Nepal Tea Collective

Nepal Tea Collective grew out of a project its founders' father began in the 1960s, working to lift villages around Ilam out of poverty through sustainable tea farming; the company itself was formally established in 2016 to carry that mission forward as a direct-trade business. It buys organic, single-origin loose-leaf tea straight from smallholder growers around Ilam - long recognized as Nepal's tea-growing center - cutting out intermediary traders, and runs a "Tip the Farmer" program that has moved $3,985 in additional payments to 81 farmers through a 1%-of-revenue share. The company reports a 48.07% increase in partner farmer income since it began operating, and in 2023 restructured as a Public Benefit Corporation while pursuing formal B Corp certification, formalizing accountability commitments that had previously been informal. Beyond the tea itself - award-recognized lines like Organic White Prakash, Organic Kumari Gold and Organic Kathmandu Cosmos - the business runs three arms: wholesale supply, direct-to-consumer sales, and a tourism program it calls Tea as a Service, bringing visitors into the growing regions themselves. It also funds a tea-sapling reforestation effort and, through the affiliated Nepal Tea Foundation, scholarships and women's empowerment programs in the growing communities. Coverage in Forbes, The New York Times and the BBC has followed the same throughline: a Kathmandu-based company built explicitly around what its direct trade actually returns to the farmers it sources from.