FAQ

Our vision & mission statement 

Vision: Guilt-free sipping

Mission statement: Driving guilt-free sipping! Giving all tea monsters the opportunity to upgrade their brew to an ethical, tasty, whole-leaf cuppa. 

Our Values

- Moralitea: giving the world a helping hand

- Positivitea: taking life one cup at a time

- Qualitea: whole leaf and nothing but the leaf

Why should I buy your tea instead of other tea brands?

We're a Certified B Corp business doing good for the planet. 

Our tea is biodegradable, including the teabag and inner bag which is made from Natureflex, derived from FSC-certified wood pulp. 

As well as being part of the Ethical Tea Partnership, we ensure that all our teas are whole leaf (tea that’s a whole lot better!). 

We are also a small independent in a big wide corporate world, we need all the help we can get. But more importantly we taste great (and have 55 Great Taste Awards to prove it). 

I’m sold, where can I find you?

In addition to independent retailers, find us in Morrison’s, Booths, Ocado and Amazon.

What is the Ethical Tea Partnership?

The ETP focuses on four main areas;

• ensuring tea producers meet social and environmental standards
• addressing issues that the tea workers face in their community such as poor nutrition, exploitation & discrimination of women and other ethnic minitoriy groups
• improving the sustainability of smallholder tea farms by providing training and support to increase the quality and productivity of their plots
• assist producers and farmers to improve their environmental management practices as well as providing training on climate change and the implications this may have

Find out more here.  

What’s your approach to sustainable packaging?

We are aiming to be as sustainable as possible, to do this we scrapped our original tin packaging and switched to cardboard to make it recyclable. Don’t worry we know we still have a way to go, we are working hard towards removing plastic from our packaging, watch this space!

What about those nasty plastic coated takeaway cups?

We love our world and where possible try to give it a helping hand, we supply our B2B customers with 100% compostable takeaway cups and lids from London Bio Packaging - made out of sustainable forest paper with a bio-plastic lining. Unlike regular plastic, bio-plastic is made from plants such as corn and are plastic-free (yay!) They take 12 weeks to biodegrade. 

Do your tea bags have plastic in them?

No, we use 100% biodegradable and compostable corn starch teabags made from soilon.

How long do your biodegradable teabags take to decompose?

They take between 3-6 months. Read our blog about ways to reuse your old tea bags.

What is guilt-free sipping?

We created a campaign around the phrase of guilt-free sipping, the idea being that we ethically source the tea you’re drinking and minimise wastage that’s going back into the environment. We loved that with our compostable cups it could be a closed loop model, as the cups are made out of bio plastic and then they can be thrown away into the compost to biodegrade to help grow more plants. We are also rebranding our packaging to switch the plastic out for cardboard. 

Are you a certified B Corp business?

Yes! Read about how we use business as a force for good and our experience.

Are your teas vegan?

Yes all our teas are vegan friendly and free of animal derivatives including the tea bags themselves.

Bored?

Take our tea consultation.

Where are you based?

Our small and mighty team of 6 is based in London Bridge, where our office is powered by tea and biscuits. Fancy writing us a letter? Our full address is:

We Are Tea, Unit 126,

Metal Box Factory,

30 Great Guildford Street,

London, SE1 0HS

Where do you get your teas from? 

As we’re part of the Ethical Tea Partnership we support smaller tea estates. Our teas come from India, China, Poland, Egypt, Sri Lanka, South Africa & Germany.

I have a leaky tea infuser, how do I fix this?

Our infusers occasionally get tea leaves caught in the mechanism at the bottom which cause them to leak, to clean this fully pull out the filter (sometimes this can be quite hard the first time!) and rinse out thoroughly. 

What do you guys think about food miles?

We get our teas from all over the world, but we always transport our tea back to us by land or sea, rather than air freight. Once our tea leaves land on home ground we hand pack them back here in the UK ready to brewed.

Hello?

Is it tea you’re looking for?

How can I get free delivery?

For all you tea lovers we currently offer free delivery on all orders over £15 that go to the UK only.

What is your shipping policy?

We aim to deliver all domestic orders within 2-3 working days. For international orders, please allow 5-7 working days. Please note that our working days are Monday-Friday and do not include bank holidays.

Whilst the vast majority of the parcels we send reach their destinations within the usual delivery times, very occasionally parcels get delayed and take a little longer than normal. Please be patient, but if after 5 working days from placing your order, you are concerned about its whereabouts, just get in touch and we will very happily investigate. 

We offer free delivery on orders over £15 and orders below that carry a £2.99 delivery charge.

What about returns, exchanges and refunds?

We want you to be 100% happy with your tea!  If this is not the case, please just let us know within 7 working days of delivery at hello@wearetea.com.

Return/exchange delivery charges will only be refunded in the event of faulty, damaged or incorrect items being sent to you.

Are your teas natural and sugar-free?

Yes - all our teas are just tea, nothing else is added. We leave it up to you to add sugar (we think you’re sweet enough).

How do I order wholesale?

1st order? Get in touch with us at hello@wearetea.com and we will either direct you to the most relevant wholesaler or supply you direct.
Re-ordering? Simply send us your account number and order at orders@wearetea.com and we will process it within the day.

Now what's cooler than bein' cool?

Ice Cold!

How are you award winning? 

We have 67 Great Taste Awards under our belt and counting. We were also awarded 2018 Good Brand Award from Sublime Magazine along with many others.

I’m obsessed with your tea, please tell me how I can spread the word!

You can shout it from the rooftops or alternatively you can write us glowing reviews on our website.

Which blend is your favourite?

We couldn’t say, the others will get jealous.

How should I store my tea collection?

Our teas love a cool, dry place and prefer an opaque container. Tea stored in sunlight or near heat sources can result in a loss of quality and bleaching of the tea, which can destroy aroma or flavour.

What is a Supplier Code of Conduct?

We have a Supplier Code of Conduct in place to ensure that the suppliers we work with treat their employees well by having safe working conditions & meeting certain health and safety criteria. Beyond workers, it ensures that environmentally friendly working practices are in place to promote sustainability and future tea drinking. 

What are some of the social standards you hold your suppliers to?

We always make sure that any supplier we work with has the following in place;

• safe working conditions 
• meets regular health and safety standards
• commited to upholding human rights in line with the applicable laws
• commitment to sustainability, waste and the environment
• maintain a high level of ethics in line with our own and the applicable laws 
• compliance with any self assessments, certification or audits required by us

Careers: want to join the We Are Tea family?

Email your CV to hello@wearetea.com and we might have the perfect job role for you!

Fancy a chat?

Contact our tea-m at hello@wearetea.com or call us on 0207 792 4470.