Exotic new organic China teas could soon find their way onto our shelves.
A new agreement means small producers of high quality organic China tea will find it much easier to access the UK market with their products.
New green and black teas, as well as more unusual white, yellow, oolong and puer teas expertly produced by small-scale tea gardens across the major growing regions of China, may be in UK shops by summer 2010, following a mutual agreement between the two leading organic certifiers - the Soil Association in the UK and Organic Tea Research and Development Company in China [1].
Following a series of negotiations and detailed training, these two certifiers have agreed to recognise each other’s inspection regimes [2]. This will significantly reduce the cost of organic certification in China, as UK inspectors no longer need to inspect in China, nor vice versa. This opens the way for much smaller producers to extend to the UK market.
Soil Association Certification’s Managing Director David Peace said: “This is great news for tea lovers. We expect to see 15-20 new tea varieties arrive in the first couple of years, with perhaps many more to follow. These will probably be available from specialist tea shops, but we’re hoping that supermarkets will show an interest too.
The challenge for the Chinese tea producers now is to market their products here successfully. Most significantly this agreement means that large volumes of organic China tea will be certified to the Soil Association’s high standards, so consumers can be sure it has been grown without artificial fertilisers and avoiding pesticides.”
Thanks to Jack at the soil association for this info.
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