Tea/Coffee

Someone made a comment the other day, that rubbed me the
wrong way. I had just come out of my local Tea/Coffee house with a wonderful glass of iced chai. A person who shall remain un-named, said that they couldn't believe that people would pay 4$ for flavored water. I was immediately upset by this comment.
As you can tell this person is NOT a tea/coffee lover, for anyone who does love these drinks, knows that they are very much worth it. In fact I do, have, and would pay more for certain varieties. Now for all of you that do not dig these wonderful beverages, here are some reasons these products cost what they do.

#1. Good Tea/Coffee is handpicked, and as you can imagine this is a labor intensive process that is hard on the hands and back. Now I also do a job, as many others do, that is also labor intensive. But what makes the Tea/Coffee harvesters different, is the fact that they work in these two specific industries. You see these two industries are the biggest industries that brought the Fair Trade movement into the main stream. To learn more about Fair Trade visit TransFairUSA.

#2. While there are many Tea's/Coffee's that are in abundant suppy, there are quite a few that fall into another catagory. These are called single estate Tea's/Coffee's. Single estate means that these strains or types are only grown at one site, by one grower. These strains are of the heirloom variety, meaning that the seeds and plant have been passed down through generations of families.

#3.It is in this catagory that you find some of the finest Tea's/Coffee's in the world. Since these are normally small operations, with small harvest's each year, this is where supply and demand comes into play.

So, those are some reasons why lovers of Tea/Coffee, like myself, are willing to pay the price for the beverages that we love. This is also something that people in general need to realize about most of the products they purchase, Those items had to have been made by someone. And like most of us, these people are just trying to make it, trying to feed their family.