YYC Feature: GROUNDED TEA
‘Our goal is to make the world a better place, one cup at a time’
After sipping teas in over 40 countries, Angela Hayward began importing certified fair trade tea from nations including Sri Lanka and India. Farmers of her teas are guaranteed fair wages to help lift them and their family out of poverty. Grounded Tea is a plant-focused company so their tea sachets are made from plants rather than nylon (making them fully compostable). Their tea is kept all-natural and their packaging is made of rice paper. All their tea is masterfully blended in YYC! Angela is unwavering in her ambitions to live a life that is authentic to her true self, and it’s reflected in her passion for her tea, brand and mission!
When and why did you get interested in the tea industry?
My love for tea first came about through travel. When I was 20 I set a goal to backpack 30 countries before my 30th birthday so much of my 20s was spent going away for months at a time. I didn’t realize it at the time but seeing all of these different ways of life, communities, cultures and being able to feel lost but overcoming fear would really shape the person I became today. No matter what country I would visit - whether it be Ethiopia, Madagascar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China - there was one thing every person in the world has in common and that’s tea. I never knew the language, I never knew the people but somehow their first offering was tea and it always broke the barrier and we ended up making great connections.
I would find myself, wherever I could, visiting tea fields. Somehow their sprawling beauty and the women working in the fields just spoke to me. I’d find myself riding my bike around the tea fields, stopping to ‘chat’ with the tea pickers (all women) and sipping and learning about the most amazing types of tea right at the source. By the time I reached 30, tea in Canada had started to expand becoming more ‘artisan’ but I saw one problem…a lot of artificial flavourings and sweeteners were being used. That’s when I decided to blend my two worlds together, bringing the love for all-natural teas home to Canada and blending them to improve peoples wellness and build a community of people who want to live life to the fullest.
Each year Grounded Tea donates a portion of your profits to an orphanage in Nepal! You volunteered there with your kids in 2009, would love to hear a little more the orphanage and your experience there
My now-husband (then-boyfriend) lived in an orphanage in Nepal for a month. It was such a monumental experience for us as we got to know and love these children. They were bright, kind, loving and open - the beauty we find in all children and in the end they taught us a lot more than we taught them. Originally I wasn’t sure what the purpose of our stay would be (they knew English pretty well already and learn it in school). But fortunately my husband is a plumber so that ended up being the skill he could help with the most as the entire building needed work, as did the water sources. Grounded Tea started off with donating a portion of proceeds but that has now just transitioned into a personal mission.
This year we have switched Grounded Tea’s focus to a one-for-one model. We’ve partnered with Trees for the Future and plant one tree for each bag of tea sold. These aren’t just any old trees though, they are used to plant forest farms in Sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of the forest farms is to rejuvenate lands, that were otherwise degraded, and bring them back to life with sustainable farming. This creates a food source for entire families and villages, as well as, an income for generations to come.
What does it mean for a blend to be truly 100% natural?
100% natural means free from any artificial flavourings, sweeteners and preservatives. Tea is literally a superfood, packed full of antioxidants, that are healing for the body. That’s why we think it is important to keep it healthy and pure. We are a plant-focused company so our tea sachets are made from plants rather than nylon (making them fully compostable), tea is kept all-natural and packaging is made of rice paper.
Where do you source your teas from, and how do you ensure that your tea is fair trade?
Teas need to be grown in specific climates and there are regions of the world known for producing the best types of tea. For example, most of the black teas we import from Sri Lanka and India, our Pu-erh tea comes from China as does our green tea (even throughout China we source from certain provinces to ensure we have the best in the world). Fair trade products are certified as such and the Fair Trade organization ensures that the trading between the purchaser (me) and the farm is equitable and fair. It ensures that the workers get paid fair wages and have better working conditions. Because we are so far away from where our tea is grown, having it be certified fair trade, gives us peace of mind that we are doing our best to make sure that everyone in the supply chain is being treated fairly.
“I once had a family member tell me I was a failure, I literally was shocked I had done so much in my 20s…My idea of success is creating a vision for your life and going after it, it didn’t include climbing the corporate ladder.”
What would you say in the greatest challenge or obstacle that you’ve had to overcome thus far in your entrepreneurial journey? Do you have a ‘favourite failure’?
Entrepreneurship can sometimes feel like one big obstacle. I was just telling someone the other day that building this company feels like having a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle but have no picture to go off HAHA. A lot of it is listening to my gut and if something doesn’t work being okay with letting it go and then pivoting. For me, one of the biggest obstacles is finances….when your company is small, boutique and artisan margins are tight. This gives you little to ‘fuel’ your company with - I would love to hire more people as it’s a dream of mine to create a really kick ass team but I have to have patience as cash flow is extremely important. I don’t know if I’ve had a favourite failure. I love all of my failures because with failure comes growth. If you find yourself failing often that just means you’re out there trying new things and getting out of your comfort zone. Failure is all relative. I once had a family member tell me I was a failure, I literally was shocked I had done so much in my 20s, I don’t think I could have packed anything else in but their standard of measurement was different than mine. My idea of success is creating a vision for your life and going after it, it didn’t include climbing the corporate ladder. Thank goodness I didn’t listen and pivot according to their values, otherwise I’d be living a very different life and wouldn’t be happy.
What is your hope for Grounded Tea over the next 5 years? In what ways do you see your company expanding and/or improving?
My focus is community. I want Grounded Tea to build a community. To bring people together, to infuse their lives with a sense of connection and overall improve their wellbeing (health and happiness). Our motto at Grounded Tea is ‘Live Grounded’ - the feeling of groundedness and being rooted in who you are and your true purpose. In the next 5 years I would like to build a team of women that work for my company but really truly love their work as they develop their skills and abilities and help build this company up. I want our customers to feel like family even though we are selling across Canada. I hope that whatever we do, we are not only infusing their cups with delicious tea but also enriching their lives.
What is a valuable piece of wisdom that has helped get you where you are today?
The best thing I ever did was listen to myself, my needs, my desires for my life. There can be a lot of noise, from family from friends from culture as a whole. We feel pressured to live a certain way or work towards a certain career. The best thing I ever did was I was able to tune out the noise and carve my own path. The poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost has always resonated with me, the last line reads ’Two woods diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.'
Find her at: https://www.livegrounded.ca/