Hannah Collins speaks to the women who founded EISA Tea Co and Jenipher’s Coffi – tea and coffee companies offering a more ethically conscious alternative in a hot drink industry where backgrounds are frequently murky.

Having a cuppa smacks so hard of quintessential British cosiness that this very phrase, if delivered literally, could kill. Unfortunately, this sudden dark turn we’ve taken is representative of what most of us might not know about tea and coffee. Both have rich, global histories, and both have a not so cosy underbelly when it comes to workers’ rights and the environment. But there are brands, including here in Wales, trying to make the tea and coffee production more ethical – two of which also happen to be spearheaded by trailblazing women.

One such woman is Amy Aed of EISA Tea Co, who labels the tea industry as “one of the most exploitative in the world.” Amy met her business partner Emily Knipe in 2019 in Aberystwyth, where they bonded over a hot mug of matcha.

“We were both massive tea drinkers before we started studying the industry and undertaking courses – and we prided ourselves on knowing our milk oolong from our Tie Guan Yin. But still, the horrors that occur within the tea industry were completely unknown to us for a very long time.” Those horrors were blown wide open a few years prior by a BBC investigation in India’s Assam, which found tea workers living in abject poverty due to low wages; some were without toilets in their homes.

“Certifications such as Fair Trade mean very little when it comes to real ethics”

Amy Aed, EISA Tea Co

Big brands like PG Tips, Tetleys and Twinings vowed to improve conditions on the estates they buy from, but the report was especially damning for oversights made by the Rainforest Alliance, an ethical certification organisation consumers rely on to buy Fair Trade goods. “Certifications such as Fair Trade and the Ethical Tea Partnerships actually mean very little when it comes to real, actionable ethics,” Amy explains.

Instead of supermarkets, she recommends organic food stores or online retailers as a safer bet. “When we founded EISA, we decided that the only way we could sell ethical and sustainable tea was by sourcing directly from small family farms. This cuts out the infamously long tea supply chain, removes the need for plastic, chemicals and pesticides, and ensures that the real heroes – the tea farmers – are recognised.”

Amy and Emily had no idea that they were Wales’ sole female-led tea brand (if Google is any indication). While they haven’t encountered many difficulties as women entrepreneurs here, tea farms abroad suffer from what Amy describes as an “uneven power dynamic” on account of all the pickers being women and all the managers being men, resulting in withheld wages and even violence.

This gender imbalance is mirrored in the coffee industry, as Ffion Storer Jones, a spokesperson for Jenipher’s Coffi, explains. “While there has been some real progress in recent years, with more women assuming leadership roles, the coffee industry is still heavily dominated by men.”

The ethical coffee company launched in 2020 thanks to the Welsh government’s Coffee 2020 initiative, aiding Ugandan farmers through COVID and the climate change emergency. But the personal bedrock is founders Jenipher Wetaka and Elen Jones’ 20-year friendship, as well as the special bond between Wales and the coffee farming Mt. Elgon region. A farming veteran, Jenipher is the sole provider for her family – and now the first woman to chair her co-operative.

“Co-operative values include equity and equality, and empowering women to take on leadership positions is part of their DNA,” Ffion says. “Many stereotypes persist, however, in terms of women’s roles in coffee production, and many leadership roles are traditionally held by men. We are starting to see a shift in the right direction towards equality: Elen and Jenipher are trying to disrupt the system and show that there is a different and better way to trade coffee and bring it to market. We are just one of a number of women-centred coffee brands founded recently, and we hope we can inspire more women to follow suit.”

As in the tea trade, the problems for coffee farmers (particularly women) are multipronged, Ffion elaborates. Gender inequality joins unstable wages and prices (decided on the stock exchange, not by producers) and the very immediate impact of climate change – mudslides can wipe out entire harvests. A 2008 report published for the UK government’s Department For International Development notes that Uganda is highly vulnerable to varying climate conditions, with climate something on which its economy is heavily reliant. The report specifically points out that the potential loss of coffee-growing areas could erase a staggering 40% of the nation’s export revenue, which would have a disastrous impact on poverty levels, access to clean water, and force people to leave their homes – or Uganda altogether.

That figure really gives you an idea of just how important protecting the livelihoods of farmers like Jenipher is: it’s not just about us getting our caffeine fix on the other side of the world, it’s about the prosperity and survival of an entire country. 

“Fairtrade is more than just a fair price for farmers,” Ffion affirms. “It means protecting the planet, empowering women, investing in farming communities and so much more. Fairtrade equals quality {and} equality. It’s about shopping with your values and using your money to vote for the kind of world you’d like to see.”

With the rise in ‘conscious consumerism’, I’m curious to know if EISA and Jenipher’s Coffi are cynical or optimistic about the future of businesses like theirs. Is it merely a fad or a state of mind that’s here to stay? Both are emphatically hopeful. “Not only are we looking forward to ethical and sustainable businesses leading the front,” Amy says, “but we’re also hopeful that the future will see all businesses across the board changing up their practices.”

The owners of Jenipher’s agree. “With the rise of zero-waste shops, better understanding of the violations that exist in supply chains, increased awareness of the single-use plastic crisis and biodiversity loss driven by the things we love to eat and drink, the public is clearly awakening to the increased, interconnected global crises that are linked to what we consume. They are asking, ‘What can I do to contribute to a healthy planet?’

“We are confident that there will be a continuous rise in ethical and sustainable businesses responding to these demands, and we’re really excited to be a small part of this shift that’s happening, putting community and planet at the heart of business.” 

Info: eisateaco.co.uk / jenipherscoffi.wales

words HANNAH COLLINS

EISA Tea Co. and Jenipher’s Coffi’s tips for making the perfect cuppa

On making a good cup of tea, Amy from EISA says:

Brew tea at the correct temperature! Honestly, Amy spent the first few years of her tea journey drinking green tea at 100C, and absolutely hated the bitter taste. As it happens, you’re not actually meant to burn your tea!

We recommend the following brewing temperatures for tea:

Green tea: 70°C/160°F, 50 seconds

Black tea:100°C/212°F, 80 seconds 

Matcha: 75°C/165°F

Pu’erh: 100°C/212°F, 50 seconds

White tea: 75°C/165°F, 50 seconds

As for coffee, Jenipher’s Coffi advises:

Using too little or too much coffee, and using the wrong ground size for the brewing appliance, are two common mistakes that people make when preparing a cup of coffee. We’ve worked with a coffee expert to put simple brewing guides together for a whole host of brewing methods, from a v60 to a Moka Pot, which can be found on our website.