SwanSisters is a grass-roots, boutique tea company founded by two young women who share a passion for high-grade, fresh teas and tea culture. We have a year-round presence both in the US and China, enabling us to source some of the worlds most unique, highest grade, rare tea varietals. Each harvest season we travel to remote regions, seeking out artisan growers and tasting the seasons best vintages.

Our mission is to build Tea Community by providing education, interaction and the sharing of our tea passion. To us tea is a magical beverage that includes fascinating ancient cultures, complex taste and aroma, beautiful meditative pouring ceremonies and modern scientifically proven health benefits.  It is our pleasure to share our passion for tea and promote tea as a path to a healthier more connected life.

 

Our Values

Environment

Environmentally sustainable business practices has been a core value from the start. As our worlds most precious resources and biodiversity become increasingly threatened, it is more and more important for businesses small and large to Our business model is proof that you can be a company without a large investor, a lot of capital or fancy certifications and still be “Green”. We can all do small things within our means that make a difference. Here are a few of our green practices:

·      We source teas that have only been grown organically, without the use of chemicals, pesticides, or fertilizers. This isn’t a marketing tool we use, it’s a principal business practice we stand firmly behind.

·      We reuse  and recycle boxes

·      All our unused labels and paper scraps are shredded and used as packing material

·      We use fluorescent light-bulbs and energy efficient appliances at our Teahouse.

·      We compost our unused tea leaves and cardboard boxes

·      Our teas are packaged in rice-paper bags with natural glassine lining to ensure freshness and also ensure it will breakdown and not clog landfills for millennia.

·      It is a goal of ours to create an NGO by 2011 through SwanSisters where we are able to build projects that aim to conserve the biodiversity and indigenous cultures of remote tea growing regions.

·      We print on recycled paper and use soy based inks for our promotional materials.

 

People

·      Each new farm we choose to do business with, is inspected by us to ensure the safety and care of its employees. Making sure everybody is happy and healthy!

·      We purchase teas from farms where tea is only hand-picked, never machine harvested ensuring the jobs of the tea-pickers are preserved.

·      We pay many times the price of Fair Trade certified teas to ensure higher quality and better wages for workers.

·      We hope to be able to fund and coordinate Fair Trade certifcation for some of the smaller more artisan growers we work with annually.

 

Freshness and Quality

·      Only 1% of the tea sold in the US is of the same quality and freshness as SwanSisters tea.

·      Because we are a direct trade company we know the people who grow our tea and the date of its picking.

·      There are many grades of tea within each tea itself. We choose only the highest grades that have been hand harvested and some of our most premium teas have been processed entirely by hand from start to finish.

 

Thank you very much for visiting our website! Please contact eli@swansisters.com or celestina@swansisters.com or if you have any questions.