Visit: Cafédirect

Tea production

1. How many tea bushes do you have in your garden and how much tea do you get from each bush every year?
2. How many hours a week do you work plucking tea?
3. Have you always sold to Teadirect?
4. Can you tell me what happens to the tea once you have picked it?
5. How long does this process take in total?
6. Do you work alone or as a group?
7. Do you have Fairtrade people that inspect your farm?
8. Do you sell all of your tea through Fairtrade?
9. Does that mean that there are other farmers that sell their tea to the factory but are not part of Fairtrade?
10. Do you sell to lots of tea companies or just to Teadirect? If only Teadirect why is this?

Tea production

Question: How many tea bushes do you have in your garden and how much tea do you get from each bush every year?
Cecilia: I have two plots of land. One is still growing, but the other is 1 acre and I have 4000 plants there. The other is half an acre and I have planted 2000 cuttings which will be ready to pluck in about 3 years time.
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Question: How many hours a week do you work plucking tea?
Cecilia: I work on my tea 2 days a week, looking after the plants and 6 hours plucking 3 times a month.
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Question: Have you always sold to Teadirect?
Cecilia: No, Teadirect came and started buying from us in 2002. Before this I'm not sure who bought our tea from the factory. Teadirect are the only ones to pay us Fairtrade prices and to help us with premiums.
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Question: Can you tell me what happens to the tea once you have picked it?
Cecilia: I carry it to the collection centre where a truck comes. They weigh my tea and then take it to the factory where they process it. Once the tea has gone to the factory they let it wilt, and then it is fermented before being cut and dried, once this is done it looks like what you get here in the UK.
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Question: How long does this process take in total?
Cecilia: Once I pick it, it must go to the factory very quickly to ensure it is of good quality. If it is too slow getting to the factory it is not good tea. The factory works all night to ensure all the tea is processed in time to keep the quality.
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Question: Do you work alone or as a group?
Cecilia: I work as a group because I cannot pluck all the tea in one day. I pay my neighbours who don't have tea farms to come and work with me. My husband also helps me, he is very powerful and works fast. We work hard so when we are finished we are happy and we sing together. We sing as we carry our tea to the collection centres and when we wait for the trucks. I like very much to sing, but also to dance. When I socialise with friends and family we do lot of singing and dancing.
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Question: Do you have Fairtrade people that inspect your farm?
Cecilia: Yes, Fairtrade people come to my farm to give me advice.
Student: Advice about what?
Cecilia: They advise me to pluck good quality tea and maintain my plants so I can get the best from them.
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Question: Do you sell all of your tea through Fairtrade?
Cecilia: I get a good price for all my tea though Fairtrade. The factory doesn't sell all the tea to Fairtrade though. We want to sell more.
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Question: Does that mean that there are other farmers that sell their tea to the factory but are not part of Fairtrade?
Cecilia: All the farmers sell to the factory. They then sell the tea on. Some is bought direct by Fairtrade the rest goes to the auctions to be sold. The tea factories are not always owned by the growers, but we are lucky we have been able to buy shares in our factory so we have more power to ensure they work well for us and we benefit more.
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Question: Do you sell to lots of tea companies or just to Teadirect? If only Teadirect why is this?
Cecilia: I only sell to the local tea factory, the farmers own part of this factory. They sell to Teadirect as well as others but I am not sure who it is sold to at an auction.
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