Nepal Tea Collective and Metolius Tea: Creating A Gratifying Partnership with Bulk Tea Leaves

Bringing fresh, farm-to-cup loose-leaf tea in bulk to the world, Nepal Tea Collective has long been in the business of socially and financially empowering the farmers and tea producers who make our wonderful teas. 

We are so happy to say that since our inception in 2016, we have uplifted more than 700 farmers working in the remote, high-altitude tea mountains of Nepal. With the goal of uplifting a million farmers out of poverty by 2050, we sometimes feel as though we have a long way to go and not enough time to get there. 

However, once in a while, a truly validating partnership like the one we have with Metolius Tea, comes into our lives, motivating us to keep going! 

From A Cold Email to Crafting Bulk Teas Together: A Journey with Metolius Tea. 

More than a year ago, our wholesale team reached out to Amy, the founder of Metolius tea, hoping we could fulfill some of their loose leaf tea supply. Out of everyone, we were especially drawn to Metolius tea because of our shared values. 

Our mission is to create value-driven supply chains, where every farmer, producer, and tea worker along the way receives not only fair pay, but also recognition, to promote and platform sustainable, organic, and restorative farming practices, and to uplift smallholder communities, completely aligned. For us, Metolius tea was a perfect match. 

As a testament to their commitment to sourcing the finest teas from ethical tea houses, Metolius Tea got to know us fully before they began sourcing teas in bulk from us. In the beginning, Metolius Tea included our teas in their Tea for Good program. It was a small fund-raising project that only required 2 to 3 kilograms of our loose-leaf teas. 

It was our commitment and our love for our farmers and tea producers that drew Amy to us, and ultimately to Nepal! 

Hearing about our work, which entails platforming our farmers, providing educational scholarships through our foundations, and giving our tea buyers full supply-chain transparency while also connecting them to the individual farmers and tea producers, was one part of our small partnership. With a one-of-a-kind dedication to deeply exploring and learning more about our tea farms, Amy joined us on our Immersive Tea Tour through our partner farms! 

We welcomed Amy to our gardens in June 2023. After giving her and our Summer Tea Tour cohort a tour of Kathmandu, we visited our tea farms, which are in a flurry of activity during the summer months. 

During her stay on our partner farms, Amy explored our tea gardens, plucked tea alongside pluckers and factory workers, and even danced with the children of the Nepali tea mountains. She met our managers, supervisors, tea producers, and tea masters. 

One-on-one visit to a tea farm, the farms dedicated a small plot of their tea garden to Metolius tea, as a sign of their gratitude for not only loving the teas they so lovingly cultivated but also as a sign of trust and warmth – which is a huge part of Nepali tea culture. You can read about Amy’s experience on our tea mountains, a truly heartwarming and uplifting story. 

After seeing the Nepali happy-go-lucky yet passionate working culture, warm-hearted yet diligent operation on the smallholder farms, and Nepal Tea Collective’s impact and mission across the most remote and rugged high-altitude gardens that produce some of the most precious teas in the world – Metolius tea decided to turn to us to source a large bulk of organic tea leaves, covering a large amount of their sourcing needs. 

We went from supplying 2 to 3 kilograms of tea to customizing the plucking and processing of one of our black teas in bulk just for Metolius tea – which our tea makers, who are often looking for new and experimental methods to master, are pleased to do for our wholesale clients. We are also excited to be creating a customized batch for Metolius Tea during our first flush harvest in the coming spring! 

Staying Grounded, Committed and Motivated: A Future of Creating Bulk Loose Leaf Teas for Metolius Tea. 

For our team, Amy’s heartwarming experience with us and everyone working in our tea farms is deeply validating. It is yet another sign that our commitment to creating value for our partner farmers and producers is coming to a head. 

There’s still a long way to go, and to reach our goals we need to nurture our collaboration with our wonderful partner, Metolius Tea, and find mission-driven tea companies like Metolius Tea around the world. It is ultimately our wholesale tea partners who will drive us to create our best organic bulk teas yet, while also creating long-term, sustainable, and deep impact for all our workers in tea on the ground!