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Known for its organic bottled teas, Honest Tea announced in April that it has cumulatively contributed $1 million in Fair Trade premiums, a milestone of the brand’s contributions that ultimately finance community development initiatives in Honest Tea’s sourcing communities.
Founded in 1998 in Bethesda, Maryland, Honest Tea, Inc. seeks to create and promote great-tasting, organic beverages and extend economic opportunities to communities in need. The company pays a premium for each of its beverages that contain one or more Fair Trade Certified ingredients, and a portion of that payment goes to the community from which the product was sourced.
Over the years, Honest Tea’s premiums have contributed to the improvement of local schools, funding of worker health initiatives, and the purchasing of mechanized farm equipment and modern essentials for workers such as cooking stoves and bicycles. Honest Tea co-founder and c.e.o. emeritus, Seth Goldman said, “Our transition to organic, Fair Trade Certified sugar across our entire product portfolio is our biggest step forward on Fair Trade since we converted all of our tea leaves to Fair Trade Certified.”
“This change, made possible in part by a cost-saving change in our PET bottle design, was a big step forward for Honest Tea’s commitment to Fair Trade and was a win-win for our brand, our consumers, and the farming communities that produce Fair Trade sugar,” he said. Ami Mathur, Honest Tea’s general manager of brand marketing, said, “Hitting this $1 million milestone is a huge testament to Honest Tea’s growth since The Coca-Cola Company’s investment in 2011. The impact made in our sourcing communities as a result of these contributions is something we are extremely proud of, and we intend to grow our impact even further over the next five years.”