Over the years I have found so many different ways to reduce waste as a small business. When we think about waste as a global problem, it can seem insurmountable. If every person and business on the planet just focused on what they could do and what changes they are willing to make, it would have a huge impact on the health of our planet.

I wanted to share a few of the things that we are doing here at Inspired Leaf Teas to help reduce waste. Some of our waste reducing processes have been in place since we started the business and some have evolved more recently.

We have been in business for over 11 years at this point and have never had to purchase any type of packaging materials so ship our teas to customers. You might wonder how we have been able to accomplish this since most orders require some type of packaging to make sure your tea tins arrive in perfect condition. When we first started the business I would save any type of packaging material that came with an incoming shipment of ingredients or supplies, then re-use those materials in outgoing orders. As the business grew and we had more orders going out I needed more packaging material. The solution was to use 2 different sources of what could be waste from our packaging processes. The labels that go on our tea tins come on a waxed paper backing. I started running that wax paper backing through a paper shredder and making my own packaging material. Now we are giving that potential waste a second purpose. The other source of packaging material is from excess tea bag material. We package our own pyramid tea bags on site with a pyramid tea bagging machine. The material is put on the machine in a big roll. As the machine makes the individual pyramid tea bags, there is a strip of excess material that is left over. This material makes great packaging for your orders.

The tea bag material itself is a product that I am very excited about. We have recently switched our tea bag material to a new product that is made from sugar cane pulp that is left over after harvesting of sugar cane. This sugar cane waste is made into a wonderful woven fabric that is safe to steep tea in and the best part is that it is compostable. After you brew your cup of tea, the bag and tea can go right into the compost. If they end up in the landfill it’s nice to know that they will break down and become part of the soil again. Those silky tea bags that are made of plastic aren’t going anywhere and become part of our waste problem. They also leech chemicals when steeped in hot water. Plastic is not an ingredient that anyone should want in their tea.

We also re-use cardboard boxes that we receive whenever we can. That’s why I’m a big fan of cardboard boxes that aren’t printed on. There is a better chance that the box will get additional uses if it isn’t branded. How many Amazon boxes might get a second use if they didn’t say Amazon on them!

This last one is a fun project that we have done with pallets that we receive our tea tins on. I love flowers and gardening so my husband and I turned wooden pallets into planter boxes. They look great hanging on the fence and give those pallets a fun second use.

I’m always looking for the next eco friendly step for this small business to take. I look forward to when there are more options available for small business as far as packaging and supplies. We’ll keep doing our research and continue to do our part to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Think about your daily life and see if you can commit to making a few changes that will help our planet. A few things that we have implemented in our home are: using laundry sheets instead of liquid in big plastic bottles, refillable water bottles instead of plastic, shampoo bars instead of liquid in plastic bottles, recyclable dental floss that comes in refills for a glass container, and growing our own vegetables. I would love to hear what you things you do to help reduce waste. We can all learn from each other.
Enjoy!
Cindi

Fresh ground spices, are the key to amazing flavor, in my newest tea blend creation. We recently purchased an industrial spice grinder, to make this process more efficient. Here is a picture of Organic Whole Green Cardamom Pods before grinding and after.
I wish you could smell the amazing aroma, that is released when these are freshly ground. I will be freshly grinding several whole, organic spices in house, for the new blend I am launching next. I can’t wait for you to try it!

You might wonder why we are going to the time, and expense, of grinding our own spices, when they are readily available pre-ground. The answer is freshness and flavor. There are essential oils in spices that are released when they are ground, and will diminish and evaporate in time, after being ground. We want the freshest spices going into our new tea blend. I found this on line article, that explains the benefit to grinding whole spices. Something to think about, with some of your favorite cooking recipes.Better flavor, fresher, longer

I’m working on label design currently, for this new blend, and as soon as we have all the details finalized, I will be able to share this new blend with you. Can you tell I’m excited!
Cindi

This past Spring, my husband, daughter and I headed to San Diego CA, for the World Tea Expo. We were on a mission, to find the first teas, that would be the start, of our new Premium Tea line. The World Tea Expo gathers tea growers and producers from all over world. As a small tea company, it’s my chance to try hundreds of teas in one weekend. We were able to sit down, and taste teas from the same people, that grow the tea, and learn about their story. We arrived each day when the doors opened, and stayed until the doors closed. By the end of three days, we were able to visit, and sample teas from almost everyone there.

The need for the addition of a Premium Tea line to our assortment, came from listening to our customers. We had many customers approaching us, looking for high quality teas, that were not a blend, or have the addition of any flavoring. All of the teas that were in our existing line, were teas based with quality whole leaf teas, and blended with quality ingredients, and natural flavoring. The premium teas are of such high quality that they stand alone.

While at the World Tea Expo, in San Diego, we heard the story of the women of the Tan Huong Tea Cooperative in Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam. These women are part of a tea cooperative, that is UTZ certified. They were the first tea farm in Vietnam to receive this certification, which monitors and reviews farming practices, to ensure that the farm is using sustainable practices, in growing clean tea without pesticides. These women are supporting and empowering the women in their community, by providing employment to women in the Thai Nguyen Province, and growing amazing, pesticide free tea. I really loved what these women were doing, and as a women running a small business myself, I could relate to the importance of what they were doing. We then tried their tea, and I can truly say that it was one of the best green teas that I have tried. It has a vegetal profile with a hint of sweet pea.

The leaves are a beautiful vibrant green when steeped and a lovely blue green color before steeping. I knew that I had found the first

green tea to add to our Premium Tea line.       

You can learn more about UTZ Certification and the Tan Huong Tea Cooperative in this article.https://www.utzcertified.org/en/aboututzcertified/176-producer-stories-tea/vietnam15/2379-tan-huong-tea-cooperative

I am very particular about what teas I add to this premium line, as I feel that they have to be extra special to be added to the line. I am currently tasting some Oolongs and hope to have the addition of an Oolong to the Premium Tea line this year.

Do you have a favorite Premium Tea, that you would like us to find our version of, for this special line? We would love to hear from you. You can contact me directly at cindi@inspiredleaf.com.

Enjoy!
Cindi

Let’s talk freshness! I’m going to assume, that if you are reading this, you have already moved past low quality, dust tea, in paper bags, and understand the difference, in choosing a whole leaf, quality tea for drinking. Now that you have chosen your whole leaf tea blend, the last thing you want, is to steep a cup, and find out that it has gotten stale, and no longer has that amazing taste, that makes you want to have another cup. Storing tea correctly is the key to freshness.

There are several factors that go into how fresh a tea is, when you go to steep a cup. First of all, it needs to be fresh when you purchase the tea. At Inspired Leaf Teas, we blend in small batches, and only source, and blend our teas when we need them. We don’t have tons of tea sitting around, waiting to be packaged and sold. This ensures that when we do package a tea blend, it is at it’s freshest.
We also source our teas and blending ingredients from trusted providers, and test each shipment for freshness.

The next, very important aspect, to having fresh tea, is storing tea correctly. You will notice that all 24 of our teas, are available in metal tins. Storing tea in a metal tin will lengthen the life and maintain the quality of your tea. I’ts critical to keep your tea in a container that does not allow in light. Exposure to light, will diminish the quality, and freshness of your tea. The teas packaged in glass jars, are pretty to look at on the store shelf, but the tea inside is loosing it’s freshness, as it sits there, in the store and in your home. You will notice, that we also offer our blends, in a foil package. We started offering these, because customer’s that had already purchased a tin of our tea, and wanted more, didn’t want a new tin, each time they bought their tea. These foil packages also keep light out, and will keep your tea fresh for a year, but we recommend the tin for storage longer than that. Our tea tins have a sealing ring on the inside of the lid that keeps it air tight. Your tea will stay fresh for two years in our tins. The only packaging that we have, that allows any light in, is with our 4 pack gift set tins, which have a window on top of the tin. Each of these tins are much smaller than our regular sized tins, so they are meant to be used much more quickly. They also, only have the window on the top, and don’t allow light in through the entire container, so the light effect is diminished. The look is perfect for gift giving, and we felt that the small light exposure would not compromise the freshness for a small one ounce size.

Other factors that can effect the quality and freshness of your teas, are heat and moisture. You want to make sure when you are storing tea, that it is kept in a cool, dry place in your house.

I want your tea experience, to be worthy of the time you have set aside, to enjoy a cup of your favorite tea. Feel free to e-mail me at cindi@inspiredleaf.com with any questions or comments. I would love to hear from you!
Enjoy!!

Cindi
Inspired Leaf Teas

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