About

Sarah Scarborough

Hi! My name is Sarah Scarborough. I started Fair Trade teas in 2001. The mission then was the same as it is now – to link tea growers with tea lovers to improve the lives of both.

Here at Fair Trade Teas, you can learn more about tea, the world’s favorite drink, and making a difference through Fair Trade; travel to world renowned tea growing areas – stunning places like India and Africa; and buy my freshly ground, authentic Firepot Chai™. If you are looking for my collection of Fair Trade and Organic Artisan teas or wedding tea, please visit PartnersTea.com. Thanks and welcome!

A little about how I got started with Fair Trade Teas…

My fascination with sustainability and tea goes back to when I was a little girl growing up at my grandparents’ summerhouse in Finland. There, we gathered berries from the forest, fish from the lake and water from the well – that is where I realized the virtues of the good life!

Ensuring the good life not only for myself, but for everyone, became my dream. After graduating from Trinity College with a degree in Environmental Studies, I worked on organic farms along Northern California’s coast and then as a crew-leader for the Montana Conservation Corps. In 2000, I co-developed Thistle Farms,a successful herbal crafts business for the employment of recovering prostitutes in Nashville, Tennessee.

In 2001, with a thirst for global cultures and agricultures, I set off across the world and at a coffee farm in Panama was struck by the inequality of global trade. I saw the children of coffee farmers playing in the mud barracks where they lived while their dads worked picking coffee beans for $6 a day. Shortly thereafter, I found myself back in Montana working at the Tibetan Traderand Teahouse and it occurred to me that Fair Trade Teas was my calling; it combined my love for culture and agriculture and my desire to share the good life – one lived with simplicity, health and sustainability.

I have been working with Fair Trade and tea ever since.

As a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarin New Zealand in 2004, I promoted Fair Trade while studying for a Masters degree in Development Studies at the University of Auckland. While living there, I co-developed Australia and New Zealand’s largest Fair Trade food company, Scarborough Fair Foods and earned a U.S. Congressional Award of merit for my work.

These days, I am still working on my original mission- to link tea lovers with tea growers. Besides developing Partners Tea Company, making Firepot Chai, and still learning about tea and trade through the Specialty Tea Association, the Herb Society and my travels, I am also teaching people like you how to get involved in making a difference through Fair Trade teas. Whether you would like to learn more about tea appreciation in my classes, travel to tea growing regions around the world or taste the most authentic, hand-ground ‘Firepot Chai’, I can help. Just click on the pages to learn more or email me: sarah@fairtradeteas.com

Sarah