Nepal Tea Collective’s Tea Bags: Convenient, yet Flavorful and Ethical

For most of our young history, Nepal Tea Collective’s specialty has been traditionally crafted loose-leaf teas. By ‘traditionally crafted’ we mean that our teas are hand-plucked and made exclusively from the top-most bud and leaf of our tea bushes. These tender-most leaves undergo a traditional processing method refined by tea artisans over centuries. (link to Orthodox tea processing)

Our loose-leaves have been loved by tea connoisseurs in over 52 countries, but over the years, many of our tea buyers have also asked us, “Why don’t you carry tea bags?” Often, we field questions like, “Are you against tea bags?” “Are you tea purists?”

While we aren’t tea purists by any stretch, we acknowledge that many tea masters and connoisseurs do prefer loose-leaf teas, and for valid reasons too. Made of plastic materials like nylon, or bleached paper bags that release harmful chemicals into the soil as they decompose, most tea bags on the market aren’t eco-friendly.

Besides, tea bags are often packed with tea leaves that are low-grade, economical teas, such as tea dust or fannings, or leaves that have been cut for tea bags. While lower grades of teas have their own unique uses and can be incorporated into delicious recipes, they definitely can’t compare to the full bodied, nuanced and aromatic profiles of whole-leaf and bud, traditionally processed teas.

This is why it has taken over six years for Nepal Tea Collective to launch our line of tea bags, without compromising on our nuanced flavors and ecologically ethical values. After years of designing, experimenting, and proto-typing, we are so pleased to offer our fresh, specialty teas with the quick brewing and easy clean-up convenience of tea bags.

Nepal Tea Collective’s Tea Bags: Convenient, yet Flavorful and Ethical

While we recognize that tea bags can offer great convenience, especially in cafes, where quick brewing and easy clean-up can be an important factor in keeping up customer satisfaction, we didn’t want to compromise our sustainability and the carefully crafted flavors of our specialty teas with just any kind of tea bags. With six years in the making, our tea bags offer:

The experience of loose-leaf tea in tea bags: Because of their sizes and designs, tea bags are often packed with tea-bag cut leaves or lower grades of teas (brokens and fannings). Whole leaf teas have to fully unfurl to release all their flavors and aromas into your cup of hot water, and traditional tea bags just don’t have the space to allow whole leaf teas to breathe as they should. This is one of the reasons why tea connoisseurs usually don’t go for tea bags – tea bags simply can’t hold up against the flavor profiles of loose-leaf teas.

With our innovative wide-based, pyramid design, our tea bags allow our premium teas to fully unfurl, delivering the same flavor profiles as our loose-leaf varieties. Our tea bags are packed with whole-leaf, organic teas that give tea lovers the same aromatic and flavor journey as specialty, loose-leaf teas.

Industrially Compostable Tea Bags: While the panic over plastics in tea bags has proven to be hugely overblown, we still want to ensure that our tea bags don’t add to the landfills and the heaps of plastic waste plaguing our oceans. Our tea bags are crafted in partnership with Sarjesa, using 100% Non-GMO plant-based material.

Transparency and Traceability with Every Single Teabag: Nepal Tea Collective’s core mission of bringing visibility to the highly skilled and dedicated tea farmers working in Nepal’s incredible tea terroirs, ultimately platforming Nepal as a vibrant tea producing region and uplifting the livelihoods of Nepali farmers, is highly intertwined with our completely transparent and traceable system. By simply scanning a QR code on the label of each of our tea bags, tea buyers can learn about exactly where their single-origin tea came from and connect directly with the farmers, pluckers and producers involved in making their teas. They can also directly contribute to improving the livelihoods of Nepali farmers by directly sending them a tip, further strengthening the relationship between tea farmers and tea lovers.

Serving Nepal Tea Collective’s Tea Bags at Your Cafe:

Every package of tea you get from Nepal Tea Collective comes with stories from our farms: stories of the farmers and tea masters who work on our teas and stories of the teas themselves. For consumers conscious about fair-trade and ecological ethics, we offer a deeply flavorful, healthy and charming option. If you’d like to become a wholesale partner with us and get our tea bags on our shelves, we’d love to hear from you!