Honest Tea 12 Packs Green Dragon Tea 16oz

How We Brew Our Tea

We believe in quali-tea. There are lots of reasons for that but we thought we?d start with the five most important to us.

ORGANIC. It begins with organic. Did you know a tea leaf is not typically rinsed between the time it is harvested and the time it is brewed? All of our teas are certified organic according to standards set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and enforced by accredited third-party certifying agents. USDA organic regulations stipulate that irradiation, sewage sludge, synthetic fertilizers, prohibited pesticides, and genetically modified organisms are not used with crops?including tea.

HAND PLUCKED. Honest Tea leaves are picked by hand. Pluckers in our tea gardens in China and India select the delicate top two leaves and bud of the Camellia sinensis plant, which is the single source of the black, green, white, and oolong varieties we brew. The leaves are subsequently dried and processed, often through heat and/or oxidation (a natural chemical reaction of the leaf?s enzymes that alters its flavor, color and aroma).

FAIR TRADE CERTIFIED. All of our tea & sugar is Fair Trade Certified. Fair Trade certification empowers farmers and workers to improve their own lives. When purchasing Fair Trade ingredients, we pay a premium on top of the market price that goes directly back to the farmers, who choose to invest in farms and communities for generations to come.

REAL BREWED. Real brewed tea in a bottle? Absolutely! We heat water and steep our tea leaves before bottling, just as you might do at home.

COMPOST LEAVES. Just as it begins, it ends in the soil. Whenever possible, the spent tea leaves are added to compost, helping enrich the soil at farms near our brewing facilities.