Gypsy Tea’s founder Zhena Muzyka has taken
fair trade to heart. While some companies snag the “fair trade” label from only procuring a few ingredients from fair trade-certified suppliers, Muzkya’s company devotes its efforts to improving the lives of the women who toil hours picking tea.
During this 13-minute mini-documentary, Muzyka explains how important the direct trade model is for improving the lives of workers abroad. While many tea companies simply move from tea estate to tea estate in order to gain the cheapest price, Muzyka and Gypsy tea have worked with the same tea plantation in Sri Lanka for several years. While tea can be as cheap as 17 cents a kilo, Gypsy Tea pays $4 to $7 a kilo--and the women choose to decide how that price deferential is spent. Furthermore, the women who work at tea estates endure exhausting and repetitive work--their arms and wrists move 16,000 times a day to pick an average daily quota of eight kilos of tea a day. The average tea worker makes $1 and change a day; workers on tea estates from which Gypsy Tea procures their tea make about $12 a day.
The video is more than worthwhile to watch to learn what goes into making a sachet of tea and why the direct trade model for products like tea is so important. At a time when many companies latch on to fair trade and CSR for crass publicity motives, Gypsy Tea and Zhena Muzyka bring authenticity to the fair trade movement.
Beyond Fair Trade from Skyline Videography on Vimeo.
[...] with little redeeming value–others are silly–many are obnoxious. Companies like Angell and Gypsy Tea, however, are admirable because they work hard to make a difference in their local communities and [...]