Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
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couldn't stay in the orphanage and faced few options outside the sex trade. "You could walk out of a building you've lived in your whole life, out onto the streets with no skills and no opportunities," Christie says. "I realized at that point that I could do more than just buy a pair of shoes or uniforms for them." With that, The Learning Tea was born. Of the 70 different teas Dr. Bombay's sells, only two hail from Darjeeling. But 100 percent of the profit from the online and retail sales of those two offerings goes straight to the girls. "It drives schol- arships—life scholarships, really," says Christie. "It pays for everything they need to survive." The small apartment that Christie rented for her first charges has grown into a full-fledged center, offering books, living spaces and medical service. Eleven young women are currently attend- ing college thanks to The Learning Tea. The organization runs on a shoestring budget, supplemented by monthly Indian dinners and the book sale program. "But we're making it work," she says. "We're respon- sible for people's lives now, so we keep doing it." Christie now spends up to four months a year in India, help- ing with the upkeep of the center, as well as assisting the girls GIRLS IN INDIA: A CRISIS BY THE NUMBERS with enrolling in school and making sure their grades stay up. She was leaving just days after our interview to accompany one of the young women to her first day of college. Of life before The Learning Tea, Christie says, "If I was going to leave my job for something, I thought I'd go to the beach. I never thought I'd fall so in love with these people." Thousands of miles away in a much, • One quarter of all Indian girls do not live past the age of 15, and a third of these deaths occur in the first year of life. • Nearly two in every three women in India are illiterate. • Thirty-five million girls do not attend school in India. • Girls between 1 and 5 years old are 50 percent more likely to die than boys of the same age. much different world, residents of Candler Park are reaping the benefits as well. The cozy shop, walls heavy with books and bric-a-brac, isn't just a facade for charity. It's an escape from modern life, a place to meet a friend for a long, lingering talk on a comfortable couch, a place for book clubs and birthday parties and a proper British High Tea. "We do all our own bak- ing from scratch," says Christie, "scones, clotted cream, mini cupcakes—all of it." As Christie knows very well, however, her customers are after more than just good baking and good feelings. They're there for the tea. "Everybody says the Darjeeling we carry here is the best they've ever had. I'm sure they're buttering me up, but we hear it a lot." And for a handful of college-bound young women in India, that tea has made all the difference in the world. Fresh Cup Magazine 57