Local | Organic | Fair Trade | Handcrafted Tea Blends That Are Amazing For The Body And The Soul.
This is a farm to tea cup kind of story…
Welcome to our Kick Starter page! The idea for the Virginia Tea Company came out of necessity. Drinking tea is usually done for one of two reasons. The first is to get that little caffeine boost, but the latter is to garner the health benefits that tea naturally provides. For example, in herbal teas, chamomile naturally helps increase dopamine levels to help you sleep; echinacea increases macrophage T-cell activity that boosts your immunity; and hawthorn nourishes and strengthens the heart muscle and its blood vessels to promote a healthier circulatory system. However, most hardworking individuals like yourselves, in between their full time jobs and full time families, do not have the time to research these health benefits and blend the tea leaves themselves. This is the underlying basis behind The Virginia Tea Company.
The Virginia Tea Company wants to take this concept one step further. We want to ensure that all the herbal teas we provide are grown and supplied directly from local East Coast farms. Black teas are a little more difficult to obtain from local farms since the tea leaf, camellia sinensis, is originally from China. Therefore, we plan on strictly importing Fair Trade teas directly from the farm. Fair Trade is an international organization that ensures all companies they work with are treating their employees ethically, offering fair wages, and putting some of their profits back into the local communities. Please visit www.fairtradeusa.org to learn more. There are no other Virginia based tea companies that offer Fair Trade tea and only a few nationally.
We are looking for $10,000 to start our business. This money will be used to pay the Fair Trade fees, packaging for the teas, and advertisement costs for selling the teas at local farmers markets, eateries, and online.
Black Loose-Leaf Teas
All caffeinated teas were grown and imported from Greenfield Bio Plantations: a Fair Trade farm in Sri Lanka. Please visit their site at http://fairtradeorganicteas.com/ The leaves are the highest quality whole leaf from the plant c. sinensis. Our first line of black, caffeinated teas will include:
Black: This award winning tea is strong in flavor and just what you need to get your morning started. Milk or honey can be added when your taste buds need a little something extra.
Green: On top of being delicious, green tea is known to improve brain functionality, fat burning, and your overall health. This is some of the best quality green tea in the world.
English Breakfast: This organic tea is perfect for pairing with your morning meal. The full-bodied flavor can be blended with milk and sugar to create an even better drinking experience.
Earl Grey: This organic tea is delicately flavored with bergamot in order to give it that rich, dark taste that is easily appreciated by all those with strong taste buds. Earl Grey pairs amazingly with ice in the summer.
Chai: This award winning organic blend is infused with real Ceylon spices and black tea, both grown at Greenfield Farms. Paired with cinnamon and it becomes a cup difficult to put down.
Black tea has amazing health benefits. It helps prevent cavities, cancer and strokes, lowers the risk of diabetes, and contains many antioxidants to boost your immune system in many other aspects.
Herbal Teas
Herbal tea ingredients were organically grown in local east coast farms. Our first line of herbal teas will include:
Immunity: As our body’s first line of defense against all illnesses, it is safe to say that our immune system is worth a great deal to us. This blend of ginger, cinnamon, echinacea, elderberries, and eleuthero root are perfectly combined to give your immune system the boost it needs.
Sleep: This tea blend helps to put your mind and body is perfectly relaxing state to help you rest. The combination of passion flower, chamomile, lemon balm, skullcap, spearmint, and lavender help induce the sleep chemicals in your brain to help you feel ready for a good night’s sleep.
Relax: After a long day, the best thing we can do is allow our bodies and minds to relax. The ingredients in this tea help do just that. St John’s wort, lemon balm, lavender, passion flower, ginkgo, eleuthero root, and peppermint create a beautifully relaxing tea to help you unwind and focus on what matters most: you.
Headache Relief: Lavender, feverfew, chamomile, skullcap, and spearmint are blended together to help fight those awful headaches. They do this by relaxing your mind and allowing for better thoughts to enter.
Memory: Your brain is a very powerful organ and needs to be nourished. This blend of gingko, gotu kola, spearmint, and sage are exactly what your mind needs to increase awareness and retain memory.
Future lines of herbal teas will include heart health, pregnancy, woman’s health, men’s health, cold & flu, fever reducing, and a children’s line for their common ailments.
Containers
Each paper tube container includes 2 ounces of tea in a wax bag, a measuring spoon and a tea infuser.* The wax bag helps protect the tea from outside elements and ensure its lasting freshness. The measuring spoon is perfectly sized so you only have to scoop twice into the infuser. Once filled, the infuser can be used up to four times.
* The exception is Relax tea. Due the fact that relax tea’s ingredient are very fine and tend to over pollute the drink in an infuser, drawstring tea bags will be included in this container.
Special Thanks
Benjamin Zahm for developing and curating the website! This will be the first stop for all Virginia Tea Company customers and we are loving the look of it.
Katherine Bradley-Black for the exceptional pictures she took of the tea. Photos show the real story, and we highly appreciate Katherine’s willingness and talent to help me capture it.
Jennifer McClung for helping to develop the perfect blends for all my herbal teas! Jen’s honesty and dedication are what led to some of the best tasting herbal teas you’ll ever drink.
“It’s that time of day, when I’m ready to relax and enjoy a cup of my favorite Virginia Tea Company tea. Mmm!”- A Tea Lover
Please be sure to check us out on Facebook and see what others think of The Virginia Tea Company! https://www.facebook.com/VirginiaTeaCo/
Risks & Challenges: This company is directly dependent on the crops of local and Fair Trade farms. If any of them have bad seasons, then it could lead to a late arrival of teas. If that becomes the case, I will inform the impacted backers and ensure they are delivered twice the reward.