Loose Leaf tea:

Generally tea bags are filled with the smallest particles. I've called mine 'loose leaf grade tea' to make clear the distinction. Most of the Madame Flavour tea is a much larger BOP1 grade. This leaf has more subtle flavours as it retains more essential oils.

Organic Ingredients:

I choose my tea based on flavour. If the tea is delicious and organic , even better. In each of these blends at least 70% of the tea is certified organic/organic in conversion and has been produced in a certified organic packing plant. The balance is just delicious.

The organic certifiers of the tea are Control Union (formerly SKAL International) and The Institute for Marketecology (IMO). The production and processing is inspected by Intertek to ensure it fulfils the criteria of the Regulation.

Fairly Sourced:

I source tea direct from the estate in all cases. The two main estates we buy from charge a higher than market price price and have very good working conditions, along the fair trade model.

Producer Premium Paid:

Where we buy tea from estates not set up with specific worker programs, we are currently making support contributions on a case by case basis. At the same time we are building relationships and a personal understanding of workers needs to develop programs on a larger scale. My personal interest is in the area of microfinance. After much research I believe this model of offering small business loans to women to be one of the most empowering, effective and sustainable models around, providing people opportunities to help themselves out of poverty.

Biodegradable Infuser Pod:

I loved the Infuser Pod when I first saw it, but soon discovered that those available around the world are mostly made from nylon. This did not sit well with me. I discovered a source of biodegradable Infuser Pods, made from a derivative of corn. They are costlier and more difficult to fill, but this is a decision I am glad I made and stuck with in the face of resistance at doing something new.

Fully recyclable packaging:

The infuser pods are biodegradable, the outer box is recyclable and the inner pouch has been modified from previous standard to instead use an alluminium inner and paper outer. Both of which are recyclable - unfortunately, to recycle them, the two must be separated.

This little hiccup we discovered after the intial batches had been produced. We are now developing a truly recyclable inner freshness pouch and I have removed this wording from the pack.

Just one of the trials along the way.