Latest news with #RainforestAlliance
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Griffith Foods Celebrates World Fair Trade Day
Today, we celebrate World Fair Trade Day, a global celebration of fair and ethical trade practices that promote equity, sustainability, and better trading conditions for farmers and producers. On this day, we're honoring the partners and farmers around the world who make sustainable sourcing possible and sharing how we're working together to build a more transparent, ethical, and resilient food system. By integrating environmental and social criteria into our sourcing strategies and using tools like EcoVadis to evaluate supplier performance, we're advancing responsible sourcing practices. Our TEROVA team brings this vision to life by delivering traceable, certified sustainable raw materials such as herbs, spices, and other ingredients. TEROVA partners directly with farmers to implement sustainable practices and achieve certifications like Rainforest Alliance. Using our TEROVA TRACE platform, we track every step of the journey, from field to factory, ensuring transparency, integrity, and trust throughout the supply chain. Explore how TEROVA is helping create a fairer, more sustainable future: Our Sustainability JourneyAt Griffith Foods, we are committed to driving positive impact through a regenerative mindset. Sustainability is connected to everything we do as a business, and by 2030, we are dedicated to significantly improving the future with a singular sustainable business strategy that we call our 2030 Aspirations. To learn more about Griffith Foods and its current sustainability efforts, visit them online and download the 2023 Sustainability Griffith FoodsAt Griffith Foods, our purpose defines who we are, what we do, and why we exist, highlighting what makes us distinct and authentic in the marketplace. We help our partners meet the evolving needs and desires of consumers in ways that respect and sustain the planet. Our care and creativity mean we'll find the right mix of global reach and local impact to serve the earth and nourish all of us who call it home. View original content here. Visit 3BL Media to see more multimedia and stories from Griffith Foods
Business Wire
23-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Marumatsu Reimagines Everyday Tea Culture with Renewed "san grams Sangram" Brand
KIKUGAWA, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Marumatsu, a heritage tea company with over 120 years of history, is proud to announce the renewal of its 'san grams Sangram' brand. Based in one of Japan's most renowned tea-growing regions, Marumatsu remains devoted to enriching daily life through tea. The renewed brand offers a fresh vision for enjoying tea in a way that connects tradition with the rhythm of modern living. The concept of 'New Everyday Tea' encourages people to rediscover the calming ritual of brewing tea. While bottled tea is convenient, it often lacks the sensory depth and emotional comfort of hand-brewed tea. Marumatsu invites people to make tea a small but meaningful part of their day, bringing moments of calm and connection. At the heart of the brand renewal is the reopening of San Grams Kikugawa, the flagship store. The space brings together a café for relaxed tea enjoyment, an area for deeper cultural immersion, and a shop offering premium teas and carefully selected utensils. Visitors can explore deep-steamed and organic teas, single-origin leaves, and international selections, with staff providing guidance on ideal brewing methods for each type. The store's name, Sangram, refers to the three grams of tea typically used to make one cup. From this small amount, a rich experience is created. The brand reflects the idea that even a brief tea moment can nourish the heart and strengthen personal connections. San Grams also introduces two unique approaches to tea culture: Chamegoto: A casual, contemporary style of tea that incorporates herbs, flavor blends, and pairings with sweets and foods. Chagoto: A deeper, more traditional experience rooted in Japanese tea ceremony and etiquette. Both approaches aim to make tea accessible and relevant in daily life. Marumatsu is also committed to sustainability and community. The company collaborates with growers to create safe, high-quality products, promotes organic tea farming, and contributes to regional export initiatives. Donations to Kikugawa support projects that encourage international demand for Japanese teas. With advanced quality control systems and certifications including JAS Organic, FSSC 22000, Rainforest Alliance, Kosher, and Halal, Marumatsu remains a trusted name in tea. Its tea masters have received multiple awards, including national honors and international competition prizes. San Grams Store Information Location: 1-1 Horinouchi, Kikugawa-shi, Shizuoka 439-0006, Japan Business Hours: 10:00 to 18:00 Café Hours: 10:30 to 17:30 (last order at 17:00) Closed on Wednesdays Phone: +81 537-36-1201 Website: Reservations required for tea ceremonies. About Marumatsu Founded in 1899, Marumatsu blends long-standing tradition with modern techniques to produce exceptional Japanese teas. Located in Kikugawa, Shizuoka, the company continues its founding mission to connect people, nature, and heart through the culture of tea.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Marumatsu Reimagines Everyday Tea Culture with Renewed "san grams Sangram" Brand
KIKUGAWA, Japan, May 23, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Marumatsu, a heritage tea company with over 120 years of history, is proud to announce the renewal of its "san grams Sangram" brand. Based in one of Japan's most renowned tea-growing regions, Marumatsu remains devoted to enriching daily life through tea. The renewed brand offers a fresh vision for enjoying tea in a way that connects tradition with the rhythm of modern living. The concept of "New Everyday Tea" encourages people to rediscover the calming ritual of brewing tea. While bottled tea is convenient, it often lacks the sensory depth and emotional comfort of hand-brewed tea. Marumatsu invites people to make tea a small but meaningful part of their day, bringing moments of calm and connection. At the heart of the brand renewal is the reopening of San Grams Kikugawa, the flagship store. The space brings together a café for relaxed tea enjoyment, an area for deeper cultural immersion, and a shop offering premium teas and carefully selected utensils. Visitors can explore deep-steamed and organic teas, single-origin leaves, and international selections, with staff providing guidance on ideal brewing methods for each type. The store's name, Sangram, refers to the three grams of tea typically used to make one cup. From this small amount, a rich experience is created. The brand reflects the idea that even a brief tea moment can nourish the heart and strengthen personal connections. San Grams also introduces two unique approaches to tea culture: Chamegoto: A casual, contemporary style of tea that incorporates herbs, flavor blends, and pairings with sweets and foods. Chagoto: A deeper, more traditional experience rooted in Japanese tea ceremony and etiquette. Both approaches aim to make tea accessible and relevant in daily life. Marumatsu is also committed to sustainability and community. The company collaborates with growers to create safe, high-quality products, promotes organic tea farming, and contributes to regional export initiatives. Donations to Kikugawa support projects that encourage international demand for Japanese teas. With advanced quality control systems and certifications including JAS Organic, FSSC 22000, Rainforest Alliance, Kosher, and Halal, Marumatsu remains a trusted name in tea. Its tea masters have received multiple awards, including national honors and international competition prizes. San Grams Store Information Location: 1-1 Horinouchi, Kikugawa-shi, Shizuoka 439-0006, JapanBusiness Hours: 10:00 to 18:00Café Hours: 10:30 to 17:30 (last order at 17:00)Closed on WednesdaysPhone: +81 537-36-1201Website: Reservations required for tea ceremonies. About MarumatsuFounded in 1899, Marumatsu blends long-standing tradition with modern techniques to produce exceptional Japanese teas. Located in Kikugawa, Shizuoka, the company continues its founding mission to connect people, nature, and heart through the culture of tea. View source version on Contacts Media ContactMarumatsu Tea Co., Ltd.2561-1 Nishikata, Kikugawa, Shizuoka 439-0037, Japanshino@ Marumatsu Tea Factory TomizawaMail: shino@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
DW
21-05-2025
- Business
- DW
'Tea for two' as Kenya seeks to boost exports to China – DW – 05/21/2025
Kenya aims to expand its tea exports to the Chinese market. In return, China will export tea packaging material to Kenya tax-free, before setting up packaging firms for the export market. From its origins in China, tea has spread across trade routes over centuries, becoming a daily ritual for half of the world's population. Recently, Kenya's President William Ruto met with one of China's top three tea producers, Fuzhou Benny Tea Industries, to explore opportunities for increasing Kenyan orthodox and specialty teas in China. Additionally, Kenya aims to strengthen its bilateral trade relationships with China by expanding its exports of important commodities to the Chinese market, such as coffee, avocados, and macadamias, according to a statement published on a Kenyan government website. The high-level meeting brought together key stakeholders from Kenya's tea sector, including representatives from Kenya's Ministry of Agriculture, the KenyaTea Development Agency, and the Kenya Tea Board. "We will soon be allowing tea factories, to sell their teas directly to the international markets without intermediaries," Mutahi Kagwe, Kenya's Minister of Agriculture, told local reporters after the meeting. The East African country is the world's biggest exporter of black tea. In 2024, Kenya's tea industry accounted for nearly 158 billion Ksh ($1.22 billion, €1.065 billion) in annual revenues and supported over 750,000 farmers, according to the country's tea trade regulating body, Kenya Tea Board (KTB). "Benny Tea Industries will be making $100 million worth of investments in Kenya," Willy Mutai, CEO of the Kenya Tea Board, told DW. "According to Mutai, the agreement would allow Chinese firms, such as Benny Tea, to export tea packaging material from China to Kenya tax-free. However, for Kenyan tea farmer Samuel Kariuki, such an agreement could disrupt the local industry. "There could be an interruption when it comes to our supply chains, Kariuki, who is a manager at Sensory Garden Kenya, told DW. "Tax-free packaging materials from China might sort of undercut the local packaging suppliers." Search for more tea markets Challenges such as fluctuating prices, competition from other tea-producing nations, and the need for value addition have forced Kenya to seek strategic partnerships in its tea trade. "Internationally, we face a lot of stringent certification requirements which are very costly and complex for us as farmers," Kariuki said. "Meeting standards like the Rainforest Alliance and the likes of Fair Trade requires some amount of investment that we as farmers are possibly not able to have. Either way, even if we had that kind of investment, the investment is not guaranteed that, you know, there's going to be a return," Kariuki added. Moreover, Trump's tariffshave sent shockwaves through global markets. Kenya hopes that this new partnership with China will improve the production of high-quality Kenyan tea, diversify Kenya's tea exports, and align the country's tea industry with international market demands. Is Africa ready for duty-free access to China? To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video In addition, it would facilitate setting up modern factories in Kenya for technological transfer and bringing equipment to Kenya that can be used to produce teas that match the quality standards of the Chinese market. Kenya hopes to establish standard user packaging facilities, enabling tea farmers to add value at the source. Mutai explained that Kenya is changing its policies to accommodate international buyers, allowing them to buy raw material or branded teas directly from factories in Kenya. The Trump tariffs' effect Trump's tariffs on China has forced the world's second-largest economy to seek and solidify its trade partnerships with countries like Kenya. Although Trump gave the world a 90-day relief, Kenya is grappling with the 10% universal tariff that the US president left intact. We are currently doing 10% tariffs on the US," Mutai noted, emphasizing that the US trade barriers offer a significant opportunity for Chinese investors in tea. "They can come and pack here in Kenya." AGOA and AfCFTA trade deals allow Kenya to export products, such as flowers, tariff free Image: epa Jon Hrusa/dpa/picture-alliance Kenya's tea industry stands to benefit significantly from two major trade frameworks. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Kenya's two crucial trade deals Under the AfCFTA, Kenya gains preferential access to a vast African market by eliminating tariffs and reducing trade barriers among member states. This agreement facilitates smoother intra-African trade, allowing Kenyan tea to reach new and growing markets across the continent more competitively. It also encourages regional value chains, enabling Kenya to process and package tea locally before exporting, thereby increasing earnings and creating jobs. The agreement has already shown promise, with Kenya exporting tea to Ghana under AfCFTA protocols. What is the AGOA US-Africa trade program? To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video On the other hand, AGOA provides Kenya with duty-free access to the United States for a wide range of products, including tea. The deal gives Kenyan tea a pricing advantage in the US market and opens opportunities for value-added exports, such as branded and specialty teas. AGOA also incentivizes investment in quality improvement and packaging, helping Kenya move up the value chain and appeal to premium consumers. Edited by: Chrispin Mwakideu
Mint
29-04-2025
- Health
- Mint
The Bengaluru coffee brand serving an environment-friendly cuppa
Of all the factors that have contributed to Dr Arshiya Bose's most recent achievement, a bout of allergy might seem the most bizarre. Bose, 42, is the founder of Black Baza Coffee Co., a grassroots organisation with biodiversity-friendly brews that benefit the producers and the environment. Earlier this month, the Bengaluru-based company won the prestigious Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Sustainability Award in the for-profit category—the first Indian coffee company to do so. Based in California, USA, SCA is considered the largest global coffee trade association and encourages sustainable practices across the speciality coffee value chain. To think none of this would have happened if a brutal allergy attack hadn't changed the trajectory of Bose's PhD research. In the summer of 2010, Bose was a PhD candidate at the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, looking to explore community-based conservation efforts in Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh. But one morning, she woke up with a swollen throat in the throes of an allergy attack that required immediate medical attention. "I needed to be ten minutes away from a hospital in case this happened again," shares Bose. She said goodbye to the high altitudes of Spiti and changed her research topic altogether. As a trained human geographer with a keen interest in community-based conservation, Bose then chose to focus on understanding how incentivising conservation efforts encourages better practices for land use. Zooming in on coffee farms in Kodagu, Karnataka, for her research, Bose compared farms that obtained the Rainforest Alliance (RA) Certification, a global environmental certification program for sustainability in agriculture, with farms that were not certified. Her goal was to understand if the certification process benefited farmers and led to on-ground biodiversity conservation measures. "Coffee provides the right canvas to examine these intricacies. It's widely consumed, but it is also a premium product like chocolate, and there is a growing interest in where the coffee is coming from and how it's grown," she says. Her research revealed that such certification programs are often designed with large coffee producing countries, like Brazil and Colombia, in mind. 'India's coffee comes from farms that are ecologically different. Thus, conservation approaches as well as certifications need to be relevant to our farms," says Bose. 'As we don't have rain throughout the year, coffee was largely grown under the shade of trees with their canopies protecting these crops from hot and dry conditions," shares Bose. Chennai's M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation discovered when British colonisers cleared forests to plant coffee for commercial consumption, it encouraged monocropping and increased yields by growing it under the sun. Bose realised not only did this impact coffee quality, but also depleted biodiversity. To counter this and fill the gap between certifications tailored for the West and on-ground production practices unique to India, she set up Black Baza Coffee Co. in 2016. Single-origin, roasted in small batches and grown in the shade of native trees, like Ficus, Jamun and Terminalia, without pesticides and chemical inputs, a cup of coffee from Black Baza is many things. Bose primarily works with smallholder farmers who cultivate coffee on the edge of forests. 'The average land holding is anywhere between half an acre to two acres of land," she shares. In the Biligirirangana Hills (BR Hills), Karnataka, they work with the indigenous Soliga community to source their coffee. In Nilgiris, the company partners with Aadhimalai Pazhangudiyinar Producer Company Limited, which sources forest and agricultural products from indigenous communities in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve. In Tamil Nadu's Palani Hills, Black Baza sources coffee from a group of smallholder, marginal farmers. They continuously monitor the biodiversity in these farms, documenting the avian, mammal and other species that frequent them. "For example, in the Palani Hills, having gaurs in and around the farmlands is a good indicator of a healthy ecosystem, whereas in the BR Hills, they look for smaller creatures like bees, earthworms and termites," explains Bose. The enterprise features nine high-altitude Arabicas, two mid and low-elevation Robustas and two Arabica-Robusta blends from 650 smallholder and marginal farmers across the Western Ghats of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala on its website, The Galaxy Frog, for example, is a medium roast arabica that tastes of molasses, green grapes and lemon zest and the Luna is a sun-dried robusta with notes of dark chocolate, spice and tobacco. Annually, Indians consume about 91,000 tonnes of coffee, as per the Ministry of Commerce. With an emphasis on terroir and unique flavour profiles, consumers are now zooming in on where the beans come from. Increasing demand for specialty coffee is a key trend shaping India's coffee industry, notes the market research organisation, Custom Market Insights. Additionally, with increasing pressures of climate change, regenerative methods of cultivating coffee are gaining attention across farms. 'But for many smallholder farmers, these practices are a part of their processes for generations," shares Bose. In India, coffee growers like Balmaadi in Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, cultivate it under the canopy of native trees. Specialty coffee company ARAKU Coffee also focuses on regenerative cultivation methods and empowering smallholder, indigenous farmers in Araku Valley, Andhra Pradesh. Founder & President of Bengaluru-based coffee consulting laboratory Coffeelab Ltd., Sunalini Menon, shares that the award is a special moment for India's coffee landscape. Menon was recently appointed to the SCA Board of Directors, the first time that a coffee expert from the country has joined the Board. She says, 'India's signature feature is coffee grown under the shade of trees. I have been to so many countries and have never seen the extent of plant diversity one observes on Indian coffee farms. It's not just the trees; so many floral and faunal species co-exist with coffee plants, and all of these add value to the environment and the coffee beans. Sustainability and biodiversity are an integral part of India's coffee-growing culture, and an Indian company receiving this award is extremely valid. We deserve it." Sharmila Vaidyanathan is a freelance writer from Bengaluru.
