What is Direct Trade?

Sloane Tea is proud to be a Direct Trade tea company. Direct Trade means we work directly with tea gardens and farmers around the world, regardless of the size of their operation. This allows us to build longer standing relationships and can therefore pay them a higher wage than those mandated with Fair Trade. Our Direct Trade relationships give us full transparency and trust in our supply chain. 

Direct Trade also allows us to bypass the many layers of transaction tea typically undergoes before it arrives in Canada for blending and packaging. Usually, tea will go from the farm to an auction, to a broker, an exporter, an importer, a distributor, then the retailer. This process typically takes an entire year. We instead skip this entire process and go directly from the garden to Sloane, or from “crop to cup” resulting in exceptionally fresh tea.