to use stitched rather than glued bags; “Because tea is an everyday favourite in most households, its packaging has a big impact” founder Kiran explains. Some brands such as Clipper have moved to a plant based plastic called PLA which will break down in council collected food waste, but not in home composting. Kiran pointed out this still has an impact though. “If it isn’t home compostable then it will remain for several years whether it is ‘biodegradable’, ‘recyclable’, ‘PLA’ etc – tea bags themselves are big carriers of micro plastics if they aren’t plastic free and home compostable.”
Likewise in coffee, the use of pods has become commonplace. Most pods are made predominantly from aluminium, but the mix of materials means they generally need to go through specialist recycling channels and an estimated 41.7 million end up in landfill every day around the world. There is an energy and resource cost to both making the pods and to recycle them, and while there has been a rise in compostable pods, many of these are only compostable in industrial composting setups, and the coffee may not stay fresh for as long.
Transportation
Transporting tea and coffee around the world comes with a carbon and environmental impact, and there has been a rise of use of sailing ships to transport these products. Groups such as the New Dawn Traders are pioneering sail shipped cargo, and values driven roasteries such as Yallah Coffee sourcing through these routes.
This feature is part of our new WL Sustainable Food Series, by Steph Wetherell, which includes guides on fruit, veg, bread, grains, and much more, over the coming weeks.
Interesting, thanks. I didn’t know about shade grown coffee nor the issues with tea bag compostability. Love the idea of ships back under sail bringing tea and coffee to us. Yallah it is then…
Thank you for this very useful article. I have been buying the shade grown coffee for a while now (Bird and Wild coffee), but it is expensive and many of my friends cannot afford it, so I am fortunate in that respect , but I only usually have one cup a day.
I did not know clipper tea bags were not home compostable so will look into alternatives, such as those mentioned in the article. Thank you again.