At Tippytea we believe that social and environmental responsibility are the main pillars and values of our company. We highly value teamwork and we love knowing more about the people behind each product, we think it is good to meet our suppliers because there is always a story to tell.
This time we traveled to Cotacachi - Ecuador, to visit the company from which we mainly buy bilberry and gooseberries, they work directly with the indigenous communities of Cotacachi, trying to improve marketing processes and rescuing native crops from the Andean zone for ten years .
Their main objective aligns very well with ours, we are companies that seek to generate strategic alliances with local producers and thus work on a fair trade system in which everyone wins, an equitable system which allows us all to grow as a country.
We spoke with Vero, the administrator, she told us how the company works with more than 45 indigenous communities, which they have advised with productive initiatives, incorporating in their crops new products that are not so easily found in the market, such as billberry and gooseberries, making them more competitive and valuing their work, thus they acquire a better pay with fair prices and their business becomes more profitable.
These indigenous communities have long worked in seed preservation, they are known as the guardians of the seeds and with them it is possible to obtain organic and biodiverse products, of the best quality and freshness, harvested with working women´s hands.
It is interesting to know that 80% of their producers are women, the role they play within the community is very important, that´s Eloisa´s case, a lady with a big smile who told us a little more about her crops and her contribution in the company.
At the end of the day we were able to go to the field with the company of Carlos, a committed and very charismatic worker, he took us to know the harvest of gooseberries, which we bought once dehydrated, you can find them in our desserts and in some of our teas. It was a great experience.
Tippytea is a conscious company with the environment and with society, for us it is very important to be part of the growth of small producers and entrepreneurs. Tippytea started like this, with the support of many people who believed in our dream and have opted for this project. For us that is the way to give back to the universe what it has given us.
So the next time you taste our bilberries or our dried gooseberries, you will know what their story is and where they come from. We hope to continue traveling and bringing you more information about our ingredients and about the contribution we are giving both to the environment and to society.
Tippytea always contributing to the growth of the tea culture in Ecuador.
#TippyteaLovers that's all for now, remember there's always time for tea.
Tippytea - The real tea