As a female-led enterprise ourselves, we champion other women in the industry, and many of the tea farms we work with are run by inspiring women.
Gender discrimination is still, unfortunately, a reality in many industries, including the tea industry. In spite of women’s high involvement in tea farming, they still experience discrimination in all aspects, including land ownership and access to benefits and profits.
Here, we introduce you four women who own and manage their own farms, setting a new standard for gender equality in the industry.
Katie Yen – Yuchi Village, Taiwan
Katie Yen leads an all-female organic farm in Yuchi Village, Taiwan. After her farm was made inaccessible for a year by an earthquake two decades ago, she discovered the tea plants had developed a more intense flavour. So she chose to keep the farm entirely organic – a much more challenging path to take.
Read her full story here.
Try it: Osmanthus Oolong (Organic) and Red Jade with Bergamot (Organic) from Katie
Lian A Na – Taitung, Taiwan
Lian A Na, the matriarch of a small organic farm in Taitung, Taiwan, is the original creator of Red Oolong, a sweet, bug-bitten tea with top notes of black tea and undertones of an oolong – a breakthrough tea that put Taitung on the map.
Having been forced out of competition by imported cheap teas from Southeast Asia, Mrs. Lian was looking for a new kind of tea to win the hearts of local consumers again, and came up with an oolong / black tea hybrid in 2008, together with the head of the Tea Research and Extension Station in Taitung.
Her organic farm sits on the edges of Luye Highland, with an attached guest house. They harvest the organic tea five times a year in very small batches. Red Oolong is one of our most popular teas – distinctively fruity and seductively sweet.
The Wu Sisters – Yuchi Village, Taiwan
The Wu sisters are second-generation Red Jade tea growers whose patriarch played a critical role in a small tea revolution that took place almost a century ago. The Red Jade cultivar is a new invention, one that their father invested heavily in. It paid off, and today, Father Wu having long passed, the Red Jade tea farm is run entirely by the Wu Sisters.
Read their story in full here.
Try it: Red Jade from the Wu sisters
A Meng – Wuyishan, China
A Meng leads a tea plantation in Wuyishan, China, where we source our rock teas from. Every day, A Meng is out in the fields and factory, while her husband looks after their one-year-old son. She supervises every step of the tea production process, ensuring the meticulous attention to detail that rock teas require.
Try it: Da Hong Pao (Fruit Scent) and Hundred Winter Daphnes from A Meng
We hope you enjoy the tea, and share it with a woman who inspires you!