You may have noticed that, along with many of the items in your supermarket basket, the cost of tea has risen recently. There are many things that factor into the price of a brew, and we wanted to share more on what goes into each cup of tea and how we and our suppliers, have been working through the changes and challenges the last year has brought.

Many of the growers we work with have gone through particularly tumultuous times with increased costs of production and the pandemic causing issues with the smooth running of the supply chain.

We’ve also experienced the cost increases being felt across the UK from shipping, energy and road freight, as well as higher price of packaging.

For us, doing things properly means paying for the high quality that our drinkers expect and building on our long-term relationships with suppliers.

Yorkshire Tea is a blend of teas from India and East Africa. We buy much of our tea from regions where we can find the best quality leaves and from seasons where quality is at its peak.

The cost of fertilisers needed to keep tea bushes healthy and productive are soaring to unprecedented levels in most countries and producers are feeling the effects of climate change and the Covid pandemic on their own supply chains.

We know that the effects of climate change are bringing increasing challenges for tea farmers, which is why we’ve worked closely with our producers on projects which are both offsetting carbon and helping to protect farms and farmer livelihoods from the impact of extreme weather. In the last seven years we’ve planted 3 million trees with tea farmers in Kenya through our work towards Carbon Neutrality.

Buying & Shipping 

Tea and coffee are dependent on international shipping lines to find its way to markets. During the pandemic, shipping costs have skyrocketed as global supply chains and trade channels have been disrupted. 

Shipping has become a sellers’ market and as a result, the cost of booking a container to transport goods has increased dramatically. In fact, since last year we’ve seen shipping costs increased by over 66% globally. 

Packaging and logistics

Beyond the cost of buying and shipping tea to our Harrogate HQ, like many other industries, we’re experiencing the rise in costs closer to home from packaging to transport.

Inflation is expected to hit a 30 year high in 2022 and the impact is being seen across all industries and aspects of life. 

Energy prices are affecting manufacturers and retailers across the UK with higher energy, petrol and transport bills. Added to this is an increasingly competitive job market and labour shortages in some industries, such as the lorry drivers who get your tea to the supermarket shelves. 

We’ve balanced up all these factors, with the awareness that shopping baskets are getting dearer across the board. But we know that we won’t compromise on the quality of our tea and the relationships we’ve built with suppliers – the things that are integral to a proper brew.

If you have any more questions, feel free to email us at asksustainability@​taylorsofharrogate.​co.​uk.