IN CONVERSATION WITH TINA CHEN
Our series continues where we ask leading specialists about themselves and their field. Today we're in conversation with Tina Chen, Founder of HumaniTea our brand new drink crush. We love supporting other small brands who are doing good things. HumaniTea is a social enterprise, supporting wellbeing and sustainability initiatives while being completely delicious and refreshing and good for you! Win, win, win. We suggest sipping one while wearing your favourite Cucumber. Coolness awaits.
What was your lightbulb moment?
As a Taiwanese-American Londoner, I was inspired by bubble tea concept
and British tea drinking culture to develop delicious tea lattes. With
my love for a quality cuppa and my desire to make a positive impact on
society, I made a career switch from IT to tea, and HumaniTea was born!
A proud social enterprise, HumaniTea supports wellbeing and
sustainability initiatives through wholesome tea. Spreading Me Time, Tea
Time, Any Time, we encourage people to take regular tea breaks to find
mindfulness.
Tackling the problem of obesity-causing sugary soft drinks, we craft the
UK’s 1st chilled Ready To Drink vegan tea lattes bottled into recyclable aluminium
cans. Brewed with actual tea leaves, creamy oat milk, and ethically
sourced, quality ingredients, our Matcha and Earl Grey Oat Milk Tea
Lattes exclude artificial flavours and emulsifiers, contain low sugar
and low calories, and provide boost of antioxidants and natural energy
without the crash of coffee caffeine.
We love the name - tell us more about the meaning behind it.
My passion is to bring the drink that’s good for humanity to the world!
I love spreading Me Time, Tea Time, Any Time with our CommuniTea! During
market research, I discovered that NHS spends over £6 billion per year
on obesity and overweight-related illnesses. The obesity problem is so
huge that the UK government decided to take action and implemented a
soft drinks industry levy, where companies pay a tax for having more
than 5% sugar content in their soft drinks. I believe healthy living and
drinking is key to a happy body and mind. So I decided to tackle the
problem of obesity-causing sugary soft drinks with the creation of our
delicious Vegan Tea Lattes, a healthier alternative to current iced tea
beverages and coffee lattes on the market.
In addition, 1 in 6 people in the UK suffer from mental health issues
due to stress from work. Spreading Me Time, Tea Time, Any Time, we
encourage people to enjoy tea breaks throughout the day and night. Just
a 5 minute tea break can really help one find mindfulness. Taking
regular breaks from the hustle and bustle of work is key to maintaining
physical and mental wellbeing. HumaniTea aims to solve these 2 major
problems and have demonstrated strong traction thus far.
You're a sustainable brand - what does that actually mean for you and
HumaniTea?
HumaniTea creates impact on many levels: tackling obesity with low
sugar, plant-based drinks; promoting mental wellbeing by encouraging
everyone to take tea breaks; and working to improve the environment
through commitment to recyclable packaging materials and quality
ingredients. Our organic matcha comes from Japan, and our Fairtrade,
organic Earl Grey originates from Rwanda. We use oat milk instead of
dairy, which is perfect for people who are vegan or lactose-intolerant,
because oat milk is one of the most eco-friendly milks available in
terms of both emissions and water usage.
The ability to make a positive impact on society through my business
motivates me to succeed. Adding a mission lock to our Articles of
Association, we commit to producing low sugar drinks, using
preservative-free, ethically sourced ingredients, utilising
eco-friendly, recyclable packaging, and donating 5% or more of post-tax
profit to wellbeing and sustainability initiatives in our areas of
operation.
HumaniTea has been around the world - where next on a personal and
professional level?
We aim to grow our customer base and enter more retail environments,
scale with our manufacturer, and raise additional funding. We plan on
establishing ourselves as the leading tea latte brand in UK. Our goal is
to bring our vegan lattes to as many people as possible and increase
sales and generate additional profit to help us flourish as a social
enterprise. We aim to develop our range of products, like turmeric,
rooibos, and chai flavours, with people and planet in mind and grow our
tea startup to positively impact more communities through supporting
wellbeing and sustainability initiatives.
Within 2 years, I plan on growing HumaniTea beyond the UK market to the rest
of Europe, Middle East, US, and Asia and establishing ourselves as the
leading oat milk tea latte brand. Our goal is to bring our delicious
plant-based tea lattes to more people and increase sales and profit to
help us flourish as a social enterprise. We will develop our range of
healthy, innovative products with people and planet in mind and grow our
tea beverage social enterprise to positively impact more communities
through supporting wellbeing and sustainability initiatives and
expanding our areas of operation. Currently, we support GO INSPIRE
Wimbledon, a non-profit organisation for women. We also love championing
other small businesses through social media giveaways, newsletter
shout-outs, and Instagram Lives.
Tell us what your favourite food pairings for HumaniTea are for the
summer and top tips for enjoying a cool cup of tea?
HumaniTea is perfect straight from the fridge or over ice. During hot
summer days, take a sip of a refreshing Oat Milk Tea Lattes in Matcha
and Earl Grey flavours. These thirst-quenching, hangover-curing vegan
drinks taste delicious alone or with your favourite food and snacks. I
bring HumaniTea to picnics at the park, and I like to drink our
naturally energising tea lattes with healthy Indian food from Atcha and
plant-based Vietnamese food from Sen Viet Chay.
For those who like to read the small print, here's the lowdown on HumaniTea.
It's the UK's 1st chilled ready-to-drink plant-based tea lattes
bottled into recyclable aluminium cans. Brewed with actual tea leaves,
creamy oat milk, and ethically sourced, quality ingredients, our
refreshing Matcha and Earl Grey Oat Milk Tea Lattes exclude artificial
flavours and emulsifiers, contain low sugar (<5%) and low calories (<70
kcal/can), and provide boost of antioxidants and natural energy without
a caffeine crash. We use oat milk instead of dairy, which is perfect for
people who are vegan or lactose-intolerant, because oat milk is one of
the most eco-friendly milks available in terms of both emissions and
water usage.
HumaniTea creates impact on many levels: tackling obesity with low
sugar, plant-based drinks; promoting mental wellbeing by encouraging
everyone to take tea breaks; and working to improve the environment
through commitment to recyclable packaging materials and quality
ingredients.
You can buy Humanitea on Ocado or their Website.
As seen on BBC
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