Tea was once a tool for rebellion, it even sparked wars!
Stash was brought to life by two hippies in Portland, Oregon seeking “tea euphoria.”
These days, a lot of people see tea as a source of quiet and comfort. But in the past, tea was a tool for rebellion, it even sparked wars! Stash has the goal of taking tea back from this soft-focused moment of a day to show people that it’s a great way to bring a twist of fun to our days.
So sit back, grab a cuppa, and have a quick read…
Tea was used to spark rebellions?
Yes! These days, tea is seen as a source of quiet and comfort, but in the past, it was used to spark rebellions and played a big part in the women’s suffrage movement in early 20th Century.
In 1911 the California election allowed women to take part in politics for the first time but before that, the women’s suffrage movement had been on the previous year’s ballot and had not passed. Women doubled down on their efforts and the suffragettes used two tea blends: “Equality Tea” and “Votes for Women” as central figures to bring attention to, and financially support their movement. The popularity of the teas proved to the government that there was support for equality throughout politics. And the rest is literally history.
Now, the aim of Stash is to show people that tea is not just a moment of quiet in a hectic day. It can energize, fuel passions, and spark important conversations.
Like all B Corps, every three years we have to go through a recertification process, how is that going?
Yes, we are very proud of being a B Corp and are committed to being a business that is a force for good. We certified in 2017 and are in the process of recertification now.
We’re pulling back the books and inner workings of our business to ensure that we are balancing our pursuit of profit with our pursuit of purpose. Visible examples include a strict code of conduct for our supplies. As a tea company we source the most premium ingredients from around the world, our code of conduct ensures that our suppliers meet our requirements for human rights, sustainability, and other quality and ethical standards. Our parent company Yamamotoyama even created their own tea garden. Farming their own gardens in Brazil allows us to more thoroughly control the quality of our tea production, and lets us hold their gardens to the highest standards.
Tell us about your work to remove plastics and waste from your packaging.
We’re really proud of our work to create more sustainable packaging. We’ve eliminated our plastic overwrap, our tea boxes are 100% recyclable and printed with vegetable-based inks, our tea bags are bleach-free and compostable (made from 100% wood cellulose fibers), and we never used microplastics in our tea bags. We also increased machine efficiency to allow us to remove the staples from our tea tags.
Another recent initiative involved reducing the amount of paper in our cardboard tea boxes. This cut our paperboard tonnage by 18%, or ~200 tons a year… As much as a blue whale weighs(!).
What does the future of your business look like?
We’ve made it a goal of ours to empower and nurture a better tomorrow, where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. Some of the ways we do this is by making in-kind and monetary donations to those in need — providing tea for doctors and nurses in New York during the worst of the spikes in the Covid pandemic, giving donations to Feeding America and more locally for our HQ, to the Oregon Food Bank.
As a B Corp, we are committed to redefining success in business. Not only do we want to be the best tea company in the world, we also want to be the best tea company for the world. We want to empower and nurture a better tomorrow.
This article has been posted by MaCher to celebrate B Corp Month 2021 and build awareness of companies that meet the highest standard of verified social and environmental performance. For more information about Stash Tea, please click here.