The Rainforest Alliance’s Director for South Asia, Dr. Madhuri Nanda explains that while sustainable farming ensures that agricultural practices do not negatively impact and degrade the environmental, social, and economic aspects of the surrounding ecosystem, the focus shifts in regenerative agriculture towards making the system better by adopting an ecosystem approach to enhance biodiversity and improving soil health through increased microbial activities that build resilient systems capable of withstanding adverse climatic scenarios.
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Rainforest Alliance’s Director for South Asia, Dr. Madhuri NandaMadhuri Nanda, Director South Asia with the Rainforest Alliance
Regenerative Agriculture: A Holistic Approach
Madhuri Nanda, Ph.D., lives in New Delhi where she has served since January as Director South Asia with the Rainforest Alliance. A researcher with a doctorate in environmental science, she has diverse expertise in sustainable agriculture that includes resource management, nutrient management, vulnerability assessments, and climate change mitigation. She is former head of strategic development for KBS Certification Services and a graduate of Delhi University.
Dan Bolton: Is there an accepted definition of regenerative agriculture?
Madhuri Nanda: The term regenerative agriculture may be somehow new, as it was coined in 1980s by the Rodale Institute, then disappeared and surfaced again from 2015. However, we need to keep in mind that the concept behind is not recent. It draws from the principles of agroecology and holistic ecosystem management, both at the farm and landscape level. We, at Rainforest Alliance, believe this is part of a broader umbrella of climate-smart agriculture. Hence, our standard includes many regenerative agriculture principles and practices, in addition to other key dimensions of sustainability for instance, traceability, living conditions, child labor, forced labor, etc. Taking an agroecology and integrated system management approach, regenerative agriculture aims to increase biodiversity, enhance ecosystem services, and increase agroecosystem resilience thus leading to resilient livelihoods.
Dan: How do best practices in regenerative agriculture differ from sustainable farming?
Madhuri: Sustainable farming ensures that the agricultural practices do not negatively impact and degrade the environmental, social, and economic aspects of the surrounding ecosystem. This is a journey to move from sustainable agriculture to regenerative agriculture, which is more of a natural progression where the focus shifts towards making the system better by adopting an ecosystem approach to enhance biodiversity, improve soil health through increased microbial activities in the soil, thereby building resilient systems that can withstand the adverse climatic scenarios. Hence, regenerative agriculture is a holistic approach accounting for all ecosystem services. At Rainforest Alliance, over more than 34 years, our sustainability standard has incorporated many of the principles of regenerative agriculture, such as soil health management (including composting and mulching), integrated pest management, biodiversity conservation, agroforestry, and a focus on climate-smart practices.
Dan: Will you discuss the Rainforest Alliance’s view of intensive farming and mono cropping common in tea?
Madhuri: Some tea producers have already innovated over the years and started intercropping with spices to diversify their produce from the estates. Hence, intensive farming is moving towards diverse intercropping in some cases, also to support greater revenues, in addition to tea tourism. The need for shade trees due to extreme climate conditions is bringing a shift towards agroforestry, too. Thus, we find that farmers are moving away from intensive farming as they already are aware of the deteriorating soil health of their farms and are willing to explore alternative solutions. Adopting our certification program brings these regenerative agriculture practices for building resilient farming systems in today’s world of changing climate.
Dan: What are the most pressing challenges facing the tea industry?
Madhuri: The tea industry in India and globally is grappling with significant issues that challenge its survival. Changing climate with untimely and unprecedented flooding and droughts coupled with increased pest infestations have led to significant crop loss. To add to this, supply chain disruptions due to pandemic, absenteeism, shortage of labor, increase the cost of production and unfavorable market conditions have contributed to loss of business for many key players. Further, the plight of tea smallholders that now contribute more than 50% of tea production in India is beyond comprehension given the limited resources at their disposal. We find those players who already had sustainability ingrained in their business practices, for instance fair wages, better life quality of workers, sound agricultural practices in their estates are resilient and better able to sustain themselves.
The tea sector in Bangladesh is expected to return to near pre-pandemic production levels after setbacks in 2020. Like neighboring Assam, Bangladesh experienced a spring drought, high temperatures, aggressive pests and the onslaught of the pandemic. Despite these challenges production through July is ahead of last year’s totals and estimated to reach 86 million kilos.
Caption: A monument known as the Tea Daughter at the entrance of Moulvibazar district at Srimangal, Bangladesh. Photo courtesy Faizi Tea Estate, credit: Shomoyeralo.com
Pluckers at Finlay Tea’s Consolidated Tea Plantations. Photo courtesy Mohammad Musa.
Tea Gardens Benefited from Timely Government Actions
By Dan Bolton
Mohammad Musa, manager at Finlay Tea’s Consolidated Tea Plantations in Habigonj, and Moulvibazar, Bangladesh, writes that “Plantation work never stopped during the Pandemic. Workers were kept isolated in the tea estates itself and there were many more safety programs. Government support was encouraging, which really enabled plantations to continue running of the tea estates activities safely during the pandemic.”
Cyrus Anushirvan Faizi, Executive Director at Faizi Tea Estate, reports that the first seven months of the year brought favorable weather.
“Tea production has been consistently increasing thanks to the favorable weather and initiatives undertaken by the [Bangladesh] Tea Board,” he writes. “The distribution of fertilizer at subsidized prices started in the gardens at the right time this year,” Faizi explains.
In spite of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Bangladesh Tea Board shows the nation’s 167 large and small tea gardens produced 86.4 million kg of tea last year, exceeding the 75.9 million kg targeted. During the past 10 years annual production has increased from 60 million kilos to a 166-year record of 96 million kilos in 2019.
The International Tea Committee in London ranks Bangladesh 9th among the tea producing countries. The industry employs 100,000 permanent workers and 30,000 casual workers. There are approximately 5,000 small holders producing tea. Exports by value fell 5.7% to $3.2 million, according to World’s Top Exports which reports International Trade Center data.
Early this year the Bangladesh Tea Board projected tea production will reach 77.8 million kilos. Halfway through the harvest year growers are optimistic they will exceed that total. “About 51% of the target has already been produced in the first seven months,” writes Faizi.
In 2020 production was greatly hampered due to the pandemic, a severe drought and insect attacks. A nationwide lockdown was imposed by the government in March 2020 to curb the spread of COVID-19 resulting in a drop in crowds in hotels, restaurants, and tea shops as well as a precipitous decline in tea sales.
“However, even during the pandemic, the tea estates were fully staffed and running smoothly which helped the industry to meet its production target,” writes Faizi.
The online tea auction at Chattogram saw good volume recently as favorable weather brought increased yields after a difficult 2020. Prices at Sale 16 in Chittagong averaged $2.25 to $2.55 per kilo for leaf grade teas, dust grades use to make tea bags reached $3.42 per kilo. “Sale averages are still tolerable for the industry considering the COVID situation,” writes Mohammad Musa. Photo courtesy Faizi Tea Estate.
“Plantations are mostly in isolated from the city or localities,” explains Musa who oversees 8000 hectares of tea producing 12 million kilos annually. “Workers were kept isolated in the tea estates itself and there were many successful safety programs against the COVID at the tea estates. Plantation management arranged harvesting on daily basis by observing all safety measures for the workers against the COVID and continue to make sure that workers wear masks, wash hands before and after starting the work,” he writes. Safe distances were enforced during leaf weighing and in the factories all sorts of safety precautions were strictly maintained and continued manufacturing of tea, writes Musa.
Musa writes that “logistic and supplies were interrupted during the pandemic though the plantation management somehow managed timely payments for the workers. Tea plantation really faced acute difficulties about the materials for the estates day-to-day activates.”
Masks were mandatory at Finlay Tea, workers wash frequently and keep a safe distance during leaf weighing. Factory workers were strictly monitored.
Tea production was also hampered by unfavorable weather and insect attacks during the first five months of the 2021, resulting in a 10% decrease compared to the previous year.
Musa writes that “one of the main adversities is drought. During the past couple of years tea plantations in Bangladesh experienced the equivalent of six months of rain less days every year.”
“This tropical region climate is already hot, sometimes it goes beyond tolerance for the tea bushes,” he explains. “To tackle this situation most plantations in Bangladesh are using shade trees to block at least 40% of sunlight over the tea bushes. During the drought plantations used irrigation systems ( mostly overhead sprinkler irrigation systems of various sizes). These irrigation sets were mostly used with the perennial water. Plantations also use mulching to reduce evaporation of water from the soil. Some are using subsoil watering to minimize damage,” writes Musa.
Tea producers in Bangladesh are now at a crossroads, according to Faizi. Improving their marketing performance in both the domestic and export markets has become crucial for survival and growth, he writes.
“Old saplings have been removed and new saplings have been planted. The tea planters have increased the scope of tea cultivation by making new investments,” writes Faizi, adding “If the trend of increasing production continues like this time, then there will be no need to import tea in large quantities.”
“The tea sector has lost its name and fame in recent years, but in light of such challenges, strategies have been adopted in the coming year to meet the demand for tea in the domestic as well as global market.”
— Cyrus Anushirvan Faizi
Faizi Tea Estate, Bangladesh
Faizi Tea Estate
Tea was first sowed in 2015 at the Faizi Tea Estate in Kulaura, a small village in Moulvibazar District in Sylhet, not far from where the first commercial tea garden was established in 1855 at Malinchhara Tea Estate.
Faizi, the garden’s executive director, is a lawyer and consultant with a degree from the University of London. He writes that “tea is a potential export product of the country with high demand abroad. There’s a lot that can be done for the development of the tea industry and the welfare of tea workers. The production will increase if the necessary support is provided, exchanging views with entrepreneurs in the tea industry.”
Faizi explains that “the tea industry has undergone a number of changes in the last decade. The government and tea planters have taken a number of steps to achieve record production in tea (2019). The government announced a roadmap in 2016 for the development of the tea sector, setting a production target of 140 million kilos annually by 2025.”
He writes that “The tea industry is currently making a significant contribution to the country’s economy through export earnings, contributing to a trade balance as well as generating employment. New tea estates have been established in new areas where the climate is suitable for tea plantations. Large corporate groups have begun investing in tea plantations in response to the rise in consumer demand. Bringing large corporate groups into tea farming is helping to increase production, as well as introducing more knowledge and technology. “
— Dan Bolton
Bangladesh is famous for its Seven Layered Tea also known as Seven Colored Tea. The recipe is a secret. Every year tourists visit the city of Srimangal in Moulvibazar just to taste this tea paying from 70 to 100 Taka ($1) a glass.
Seven layered tea
Bangladesh is surrounded on three sides by India and shares a border with Myanmar. Source: Banglapedia
Henrietta Lovell seeks to redefine good tea as a beverage that tastes amazing. Tea must also benefit the people who craft it and those who drink it, she says. Her firm buys direct from farmers globally, advocating farmer support and development over costly certifications and rejects teas grown with pesticides and herbicides or blended with additives and flavoring.
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Henrietta Lovell discusses her passion for teaSince founding The Rare Tea Co. in 2004, Henrietta Lovell has charted her own course in tea.
The Value in High Quality Tea
Having read Henrietta Lovell’s fabulously engaging book “Infused, Adventures in Tea” earlier this year with TeaBookClub, I jumped at the chance to chat to Henrietta the tea person, founder of Rare Tea Company, mistress of the artful blend and champion of tea farmers. Join me as the Rare Tea Lady spills the tea.
Kyle Whittington: I’m fascinated about the moment someone “gets” tea. What’s been your experience of this?
Henrietta Lovell: It’s very interesting. If they’ve already got a preconception of what tea is, it is harder. So if I’ve got a young person, or they don’t have a very firm, fixed preconception. They might be a little bit more fluid, bit more open to experiencing new things. So then it’s like, “Oh, I’d love to try.” And then “Oh, this is amazing, this is delicious.” But when someone’s got a very strong opinion beforehand, then it’s a really wonderful revelation. Because you know that you’re not just making someone fall in love, you’re making them change an established thought pattern and it’s super exciting. But I don’t really do it, the tea does it. I’ve got a very privileged position where people will trust me enough now to try things and it’s just absolutely wonderful.
It’s one of the most life a?rming experiences. Really, the most is when they’re very resolutely not going to like it. They think they know what they like. And then, they have a taste of something that just starts to excite them. And it’s like “Oh, okay” but their face is still completely closed, they’re just there because they need to be or they’ve been dragged in. And then the face softens, the body language softens, and a sort of joy starts to creep into the face.
Because pleasure is a joy. Let’s not forget. It’s not just amazing flavors. It’s really a sense of euphoria that overcomes you when you discover something that is so beautiful, and so joyous.
Kyle: So is there one tea that really captures people?
Henrietta: I mean that obviously we will have very di?erent tastes and flavor profiles that we enjoy most. But interestingly, it’s often either an English breakfast or jasmine tea because we know those teas very well. And experience is so extraordinarily wonderful because you think you know something, and then it’s opened out to you.
Jasmine silver tip because it’s so clean and bright and fresh and it’s scented with jasmine flower. There’s no flavoring in there. This is just the flowers that have given up their scent, and it’s been absorbed into the tea. That is such an extraordinary experience. People are like “Oh, ooh!” And it’s so extraordinary. They’re sort of, “I know it but I don’t know it.” And they feel quite discombobulated at first, and then very joyous.
And then the other thing is to do is an English breakfast with an industrial teabag, and then an English breakfast made with beautiful teas crafted to be something better than the sum of its parts. And that’s really amazing. You try them side by side, and then there is this revelation because you’ve probably drunk that industrial teabag tea every day of your life, maybe six times a day. And then you have something that is remarkably better. You’re like shit, what have I been missing out on my whole life. And that can be a little bit hurtful. You can’t argue with your taste buds. So when your taste buds say, “Oh my God this is better.” you have to just let go of the past and go Okay, the world is opened out. Whatever their taste background, whatever their profession, whether they’re a taxi driver or a famous chef, or a sommelier, everybody can taste the di?erence. So it’s much more accessible. It’s just having that first sip.
Kyle: You’re known for creating some fabulous blends. But sometimes, blending is seen as the poor relation to a “pure” tea. How do you see blends and the art of blending?
Henrietta: I think it’s the intention of the blend that’s absolutely important. Are you trying to create something that’s better than the sum of its parts? Or are you trying to disguise or make bland and easily indistinguishable? But it can be something really extraordinary. And with such a huge cornucopia of flavors within black teas, but then with blending, it becomes exponential. Absolutely exponential, what you can achieve. I’m still shocked. I’m still surprised now.
Because it’s never the sum of its parts.
The history of scientific revolutions is often led by mistake and that’s often been the case for me.
My favorite thing that I’m drinking at the moment is a blend of almond blossoms from Tarragona with Croatian Camomile. But I never thought I would do that, I did it totally by mistake. I have to admit that to you. I charge lots and lots of money for making blends for people and then sometimes I just do one very good one by total mistake.
Kyle: I’m interested, what’s something that bugs you in the tea world?
Henrietta: But I wanted to say that there’s a lot of snobbery around tea and we should be more inclusive. If we’re going to make a real revolution in the tea world and get people to understand that there is this cornucopia of deliciousness and joy and flavour. Which will in turn, nourish and support the tea community throughout the world. We got to stop putting our noses in air and being snobby and shutting everyone out who doesn’t know, you know, the names of tea estates in Taiwan. It’s really not that interesting, what the code of that that particular varietal is. Because there’s so much more to do with flavor.
Kyle: Talking of snobbery, how do you deal with the naming of a tea? What’s your approach?
Henrietta: Two of the farmers that I admire most (one is Jun Chiyabari in Nepal) they refuse to use any of the old colonial terms. So they won’t do a TGFOP or whatever and they’re now even not calling things green or black tea. Because why is it that it has to be a green or a black tea? One of the teas we have is called Himalayan Spring and it’s actually technically, if you’re going to be super technical, a black tea though it tastes like green tea. And so if we called it black tea it would disappoint everybody. So why do we need to? The flavor profile is softer, richer, much greener than a lot of green teas. If you’re comparing it with a very deep Sencha, you’d be like, well, this is not. How can we call these two things green tea? It’s like trying to compare a whiskey with a rum almost.
If you really love tea, if it’s a real love, not an intellectual challenge, then it doesn’t really matter what it’s called. And if you need to know more about it, you should be able to delve in. I ask questions of my farmers all the time passed on from my customers because that connection is jolly important. If you really need to know varietal number of the tea then we’ll find that out and get it to you. But I don’t think that should be the thing that leads because it’s really o? putting.
People often question me on our packaging, it’s often very simple on the front. It might say just green tea or oolong tea and then on the back it says more stu?. And that’s because I began in 2004 and no one had ever heard of oolong tea, so I didn’t call it Tie Guan Yin, or Iron Goddess of Mercy. So I’ve really tried and it’s been super interesting how farmers have adopted that same thing.
My favorite new terroir, and one that I admired tremendously is in New Zealand in Waikato. They’re producing tea and again they’re not using traditional names. They’re making oolong teas and they’re not calling them oolong they’re calling them, you know, dark or light or whatever. Just simple words that people will be able to understand from about the flavor.
Kyle: You work directly with farms, what is it about working directly that is so important for you?
Henreitta: Working with farms. Working with people to understand, number one, there’s a value in high quality tea, but working with farms. That we don’t just ostracise people or communities that have been reliant on industrial tea. We don’t just say “Oh, we can’t work with them.”
Often people speak about farms that produce speciality tea and non speciality tea. If the person who’s picking the tea is paid the same for both. Well then that’s not fair really, because then the value of that speciality tea is not getting to the picker. And this is not okay. We shouldn’t really work with commercial farms that are producing non speciality tea.
There is not a problem with supply in the world of speciality tea. There is a problem with demand. That is the problem, right?
So it’s our job to try and spread the demand and to educate people and to show people that there’s a reason and a value for buying more expensive tea.
“We no longer work with the Fairtrade organization. We realized we could have more impact by working directly with our farms. We return a percentage of our revenue (not profit that can be fudged).”
But if a farmer is trying to come out of a world where they’ve been reliant on selling commodity tea, cheaper tea because that’s where the market was, we can’t punish them when they’re trying to then create speciality tea. And this makes me so mad. And when you talk about wages and you say, “Well, I shouldn’t work with a farm where the wages are low.” How are they going to improve the wages if we don’t buy more speciality tea? We need to work with these farmers because we have to understand that we need to have relationships. How do you get to that? Like working in a farm in Malawi; wages are low, life expectancy is low, standard of living is low. How do we make a fucking difference there? How do we do it differently? And it’s not by only working with a tiny small holder or tiny farm that just makes speciality tea. That’s part of the solution. But it’s not the only solution.
Rare Tea Co.
Henrietta Lovell is perhaps best known as the Rare Tea Lady, after her company “Rare Tea Co.” rareteacompany.com. Sourcing directly from farmers since the very beginning, Henrietta has traveled the world, searching for rare and precious harvests of teas and tisanes. Her quest has taken her on many adventures, from the far flung and bizarre to those closer to home. She has worked with some of the most prestigious restaurants and hotels around the world, pairing teas and creating bespoke blends. Henrietta founded Rare Charity, which works to bring educational opportunity to young people in tea growing areas.
“The people working in tea estates represent some of the most marginalized communities in many of the world’s poorest countries,” writes Lovell. “Our aim is to give ambitious young people the agency to uplift themselves, their households and their community. Education enables these young people to return to their community as qualified professionals, to implement long-term social change,” she said.
Can a world that has already eroded a third of the planet’s soils feed a population of 10 billion without intensive agricultural practices that rely on heavy inputs of fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides that sustain monoculture farming?
To answer this question, the Tea Biz Podcast and Blog is undertaking a series of interviews with thought-leaders in tea from organizations such as the Rainforest Alliance, growers in Sri Lanka, where a nationwide ban on the import and manufacture of plant chemicals was instituted in May; and with multinationals like Unilever, a company with extensive tea holdings that recently unveiled its basic principals of regenerative agriculture.
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First in a series of podcasts on regenerative agricultureThe Unilever Regenerative Agriculture Principles are agricultural practices focused on delivering positive outcomes in terms of nourishing the soil, increasing farm biodiversity, improving water quality and climate resilience, capturing carbon and restoring and regenerating the land.
Unilever’s Principles of Regenerative Agriculture
By Dan Bolton
In a review of the World Resources Institute’s December report on the looming “food gap” The Guardian writes that “compared with 2010, an extra 7,400 trillion calories will be needed each year by 2050. If food production increases along current lines, that would require a landmass twice the area of India.”
As temperatures rise and rainfall becomes more erratic, attention has shifted to climate change on a grand scale and mitigation at the farm level. Tea is generally grown on hillsides at altitudes less favorable to food crops but the looming scarcity of land for food crops and the depletion of soil on existing farms present long-term challenges for the tea industry.
Unilever acknowledges there is no accepted definition of regenerative agriculture, but the phrase is widely used to refer to practices that include minimum or no tillage, a reduction in the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, extensive crop rotation and well-managed grazing for animals instead of industrial feedlots.
Regenerative agriculture is focused on the soil and the enhancement of soil organic matter – SOM is a mix of plant and animal debris, soil microbes in an enriched environment of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. SOM improves soil structure, reduces erosion, and retains water.
Extensive planting of cover crops also draws carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere where it is retained in the soil.
Unilever’s Regenerative Agriculture Principles (RAP) are focused on regenerating soils, protecting water quality, increasing biodiversity, developing climate solutions; and improving farmer livelihoods.
The intent is to optimize the use of renewable resources while minimizing the use of non-renewable resources; while keeping resource inputs as low as possible.
The goal of protecting topsoil from erosion and restoring existing soil finds widespread support, but some consider regenerative agriculture to be “over-hyped.”
As NBC News reported in 2019, “one much-cited estimate of potential soil sequestration published to date suggests that if regenerative practices were used on all of the world’s croplands and pastures forever — a huge assumption — the soil may be able to sequester up to 322 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.” That’s a long way from the one teraton that is sometimes claimed to be possible.
Sharon Kelly on Desmog.com writes that “A lot of studies that claim regenerative agriculture can have a huge impact “do not address scientific and practical challenges” involved in employing those practices, the World Resources Institute argues.
She goes on to point out that “Big agrichem companies have been marketing a form of regenerative agriculture that could keep farms reliant on pesticides and other chemicals. For example, farmers may use chemicals to kill off crops at the end of a season rather than using tillage. While that may keep the soil in place, the chemicals used can damage the integrity of the soil in other ways. So while it could be good for carbon emissions, it could perpetuate other environmental problems.”
Kelly writes that “While regenerative agriculture may be in-vogue, it’s not well defined. The term “regenerative” — unlike terms such as “organic” — isn’t defined by regulators and “regenerative agriculture” farmers are not required to show that they’ve followed any specific standards. It’s part of a wider suite of strategies that fall under the umbrella of “climate smart agriculture”, a similarly ill-defined term, which critics say can be used by companies to greenwash their images while avoiding regulation.
Giulia Stellari, sustainable sourcing director at Unilever told FoodNavigator that the stated principles are a starting point. It’s important the industry agree on a definition. “Without consensus, it’s difficult to have alignment amongst organization and therefore difficult to track progress.”
Beyond the Farm
Unilever also makes it clear that “The farms in our supply chain are a key focus for our nature regeneration work. But to do all we can to protect and regenerate nature, we must look beyond the farm and consider the wider impact of agricultural and industrial practices. Where we see an opportunity, we will work with suppliers and farmers to apply regenerative principles to restore natural ecosystems too,” writes Unilever.
“Here the opportunity is in working with local governments, technical organizations, NGOs, suppliers and peer companies to educate farmers and build capability and capacity for the protection of natural ecosystems.
“Regenerating nature requires a whole systems approach, and we are continuing to look closely at our role in the system, and the different places we can play our part.”
Next in the series is a conversation with the Rainforest Alliance on how regenerative agriculture differs from sustainable farming.
Unilever’s tea garden holdings span the globe.
Unilever’s Investment in Sustainable Tea Estates
Kenya offers a model for developing countries where smallholders generate most of the tea consumed. In 2006, Unilever pioneered Farmer Field School programs with the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA). Initially supported by the UK Government, and IDH (the Sustainable Trade Initiative) provided funding from 2008. This helped scale it into a program that eventually trained nearly 100,000 farmers – around half women – on good agricultural practices to increase yields and quality.
While the main aim was for farmers to meet Rainforest Alliance certification standards and improve incomes, they also learned how to grow other crops to diversify and protect themselves from tea price fluctuations, as well as good hygiene and nutrition practices.
Advances in sustainable practices are most evident at the Kericho Tea Estate which covers 22,500 acres (9,000 ha) and employs 5,500 full-time workers along with thousands more temporary workers during the harvest season. Kericho also buys significant quantities of raw leaf from local smallholders.
“We have worked hard over many years to improve pay and conditions and we now pay workers well above the industry average – about two and a half times the statutory minimum agricultural income in Kenya as well as health care, education and housing benefits,” writes Unilever. Benefits include transport allowances, paternity and maternity leave, health care, nursery and clean drinking water for the 40,000 people living in company villages.
Pickled tea leaves may sound a bit out of the ordinary but not for Southeast Asian chefs. Burma, now known as Myanmar, is an ancient crossroads influenced by the cuisine of bordering Bangladesh, China, Thailand, and Laos. It is here that laphet has become a national dish that is now finding its way to US and European consumers as branded packaged goods.
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Tea’s popularity is not limited to the choice it offers as a drink alone. Laphetor fermented tea leaf, is used in a salad called the laphet thoke or mixed with rice. The uses of the fermented tea leaves are not limited to salad or a dish.
Cultured Tea Leaves Flavor Many Dishes
By Aravinda Anantharaman
Tea’s popularity is as a beverage, and a versatile one at that. A single plant produces leaves that are processed, blended, flavored, aged, rolled, compressed, bagged, powdered into a product that finds its audience. But tea’s versatility is not limited to the choice it offers as a drink alone. As a green leaf, it’s also an herb but surprisingly this side of tea has yet been tapped to its fullest potential. Except perhaps in Myanmar (formerly Burma) bordering India, Bangladesh, China, Thailand, and Laos. Not surprisingly, tea is also cultivated here, but its most famous rendition is as laphet or fermented tea leaf, used in a salad called the laphet thoke or mixed with rice. The uses of the fermented tea leaves are not limited to salad or a dish. It’s immensely popular in Burmese cuisine – probably the unofficial national dish. It’s said that only the finest leaves of any harvest are used to make lahpet.
Burmese cuisine enjoys fantastic influences, surrounded by countries with culinary wealth. Its popularity may not have reached the levels of say, it’s neighboring Thailand’s cuisine but there’s plenty of offer. Overseas Burmese are now seeing that there is an interest in the lesser known, unexplored cultures of the world, offering an opportunity to promote their own. There are a handful of brands, including Burma Love Foods, a 5-year-old brand from San Francisco whose product range is built on laphet. Besides variations of the dressing, they offer do-it-yourself salad kits which should hold appeal. Myanmar Tea Leaf’s Paline is a homegrown brand producing laphet, said to be the first to brand the product.
“Tea you can eat” is an attractive opportunity for promoters of Burmese cuisine, to take something so familiar as tea but offer it in newer ways, and equally for tea businesses that are looking for deeper cultural connections with tea.
Fermented tea leaves in olive oil
Stir-fried tea salad
Fried mushrooms
Laphet and rice
Hors d’oeuvres
Myanmar Laphet (SO) single origin edible tea leaf is picked and aged at 5,332 feet above sea level in Namhsan, Myanmar’s original capital of tea, producing the country’s highest quality teas for the past 1,000 years.
