Tea Sourcing Principles

The Ringtons business is all about people - our customers, our staff, and our supplier partners overseas.

We take great care to source high quality teas from a small number of the best tea estates and smallholder co-operatives. We have long term buying commitments with all of them, and visit on a regular basis to discuss quality and ethical standards. This belief in doing the right thing is something we share with all our suppliers, which is why we have been buying from them for so long. In some cases these relationships go back over 20 years, and have developed into close friendships.

Ethical Trading

We have always attached a high importance to working with tea growers who set high standards for employee welfare as well as quality. As a result of visits over many years, we have been able to identify those tea gardens or farmer groups which achieve the highest standards, and have chosen to channel as much of our buying as possible through them. This regular support enables them to plan with confidence, and we continue to visit them regularly in order to provide advice and assistance.

We use a detailed and robust assessment system in order to monitor quality and social standards. This is known as the Ringtons Supplier Assessment (RSA), and comprises 12 sets of quality and ethical standards. This work is carried out by our own buyers, who are qualified social auditors, as part of the normal visit programme. This process is highly participative, and valued by our suppliers as much as it is by us. It has helped them to improve quality and working practices, and in turn to secure their own future profitability. We believe that this ethical buying policy is at least as strong as any other system in place in the tea industry.

We do however believe in working to internationally agreed ethical standards, and are members of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). We use the ETI Base Code as the standard for the ethical component of the RSA, and report our progress aganst this annually to all ETI members.

There are certain parts of our supply chain that have not yet come under the formal RSA assessment system described above. In areas where relationships are new and less well developed, we choose to work with partners who share our core values of quality and personal contact with growers. These partners are Cha Do (artisan tea in China & Vietnam), and Mercanta the Coffee Hunters (speciality coffees). We plan to extend our own system in these areas as the business develops.

Organic

We select our sources on the criteria of quality and partnership, and do not particularly seek out organically certified growers. In fact the vast majority of our green & white teas are organic, as we have chosen to work with a partner in China whose entire business ethos is built on working with small farmer groups using traditional methods. All the teas from these farms are certified organic, but our main reason for choosing them is that the flavours are superb and we like being able to have personal contact on the ground.

Fair Prices

Paying a fair and sustainable price is at the heart of our buying philosophy. We buy from the same producer groups every year, and do not ‘shop around' for lower prices elsewhere. Prices vary according to market conditions, but we make sure that we always pay enough to provide a good margin to the growers; this is a key element of the relationships that we have with them. Where possible we pay a premium price for premium quality, and share the benefits when value has been added at source (by vacuum-packing, for example). Most importantly, improvements in quality which come as a result of work we do with our suppliers often lead to them receiving better prices from other customers, which is the most most financially sutainable model for any tea grower.

Third Party Endorsement

We do not seek endorsement from any third parties for our sourcing policy. Such endorsements commonly involve additional inspections and costs to growers, and do not require any direct contact between growers and buyers. This is inconsistent with our own partnership philosophy. We know that some people like the idea of a 'guarantee', but we are proud of the way we do things, and are happy to share more information if you have any questions.

Fair Trade

The 'Fairtrade Mark' has now become a widely-available endorsement for a particular way of doing fair trade. We prefer to continue with our own system and do not carry the Mark on our products. We consider that the benefits of working so closely with our suppliers - long-term commitment, sharing of expertise and paying fair prices - are consistent with the underlying principles of fair trade, and that these partnerships are the most effective way of delivering long-term security and prosperity to everyone involved.

These values are at the heart of the Ringtons business, and have been for very many years.