| Tea Plant- Source: www.herbalextracts.net |
Worldwide, tea is the most consumed beverage
after water (Tea Association 2013), showing that the simple green, glossy tea
leaf has become an important part of human diets. The iconic Lipton Yellow
Label Tea brand from Unilever is the second largely sold beverage (Bolton 2014),
and the tea in discussion. The environmental, historical and social aspects of
this item are explored, and to further question why its integration into societal lifestyles
globally hasn’t yielded transparency in its production chain.
Tea, produced from the young shoot of the tea plant, according to Harler (1933), originated in China. However the first seeds and plants which were planted by Europeans in Java and India have caused uncertainty on the origin. (Harler 1933) There are two distinct varieties; true China which has small leaves and the India has larger leaves. Additionally tea leaves can be prepared in two ways, one for green tea and the other for black. (Harler 1933) However black tea preparation has been chosen for exploration. The following image shows how teas are prepared from the field to packaging.
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| Tea preparations Source: http://www.elementtea.com/tea/ |
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| Tea PickerSource: http://www.tea.co.uk/tea-growing-and-production |
Harler
(1933) cites that in 1930 ventures into cropping of tea in Kericho, Kenya began
and although flavour and quality are attractive, vigorous flushing unlike that
in India, is hindered by the dry climate of the region. Nonetheless, up to-day,
in the era of transnational corporations, Kericho tea estates are in use for
Lipton tea production by Unilever. Lipton, once an entrepreneurial endeavor by
Sir Thomas Lipton began in Ceylon, 1880 (Unilever 2014), and is now, acquired
in 1972, a product of the world’s third largest consumer goods corporation,
Unilever. Today Unilever tea estates in Africa employ
almost 1 million. (Chernetz 2014)
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| Tea Production location for Lipton tea Source: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/05/07/unilever-adding-sustainably-sourced-tea-palm-oil-tomatoes/?graph=full&id=1 |
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| Image showing Lipton, Unilever Major Tea Plantation locations |
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Image showing the basic supply
chain for Lipton Tea.
Source: Source:
http://www.slideshare.net/muthukum/ul-liptonpresentation-v4
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In
the Caribbean there are 3 Unilever companies operating, one in Puerto Rico, the
Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago. In Trinidad, the distribution of
Unilever imported goods to local food stores is done via the factory
head-quarter in Champ Fleur. The diagram to the left shows how I receive my
Lipton Yellow Label Tea.This brand of tea has become a part of many Trinidadian's morning ritual. In addition to coffee, it is the go to caffeine drink to get one's morning started. For me it gets my morning started and late night studies fueled. However, not until I did this research, did I understand why I was able to stay awake after midnight following a cup of Lipton tea. This was due to the 40% caffeine that constitutes the tea (Tea Association 2013)
Conca (2001) stated that transnational commodity chain, caused by a change in global production systems, have enormous ramifications on the environment. However Unilever has piloted a sustainable agriculture initiative since 1999 on Kericho, Kenya estates, where soil and water are conserved, inter-cropping for increased organic matter is practiced, and no pesticides and fungicides are used. (Ecoagriculture 2014) Therefore a level of sustainability is geared towards safeguarding the environment by the organization. At the helm of globalization, spatial and social distancing increases between production and consumption as a result of economic restructuring and poses implications to the political ecology of consumption globally. (Conca 2001) The distancing is true as simple information such as, where does a company or store get their supply of goods from is denied access to the consumers, based on experience. What reality can possible exist about production sites that a student is unable to know about? Online information is offered, however based on denied information via a one on one conversation, skepticism on the provided information has been provoked. Despite information provided on the internet, it is still believed that to an extent a lack of transparency still exists. This is evident by this online petition: http://www.behindthebrands.org/en/brands/unilever/lipton.
Reference
- Chernetz, Barbara. 2014. Where does you tea come from? Redbook, n.d.http://www.redbookmag.com/recipes-home/tips-advice/tea-in-kenya#slide-6 (accessed April 9, 2014).
- Conca, Ken. 2001. "Consumption and the environment in a global economy". Global Environmental Politics 1 (3): 53-71. Accessed April 9, 2014.(doi:10.1162/152638001316881403).
- Ecoagriculture Partners. 2014. Sustainable tea production in Kericho, Kenya. Accessed April 9. http://www.ecoagriculture.org/case_study.php?id=39.
- Harler, C. R. 1933. The Culture and market of tea.London: Oxford University Press. https://archive.org/details/cultureandmarket031831mbp.
- Lipton. 2014. "Lipton: About us". Accessed April 9. http://www.liptontea.com/home/about.
- Tea Association. 2013. "Tea fact sheet". Accessed April 9. http://www.teausa.com/14655/tea-fact-sheet.
- United Kingdom Tea Council. 2014. "Tea growing and Production". Accessed April 9. http://www.tea.co.uk/tea-growing-and-production.
