EusTea

SustainabiliTEA: Wild Orchard Tea

Hello friends! Are you surprised that I’m back with another sustainabiliTEA profile? This part of the blog has been on hiatus for a while, but when Hanna from Wild Orchard reached out, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to learn more about another tea brand.

Wild Orchard is an American-Korea tea brand that focuses on creating delicious, healthy teas that are good for both the people and the planet. This tea brand started with a Jeju tea estate in 1999 and twenty years later, in 2019, the brand was created. Hanna was kind enough to send me a video of their founder Michael Ham explaining their tea and I used that as the basis for our conversation.

Introduction to Wild Orchard Tea

As I mentioned at the start, Wild Orchard Tea is an American tea brand whose teas come from a 1,000 acre tea farm in South Korea. However, what caught my attention (and prompted me to write this post) was the fact that they practice regenerative farming and is in fact the first tea brand to have Regenerative Organic Certified [1] teas, showing their dedication to this method of farming.

Sidenote: What is Regenerative Farming?

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica [2], regenerative farming is a form of farming that “prioritizes conserving and rehabilitating the land, tailoring specific practices to local ecosystems and climates.” It not only seeks to minimise the impact of farming on the land, but to actively improve soil health. Soil health is a huge issue because according to an estimate by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, more than half of farmland around the world is degraded.

Wild Orchard & the Planet

Why Regenerative Farming?

When the farm started in 1999, it wasn’t with the idea of following an “organic” or “regenerative” farming movement. Instead, they just wanted to plant tea seeds with minimal human interference. This means:

  • No pesticides or herbicides (even “organic” ones)
  • No fertilisers – instead cuttings are left in the field to break down and turn into additional nutrients for the soil. It’s also an extra layer of protection for the soil.
  • Planting tea trees from seed for deeper roots and to grow plants that are “native” to the soil (essentially, they are comfortable with the fact that not all the seeds will grow into plants)

What are the impacts of regenerative farming on the surrounding area?

According to the EASAC [3], regenerative farming has huge potential to help the fight against global warming through carbon sequestration. Of course, removing carbon dioxide for the environment benefits everyone, not just the farm.

The farm has also applied to be protected from hunting, making them a refuge for the flora and fauna that live in the region.

Given that Wild Orchard is based in both Korea and America, how do you manage your carbon footprint, especially when it comes to packaging and delivery?

As someone who has to get pretty much everything shipped to me, this was a key concern. I’m just going to cut and paste Wild Orchard’s response because I think it’s best to hear them with their own words:

Delivery

“We encourage and incentivize customers to use ground shipping where possible. One thing to note is One thing to note is that regenerative farming is one of the most effective ways to sequester carbon. Studies have shown that CO2 emissions could be sequestered [4]. This kind of farming has a net positive effect, i.e. it not only balances out emissions from the transportation and packaging of the tea, but goes beyond that to have an overall positive effect on the environment. Often we are told to accept “sustainable” products which just do less damage. Less damage is, of course, much better than more damage. But we need to start making a positive impact on the environment, rather than settling for doing less damage.”

Packaging

“We are always striving for least wasteful packaging options we can. Our loose leaf pouches are fully recyclable. By fully recyclable, I am referring to the fact that a lot of so-called recyclable packaging that carries the recycle symbol aren’t actually recyclable for different reasons. Our tea bags are bio-based and biodegradable, and the outer packaging is made of compostable materials and recyclable paper.

“In an ideal world, everyone practices zero waste and drinks only loose leaf tea carried in reusable jars from a bulk dispenser in the store, but that comes with many challenges and needs to be well balanced with accessibility (e.g. in terms of distribution, pricing).

“The truth is that we are a small business and survival is an uphill battle. We have a mission to protect, and we do so by making sure we survive in an incredibly competitive market that is dominated by big business.”

As a new tea brand, how do you balance marketing and encouraging responsible consumption?

Now that I’ve had the chance to think about overconsumption, this is a question that I’m quite keen to ask brands. Wild Orchard believes that good quality tea is an underconsumed beverage (something I’d agree with) and so are encouraging people to buy good quality tea that they won’t get sick of, and to share that with their family and friends.

I actually have not really thought about shifting consumption from low-quality tea to high-quality tea, but I can see how marketing along those lines can help the overall market (and also people to get used to paying fair prices for tea).

Wild Orchard & their People

Was it difficult for the farm to get buy-in from their local community to practice regenerative farming?

I asked this question because organic/regenerative farming practices can be affected if your surrounding farms practice conventional farming as runoff from other farms can introduce pesticides and artificial fertilisers. Happily for Wild Orchard, their farm is not only large enough (1000 acres) but it’s also surrounded by mountains, other organic farms and a lot of trees that act as vegetative barriers. In fact, there are 10,000 trees around the property alongside other flora and fauna, which helps to act as a natural barrier against things like wind.

Apart from hiring and treating workers fairly, how does Wild Orchard give back to the community?

Wild Orchard is a 1% for the Planet member and has taken part in farmer’s markets for charity. They also have plans for holding community events like tea festivals. And since they are passionate about regenerative farming, they also conduct local and international education on the topic to others who want to improve their farming practices.

Sidenote: what is 1% for the Planet?

According to their website [5] 1% for the Planet is a network of businesses that use the following model:

  1. Commit to giving at least 1% of annual sales to environmental organisations
  2. Donate directly to one or more approved environmental organisations
  3. Submit donation receipts and revenue to be certified as a member
  4. Use the model to inspire businesses and individuals to take action

Where can you find Wild Orchard Tea?

I hope this post has been as educational for you as it has been for me! My interest in Wild Orchard has definitely been piqued and I’ll be adding them to the list of tea brands to try in the future. If you’re also keen to try their teas, you can find their online shop here.

Sources

[1] Source: World Tea News

[2] source: Encyclopedia Britannica

[3] source: European Academies’ Science Advisory Council

[4] source: Report on Regenerative Organic Agriculture and Climate Change by the Rodale Institute, p2

[5] Source: One Percent For The Planet

Featured Image: Photo from Wild Orchard Tea of the cedars and native grasses around the tea farm.

2 thoughts on “SustainabiliTEA: Wild Orchard Tea

    1. Thanks, Lashaan! I’m not as familiar as I should be with Korean teas and other types of sustainable farming so I learnt a lot writing this!

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