Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/139019
THE WHOLE LEAF by Dan Bolton From tea garden to consumer, in a click TEALET G argantuan online marketplaces rule most segments of e-commerce, and tea is no different: Each day Amazon, Yahoo Shopping and others sell remarkable volumes of leaf in all its forms (and quality levels). But just as independent outlets have been able to compete with international behemoths in the brick-and-mortar café world, a number of small, unique tea marketplaces are developing a presence online—and their main point of advantage is connecting buyers directly to tea growers. The idea is to push through language, cultural and logistical barriers to make tea buying resemble local markets in tea-growing regions themselves, where customers sniff, pinch and sample tea from growers they know by name. Such access is proving to be helpful to both producers and tea lovers. "As complex distribution systems have pulled consumers farther and farther away from the source of specialty tea, many independent farmers are no longer profitable," observes Elyse Petersen, co-founder of a site called Tealet that offers consumers curated selections of plantation-specific teas from Asia and Hawaii. "The site empowers growers to market directly to the customers." 54 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com T he idea of tea companies using the Web to expand their reach and sell quality product to discriminating consumers has been practiced for years. But many of the latest entrants into the field are knocking down the wall between grower and consumer more fully than ever before. Take, for instance, Yunomi.us (pronounced "you-know-me-us"), which introduces buyers to small-scale artisan farmers, blenders and brands based in Japan. Visitors can search by tea type, farm or tea shop, and they can also browse teaware and other Japanese-made products. Yunomi.us launched in January of this year and marks the evolution of Matcha Latte Media, a business run by consultant Ian Chun that strives to connect the Japanese tea industry to Western buyers. Chun views Yunomi.us as a for-profit venture more than a social-improvement tool. "Japan has a very different situation from other tea-producing regions," he says. "Farmers are generally well off since 98 percent of Japanese tea produced is sold in the Japanese market. So we have no false hopes of immediately helping farmers increase profits." Indeed, while farmers in many parts of the world can see their lives greatly improved as technology bolsters connections and