Imagine sitting at Sunday brunch and ordering a “flowering tea”. It sounds intriguing right? The tea arrives at your table encapsulated in a glass teapot, which enables you to watch and admire the “flower” as it magically unfolds into a beautiful bloom. The bloom releases the fragrant, delicious tea held within the bloom and fills your teapot, and your mouth, with a tea lover’s delight: A pure, delicate, aroma and flavor that brings your senses to life.

During this journey into tea euphoria, did you ever stop to think: Where did this creation come from and what’s in it? In fact, as you open your cupboard or scan the shelves at your local grocer, Whole Foods or health food store for your tea du jour—do you ever take a moment to really read what is in your tea or learn about it’s journey from creation to consumption? Friends, it’s time for enlightenment and an education in tea, or at least in Numi Organic Tea.

If you have never heard of Numi Organic Tea before today, you will be searching for them in the future. Numi is a different kind of tea-company; they want you to know the truth about your tea: from the people who grow it to the choices they make as a company to bring you the “purest tea on the planet”.

Numi was founded and is run by brother and sister team, Ahmed and Reem Rahim. The company is based in Oakland, California and has been since its inception in 1999. The two siblings come from varying backgrounds, though both artists, and ambassadors of things pure and beautiful, at heart. They have combined forces, bringing their passions and love of the planet into one, incredible creation: tea.

Reem explains how they decided on the company name: “Initially, we wanted to import a dried lime [tea] we drank as children from our birth country, Iraq. This lime fruit is called Numi.”

Reem, who studied art in Italy, also paints all the package images and finds most of her inspiration via Ahmed’s photography from his extensive travels. “Drawing on them, I become immersed in the medium of painting and the details and subtleties a sense of a place can invoke… quiet, relaxation, inner-depth, beauty, tranquility, rumination, etc.” Ironically, the same affects a wonderful cup of tea conjures.

Ahmed has a background in creating teas. While residing in Prague, some years back, he owned several teahouses. He brought the same philosophy from that experience to Numi. “Owning the teahouses in Europe was very helpful in understanding the foundation of premium teas and herbs. From the beginning we have always believed in keeping the blends simple. Even in my teahouses, we didn’t create complicated blends with multiple ingredients. At Numi, as in my teahouses, we believe in using the most premium ingredients, which can be used with small amounts of other ingredients to create exquisite blends. Using a base of high quality teas and herbs makes it easier to blend ingredients together, still allowing the main tea or herb to speak for itself.”

And those flowering teas mentioned in the introduction are not a myth. Numi is the first U.S. based tea company to create these “Leaves of Art.” You can in fact enjoy the experience, at The Slanted Door, one of the Bay Area’s renowned eating establishments, as well as the Numi Tea Garden –and of course from the comfort of your own home. They sell the perfect glass teapot to prepare and enjoy your (organic) “flowering tea”, at the Numi Tea Garden, online and in selected retail locations worldwide.

But Numi is more then just a pretty tea. Ahmed and Reem (and their employees) take both great pride and great strides to ensure Numi is a socially conscious company. Numi takes being certified organic and Fair Trade, very seriously. In fact the company is a founding B Corp member which means they are “pushed to the next level” in terms of their sustainable efforts. From the growers and the tea leaves, to the packaging process (made using recycled materials), right down to their own employees (they look for employees who are eco-minded, creative and yes, liking tea is a prerequisite); every step they take is monitored by the certifying organizations they work with to bring a pure, quality product to their consumers, right down to the tea bags.

Reem shared a little known fact about tea bags: “Numi conscientiously did not follow the trend of the see-through “silky” bag. Many think that these bags are made of silk, but in fact, they are either made out of a petroleum-based nylon or a GMO-based cornstarch. While the quality of the teas inside may be high, the lack of sustainability in the outer bags does not warrant the investment.”

Reem and Ahmed, together, explained a bit about their mission upon founding the company, “Numi has always been socially conscious. We have had direct relationships with ethical farmers from the beginnings. We transferred several of our teas to Fair Trade Certified suppliers in year 5 in order to attain a 3^rd party verification source. Due to the complexity of one certifier standardizing several imported goods, we have pursued other certifying agencies, launching a new initiative for Fair Labor Practices and Community Benefits. We are pursuing certification of several of our products in China under their seal. We are planning to certify our Rooibos and Honeybush from South Africa under that seal in 2010.”

Brian Durkee, Numi’s Director of Operations, described the process of becoming Fair Trade Certified: “Fair Trade Certification is conducted by FLO Cert based out of Germany working with a network of locally based trained inspectors. They follow a standard 5-step certification program: Application, Audit, Evaluation, Resolution, Certification. First the operation must apply to FLO, requesting Fair Trade certification and FLO will evaluate the application to make sure the operation is certifiable and within their scope of certification. Once this is confirmed a trained local inspector is assigned and they will audit the production sites, offices, paperwork, workers and managers. They complete an evaluation of the producer against their standards and send it off to the FLO office in Germany. FLO in Germany will then review the inspector's work and make sure the standards are being applied uniformly across the world. Operations are reviewed for their shortcomings against the standard and required to come up with resolutions to the non-compliances. The resolutions to the non-compliances are sent to FLO Germany and are evaluated to see if they are sufficient to resolve the issue. If they are sufficient then an independent certifier reviews and issues certification.”

Durkee also stated that the length of this process can be three months to a year and  “...every link in the chain requires certification to ensure transparency and traceability so traders and importers also require certification.” So you can imagine how much accountability goes on behind the scenes, not only at Numi headquarters, but the growers' land, in the processing plant, on up to the second the tea is packaged. This certainly gives one an entirely new appreciation for companies who go the extra mile to ensure the people along the way are being treated humanely.

And then there is the organic certification process, which again, takes a lot of effort. “We worked very hard and were committed to partner with our suppliers to convert the [flowering] tea leaves to Certified Organic. This process took over two years. Today, Numi is the only company to offer Certified Organic Flowering Teas,” confided Ahmed.

Just locating organic growers, who are also ethical, is a feat in itself. Durkee explains, “As Numi’s focus is organic teas and herbs from suppliers who support fair trade, sustainable, and ethical business practices, the pool of suppliers we have to choose from is rather small. These select suppliers are found in China, India, Sri Lanka, S. Africa, Northern Africa, S. America, Australia, and other various origins. The majority of our teas come from China and India. Our primary method of finding suppliers is through a network of relationships and from traveling to the products’ origin...we have focused our efforts on creating partnerships that ensure the highest quality of product and positive social impacts. We visit and investigate all new suppliers before we create partnerships with them.”

The process of testing is quite intimidating. According to Durkee, specifically for tea products, every lot of tea purchased is organoleptieally tested, three times, before going to market; the original sample is accompanied by a Certificate of Analysis that guarantees and discloses the microbiological activity, physical and chemical properties of the product (non-organic teas are sprayed, while on the plant, with pesticides; just like produce. The chemicals cannot be washed off, therefore seeping into one’s bloodstream upon consumption).

“Numi undertakes risk based laboratory analysis for contamination by chemicals and heavy metals. Samples of every lot are retained at Numi. All food packaging complies with the FDA’s regulations on Food Contact Substances. All food products are fully traceable and Numi conducts semi-annual mock recalls to verify the system’s efficacy,” stated Durkee.

Again, a company willing to go through all of this just to bring you a great cup of tea—must truly be special. And they must really KNOW tea. Numi knows tea and they understand how tea should taste: Pure. They have created a delectable array of flavors to please any palate. From Earl Grey with real Bergamot orange flakes (not oil or “natural flavors” like most teas) to real vanilla beans; even the “flowering tea” combinations are tried and tested and made with pure, whole tea and flower leaves, herbs and of course, love.

Reem and Ahmed are both well educated on the health benefits of each of the teas they use. Their newest line comes from ancient Chinese Puerh leaves, which are fermented over time. Ahmed describes why Numi chose this leaf and what exactly it is. “We have been aware of Puerh for many years and started to see an interest spawning among consumers about 2 years ago. In line with our innovative hallmark, we explored the idea of launching this product and find a way to educate the public as well as make it more palatable to the American consumer. We thereby launched straight Puerh tea [bricks] along with Puerh blends in tea bags, loose tea and bottled iced teas.”

Puerh seems similar to kombucha tea, another fermented [Japanese] tea that has gained in popularity in the U.S. over the past five years, though Ahmed explained how the two differ: “Puerh is different than kombucha in the sense that kombucha is fermented via adding a culture to the tea, whereby Puerh undergoes a natural fermentation process by allowing the tea to sit out and heat up. The tea is dampened and turned every 10 days allowing all of the tea to ferment over a 60-day period.” Puerh tea, on average, touts 32% energy (information supplied by Numi Organic Tea).

Numi obtains its Organic Puerh tea leaves from rare, 200-to-500-year-old, wild-harvested tea tree varieties, not the pruned bushes that are 40-50 years of age. Numi’s organic Puerh tea bags come in an assortment of offerings to suit any tea lover’s palate, including: Emperor’s Puerh, Chocolate Puerh, Magnolia Puerh and Mint Puerh.

They are also launching [glass] bottled teas which contain 100% real ingredients, are freshly brewed and lighly sweetened with agave nectar and/or evaporated cane juice. There are several blends, including: (Organic) Earl Grey, Peach Nectar, Mango Passion and Honey Lemon Rooibos Herbal Teasan.

As if all this goodness wasn’t enough Numi also gives back in pretty measurable ways:

• With each purchase of their new line of Puerh teas, 1% of profits will be donated to environmental and social causes.
• After floods devastated the company’s Bamboo source (used in packaging), Numi donated $10k to help them rebuild their facilities.
• Numi is stepping up and taking responibility for their Carbon Footprint through a partnership with Big Tree Climate Fund on a “twofold, offsetting program, including the purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs) and carbon offsets.” The partnerships between BTCF and companies such as Numi, supports projects that help combat climate change while benefiting communities and protecting local environments.”

You are encouraged to become a conscientious and proactive consumer. The next time you enjoy a cup of tea, consider the source and what you are sipping, where it comes from and who tends to the leaves, and be grateful there are companies, such as Numi Organic Tea, who are doing so on your behalf and on behalf of the planet.

Photos provided by Numi Organic Tea