What is Fair Trade tea?

Since I started Fair Trade Teas in 2001, I’ve been searching for the answer to this question– what is Fair Trade? There are a million definitions and explanations out there, but I have been more interested in what Fair Trade really means, how it actually effects the people who grow our tea and coffee and other commodity products we so love like chocolate and wine and fruit and if it really makes a difference or if it is just a marketing ploy, as some claim.
I’ve been so lucky to have the opportunity over the last 9 years to visit Fair Trade and non Fair Trade tea, coffee and cocoa producers from the Himalayan Mountains in India to the Cape Region of South Africa and from Ghana to Southern Mexico, to try to glean an understanding of this fast growing, seldom understood concept- turned certification system and I think the best way to explain it is to share stories and experiences from teh field, from the growers, from my travels and let you decide for yourself.
I’ll be posting stories and experiences here as well as recent global news on Fair Trade, especially as it pertains to tea.
Thanks and welcome!
Sarah