9 Sustainable Tea Brands For All The Eco-Friendly Cuppas
What’s the tea on sustainable tea?
According to the BBC’s Climate Change Food Calculator, tea is less carbon intensive than coffee.
However, after water, tea is the most consumed beverage in the world. Fortunately, it can be grown, produced, and packaged in a sustainable way.
No wonder we’re all oohing and aahing over oolong made by sustainable tea brands – the impact of switching is huge.
We can’t tell you what the most sustainable tea brand is, but Art of Tea’s eco friendly organic tea and plastic free tea packaging puts them on the list.
While Numi’s sustainable fair trade tea means that tea farming communities are supported with schools, mosquito nets, cooking stoves, and more.
Bird & Blend Tea Co. uses biodegradable, recyclable, and compostable tea bags or reusable tea tins made with solar power.
Turn on the eco kettle, add your milk and sugar (or not), and sip away while we explore the best sustainable tea brands.
While waiting for your tea to steep, pop down to the bottom to learn what things we considered.
*This post contains affiliate links
QUICK LINKS FOR SUSTAINABLE TEA COMPANIES
1. BIRD & BLEND TEA CO.
About Bird & Blend Tea Co.
Bird & Blend Tea Co. is an independent tea mixology brand.
The UK-based sustainable tea company is here to reimagine tea and spread happiness.
They regularly host tea mixology workshops and have a Find My Tea Quiz for those who want a personalized cuppa.
Bird & Blend Tea Co.’s Tea
For both their tea bags and loose leaf tea, you can shop by tea type (green, black, herbal, yerba mate, etc.) or mood (sleep, calming, wellness, energy, life of the party, sweet tooth, thrill-seeker, traditionalist).
While not completely certified organic, many ingredients are.
All their teas are vegetarian and 99% are vegan, but since the ingredients are sourced around the world, some may come in contact with allergens.
Ethical Sourcing and Supply Chain
Bird & Blend is an independent company started by two friends in a university dorm room. To this day, it remains a small and family-like TEAm.
Co-founder Krisi carefully creates each blend, which are then handcrafted in small batches and packed by hand and with love in a UK warehouse.
Though not registered, they pay above Fairtrade prices and have full traceability of ingredient origins.
Green Business Practices and Charitable Giving
Through Ecologi, Bird & Blend is carbon neutral and striving toward net-zero emissions.
In addition to having biodegradable eco friendly tea bags, their consumer plastic free packaging is recyclable or compostable. Reusable tea tins are made locally using solar power.
At their brick-and-mortar locations, they reward people who bring reusable cups and plant a tree for every takeaway cup sold.
With their ChariTEA Programme, they’ve supported more than 30 causes with over £50,000.
Every quarter, an organization is selected and they choose a tea blend that fits its identity. All profits from that blend go toward this organization.
Available: Bird & Blend Tea Co.
2. ART OF TEA
About Art of Tea
Art of Tea is an excellent place to turn for custom crafted organic teas and botanicals.
You’ll find their sustainable tea bags and loose leaf tea served by the likes of Wolfgang Puck, The Beverly Hills Hotel, and Caesars Palace.
Art of Tea’s Tea
In either leaves or bags, you can choose between Art of Tea Blends, Organic Blends, and rooibos, green tea, black tea, and sustainable teas without caffeine.
About 85% are USDA certified organic. Those that aren’t often come from small farms that cannot afford the certification.
Ethical Sourcing and Supply Chain
The teas are directly sourced from China, India, Japan, Taiwan, and Egypt. You can also shop their website based on origin.
These ingredients are carefully hand blended in Los Angeles, California by Master Tea Blender and founder, Steve Schwartz.
They’re also lab-tested to ensure that they meet high GMP and HACCP standards.
Through Steve’s own journey with tea, he’s frequently traveled through Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, developing personal relationships with their suppliers and farmers along the way.
Green Business Practices and Charitable Giving
The plastic free tea bag sachets are biodegradable and packaged in paper.
Some of the loose leaf teas come in reusable tin or biodegradable envelopes (though only for the tea they retail made by Zadiko Tea Co.).
Available: Art of Tea
3. LOOSE LEAF TEA MARKET
About Loose Leaf Tea Market
Kita Centella is a herbalist and founder of Loose Leaf Tea Market.
Battling multiple addictions, a second prison sentence, and the lost custody of her children, she was introduced to the healing power of plants by a Native American healer.
The experience changed her life, eventually leading her to start one of the best sustainable tea brands.
Just ask some of her celeb customers, like Bette Midler and Uma Therman.
Loose Leaf Tea Market’s Tea
Their 30 loose leaf tea blends are made with 95% certified organic ingredients.
Many blends use medicinal herbs and all are free of additives, artificial ingredients, preservatives, and heavy metals (as per third-party testing).
Ethical Sourcing and Supply Chain
The ingredients are sustainably sourced before being handcrafted with love in Phoenix, Arizona.
Everything is produced in small batches.
Green Business Practices and Charitable Giving
The tea comes in compostable paperboard tubes, which are also durable enough for reuse.
The sustainable loose leaf tea can be brewed multiple times so a little tea goes a long way. Just add a few extra minutes of steep time for each new brew.
A portion of sales goes to the House of Dawn, an organization that supports young mothers to care for their children, complete college, and become self-reliant through parenting and life skills counseling, mental health services, and more.
Available: Loose Leaf Tea Market
4. NUMI TEA
About Numi Tea
Numi Tea is one of the sustainable tea companies with a vision to create possibility and positivity through each sip.
The brother and sister-founded brand got its start in a small apartment two decades ago but they’ve grown to be one of the most renowned organic tea brands.
Numi Tea’s Tea
Numi offers more than 40 USDA-certified organic tea blends—everything from sustainable green tea and chocolate tea to turmeric golden lattes and herbal tisanes.
They also just released a range of Healthy Teas which feature potent ingredients intended to support our respiratory systems, boost immunity, and promote healthy sleep.
Most of their sustainable organic tea comes in tea bags, but loose leaf options are available for bestsellers.
Ethical Sourcing and Supply Chain
Numi was one of the first 30 Certified B Corps.
The teas are both Fair Trade Certified and Verified Fair Labor.
The latter is a certification the company created in collaboration with Scientific Certification Systems. It’s aiming for international supply chain producers (tea, ethical chocolate, coffee) to work under safe conditions and receive fair economic returns.
Numi’s farmers can democratically select how premiums are used in their communities.
The $1+ million contributed by Numi supports schools, college scholarships, road improvements, cooking stoves, maternity benefits, mosquito nets, and more.
Green Business Practices and Charitable Giving
Using sustainable tea packaging, the unbleached, hemp-based sustainable tea bags come sealed in industrial compostable, sugarcane-based wrappers.
The tea strings are cotton and the tag is made from 100% recycled materials and soy-based inks.
Numi has measured and partnered with CarbonFund to offset emissions, making them a Climate Neutral Certified business.
They’ve also partnered with the Climate Collaborative to establish an advocacy program and support programs involving clean energy and acceleration to a post-fossil fuel economy.
The Numi Foundation was established as per their quadruple bottom line: people, planet, profitability, and purpose.
Supported by Earth Island Institute, it provides emergency food relief, clean water services, an organic garden curriculum for Oakland students, and educational opportunities in Iraq.
Available: iHerb | Amazon
5. DAVIDSTEA
About DAVIDsTEA
DAVIDsTEA is inviting us to “the world’s best tea party.”
Created for tea-obsessed friends, their products are blended with love, and are available in either loose leaf or teabag form.
DAVIDsTEA’s Tea
In addition to the usual types—white, matcha, oolong, pu’erh, green, black, herbal—there are also wellness teas, like Cold 911, Lemon Lullaby, and Reishi Relax.
Currently, 30% of their tea collection is certified by Canada Organic or USDA-certified organic. That number will increase to 50% over the next couple of years.
Right now, 87% of their collection is vegan, and completely conflict and cruelty-free.
They may contain common allergens, so scan each product page thoroughly before purchasing.
The teas are not produced in dedicated gluten-free facilities and some also contain flavoring.
Ethical Sourcing and Supply Chain
The eco friendly tea company uses single-origin tea sourced from around the globe, including from many family-owned tea gardens.
60% of DAVIDsTEA contributes to the Ethical Tea Partnership. Through their Impact Fund, they’ve supported clean water projects in Nepalese black tea communities and provided safe homework spaces for the children of the farmers who grow their South African rooibos.
Aiming to improve here, 11 tea blends (4%) of their teas are Fair Trade Certified.
Also with goals to grow, 2% are Elephant Approved, reserved for tea gardens created so that humans and endangered elephants can live and grow safely together.
Green Business Practices and Charitable Giving
The plastic-free tea bags are made from biodegradable materials and the sachets are compostable.
Some teas come in a reusable tin but all feature packaging that is at least recyclable.
They regularly make in-kind donations to North American fundraising efforts and donate tea to frontline heroes.
Available: DAVIDsTEA
6. WOODLAND HERBAL
About Woodland Herbal
Woodland Herbal is an Ohio, USA-based Etsy shop that combines the knowledge and passion from four generations of herbalists to produce plant-based healing products.
These include medicines, salves, tinctures, extracts, and eco friendly organic tea.
Woodland Herbal’s Tea
For sustainable teas that provide more than comfort, Woodland Herbal’s loose leaf blends are crafted for specific purposes.
Choose blends for insomnia and anxiety, focus, lucid dreaming, depression, cognitive function, relaxation, organ support, immunity, tension, detox, and more.
If you can’t decide, sampler packs are available.
Ethical Sourcing and Supply Chain
A variety of organic herbs, spices, and wildcrafted mushrooms make up these teas.
The ingredients are cruelty free and produced in small batches by the family-operated brand.
Green Business Practices and Charitable Giving
All teas come packaged in compact, reusable tea tins.
They’re in the process of converting an acre of previously deforested land into a pollinator-friendly wildflower oasis. For every item sold, they’ll plant 100 wildflower seeds to join the 18+ million they’ve planted so far.
All orders on Etsy are 100% carbon neutral, too.
Available: Etsy
7. GLASSWING ORGANIC
About GlassWing Organic
Hailing from Houston, Texas, Etsy shop GlassWing Organic harnesses the healing power of herbs and botanicals.
In addition to eco friendly loose leaf tea, they offer moisturizers, soaps, scrubs, and other skin and hair care products.
GlassWing Organic’s Tea
GlassWing Organic’s sustainable tea leaves become blends that support the immune system, detoxification, and weight loss.
Others are for anxiety, anemia, hypothyroidism, and fibroid and PMS symptoms.
You’ll see ingredients (some organic) like sea moss, cramp bark, elderberry, echinacea, holy basil, blessed thistle, burdock root, and sarsaparilla.
Ethical Sourcing and Supply Chain
Some of the herbs are gathered by hand while others are grown organically.
The tea blends are handcrafted in small batches in Texas.
Green Business Practices and Charitable Giving
The teas come in reusable or recyclable glass jars or tins.
Available: Etsy
8. STEEP & MELLOW
About Steep & Mellow
Doing eco friendly tea a little differently, Steep & Mellow’s teas are infused with functional mushrooms, making them adaptogens or nootropics.
Adaptogens are herbal substances known to help the body adapt to stress and anxiety, boosting overall wellbeing.
Nootropics are substances that support cognition, memory, and mental performance.
While you won’t be seeing green dragons on these ‘shrooms, the level of benefits they provide the body is certainly high.
Steep & Mellow’s Tea
If you’re still unclear about nootropics and adaptogens, they explain more about the ingredients and purposes here. Some are better for energy + focus, while others are better for chilling out.
Combined with wild ingredients like licorice root, lavender, and chamomile, the teas are totally plant-based.
All three—Groove green tea, Flow black tea, and Dream chamomile tea—are vegan and sugar-free.
Green Business Practices and Charitable Giving
Steep & Mellow’s eco friendly tea packaging consists of corn-based tea bags that break down in a home compost system within 30 days.
The plant-based wrapper, boxes, strings, and tags are compostable as well.
Available: EarthHero
9. PUKKA HERBS
About Pukka Herbs
In Hindi, pukka means “real, authentic, or genuine.”
Pukka Herbs was founded by a Master Herbsmith trying to bring the power of real, authentic herbs into more people’s lives.
Pukka’s Tea
In addition to plastic free supplements, Pukka has a range of organic herbal teas.
Organic practitioner-grade herbs are used to support digestion, relaxation, activity, sleep, cleansing, mood, immunity, energy, and women’s health.
Many are caffeine-free, aside from some that contain green, matcha, or black tea. They’re all vegetarian, but some contain honey. The teas are 100% cruelty-free.
Ethical Sourcing and Supply Chain
More than 200 certified ingredients are sourced from farms around the world using regenerative agriculture practices.
They adhere to certifications like USDA Organic, Fair for Life, and Fair Wild (a fair trade system for wild-collected plants).
The latter two make up 47% of their herbs. By 2025, they plan to pay £1 million in premiums to fair trade partners.
Pukka is a Certified B Corp.
Green Business Practices and Charitable Giving
Pukka is a carbon neutral company. By 2030, they hope to achieve net zero emissions.
The outer packaging is 100% recyclable, made from FSC certified paper and printed with vegetable-based inks.
The plastic-free teabags are 100% compostable. The string on the tea bag is made with organic cotton. They come in a FSC-certified envelope that is recyclable.
They’ll be totally single-use plastic free by 2025.
As a member of 1% for the Planet, 1% of their profits goes towards tree planting and women’s empowerment with TreeSisters.
Available: iHerb
HOW WE FOUND THE BEST SUSTAINABLE TEA BRANDS
So, which tea is the best for the environment?
Ideally, something you grow in your backyard or apartment garden. Since that kind of zero waste tea isn’t always feasible, here’s what we looked for in these sustainable tea brands:
The Tea Itself:
The most eco friendly tea is made with sustainable ingredients.
Often, these will be certified organic, but because some producers are small-scale or alternate what they grow, certification might not be feasible or affordable.
Ethical Sourcing and Supply Chain Practices:
Transparency is key.
Brands that share where the tea is sourced from and how farmers and supply chain workers are supported make that cup of chai even more comforting.
It’s great to see Certified B Corporations, Ethical Tea Partnership members, and mention of supply chain certifications like Fairtrade, and Fair Trade.
Green Business Practices and Charitable Giving:
A tea’s packaging is the other arm of how green that green tea really is, but what is sustainable tea brand packaging?
Loose leaf teas are the best, as they can come in zero waste packaging like reusable tins or compostable pouches.
Single-use tea bags and sachets inherently add more waste, but brands that have switched to biodegradable and compostable bags (string included!) mitigate this waste to an extent.
Spreading positiviTEA through donations or local efforts is great, as are Climate Neutral Certified companies.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON ECO-FRIENDLY TEA
So, how do you drink tea sustainability?
We’d start by: supporting eco friendly tea brands who employ sustainable food systems; and re-steeping the tea to get the most mileage (taste permitting).
After that, be sure to toss the tea and tea bag into your indoor compost bin.
With the sachet, check if it’s home compostable. If not, send it to a commercial composting facility.
Note that none of these teas have recyclable sachets, so save the space in your recycling bin for the outer packaging instead.
Having a tea party?
Be sure to share this list of sustainable tea brands with the tea lovers in your life so we can all enjoy conscious cuppas.
