Category Archives: Tea

Unilever to make payments to Kenyan tea pickers over 2007 plantation attacks

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UK law firm Leigh Day says money given to 77 workers for murders and rapes ‘sidesteps’ multinational’s responsibility over attack

Unilever is to make payments to 77 tea pickers who worked on one of its plantations in Kenya that was targeted during post-election violence in 2007.

The UK law firm Leigh Day, representing the workers, said the London-based consumer goods multinational had agreed to make voluntary, or ex-gratia, payments to former workers at its subsidiary Unilever Tea Kenya, who were attacked by armed assailants at its plantation in Kericho.

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‘We give our blood so they live comfortably’: Sri Lanka’s tea pickers say they go hungry and live in squalor

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Top tea firms investigate as plantation workers say they have to pick 18kg a day but still skip meals and make their children work

Some of the world’s leading tea manufacturers, including Tetley and Lipton, are examining working conditions on the plantations of its Sri Lankan suppliers, following a Guardian investigation.

Two global trade-certification schemes, Fairtrade and the Rainforest Alliance, are also conducting inquiries after it was revealed that some workers on 10 certified estates could not afford to eat and were living in squalid conditions.

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Drinking tea may be linked to lower risk of death, study suggests

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Data from UK Biobank suggests people who drink two or more cups of black tea a day have lower risk of mortality

It is a welcome piece of research for those who regard having a cup of tea as one of life’s everyday pleasures.

A study has suggested that having a brew could be associated with a lower risk of mortality. When compared with those who do not have tea, people who consumed two or more cups each day had between a 9% and 13% lower risk of mortality, researchers said.

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Kenyan tea pickers on Scottish-run farm to pursue health issues in UK court

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Prolonged bending to gather tea for James Finlay Kenya is argued to accelerate ageing of pickers’ backs by up to 20 years

More than a 1,000 Kenyan tea pickers who say that harsh and exploitative working conditions on a Scottish-run tea farm have caused them crippling health complaints can now pursue their class action in an Edinburgh court.

Lawyers acting for the tea pickers have won an order from the court of session, Scotland’s highest civil court, telling James Finlay Kenya Ltd (JFK) to abandon attempts to block the suit through the Kenyan courts.

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UN criticises UK for failure to redress colonial-era landgrab in Kenya

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Two clans brutally evicted to make way for tea plantations owned by white settlers are seeking reparations for rights violations

The British government has been criticised by the UN for a lack of resolution over colonial-era crimes committed in Kenya.

Six UN special rapporteurs have written to the government expressing concern over its failure to provide “effective remedies and reparations” to the Kipsigis and Talai peoples.

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Leaves of change: Paraguay’s small-scale farmers see a new future in yerba mate tea

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A resurgence in the traditional drink is offering rural communities independence and a sustainable alternative to industrial soy and cattle farming

Four men emerge from the intense heat and steam of the barbacuá into the cold winter’s night in the rural district of Edelira, southern Paraguay. They rest, leaning on pitchforks they have used to turn over the prized load of fragrant yerba mate leaves inside this traditional drying oven. The centuries-old design drives hot air from a fire on to the large wooden frame where the leaves sit.

“I control the leaf’s humidity through intuition,” says Lisandro Benítez, the group’s lead, or uru. “Too humid and it won’t have the right flavour, too hot and dry and it could catch fire.”

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Tangy jam and vanilla cream: Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes for rhubarb

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Reliable rhubarb spans the ‘hungry gap’ with a tangy rhubarb and lime jam squashed into a cheese toastie, and a refreshing cold dessert soup topped with mint sugar and cream

Whatever else is happening in the weather or the world, forced rhubarb is reliably, happily hot pink. Grown in warm barns, rather than facing the elements as field rhubarb does, forced rhubarb is tricked into an early harvest, which is why we get its pink fluorescence in the first three months of the year. The season ends around the end of March, when it hands over to its outdoor-grown cousin, so make the most of its sweetness and slender, bright pink stalks while you can.

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India’s tea workers strike as government fails to deliver wage increase

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Unions warn of further action over non-payment of rise agreed in 2018, as hundreds of Assam tea estates close

Over 400,000 workers on Indian tea plantations that supply the world’s largest tea companies have gone on strike over the government’s failure to implement a promised daily wage increase from £1.70 to £3.70 a day.

The past week has seen around 250 tea estates across the Assam region close, with the partial closure of a further 20.

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US woman sparks transatlantic tea war with brutal online brew

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Michelle from North Carolina shared her recipe for ‘British tea’. An international incident followed

There have been more severe transatlantic bust-ups over a brew, such as the American Revolution, but few can have been quite so twee. Nearly 250 years after the Boston Tea Party, the British ambassador in Washington and her US counterpart in London are going at it over how to make a decent hot drink. And by Wednesday evening, the conflict was spilling over into mainland Europe.

Like many tense diplomatic standoffs, it began with a deliberate provocation. An American TikTok user going by the name of Michelle from North Carolina posted a video showing how to make what she describes as “hot tea”, which entails mixing milk with powdered lemonade, cinnamon, cloves, sugar and Tang, which turns out to be a soft drink.

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Trouble brewing for tea producers as coronavirus lockdown hits harvests

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India’s ‘champagne of teas’ among those affected as country’s tea board estimates output could drop 9%, amid strain in China and Sri Lanka

Trouble is brewing for the world’s tea producers as the coronavirus lockdown shut down the harvest in several important regions, including the picking of India’s “champagne of teas”.

Despite forecasts of increased demand from drinkers stuck at home across the world, producers have become frustrated by the enforced quarantining of their workforce, with India’s output expected to drop by 9% in 2020.

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Soap and solace scarce as Sri Lanka’s tea pickers toil on amid lockdown

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Workers in a sector with a history of exploitation face hazards including a lack of masks and overcrowded accommodation

In Sri Lanka, police have been enforcing tough lockdown measures and a strict curfew since March. The country’s inspector general has instructed police to take action against social media users who criticise the government or spread “malicious” pandemic information.

An exception has been made, however, for the country’s tea pickers. A caveat on the country’s lockdown order, issued on 20 March, read: “Paddy farming and plantation, including work on tea small holdings and fishing activities, are permitted in any district.”

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