Numi Organic Tea is a privately owned

triple bottom line The triple bottom line (or otherwise noted as TBL or 3BL) is an accounting framework with three parts: social, environmental (or ecological) and economic. Some organizations have adopted the TBL framework to evaluate their performance in a broade ...

social enterprise based in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. Numi is known for its assortment of organic and fair trade certified teas and herbal "teasans". The company was founded in 1999 by brother and sister, Ahmed Rahim and Reem Hassani. The founders named the company "

Numi Neutrinos at the Main Injector, or NuMI, is a project at Fermilab which creates an intense beam of neutrinos aimed towards the Far Detector facility near Ash River, Minnesota for use by several particle detectors. , the MINOS, MINERνA and NOνA ...

" after the citrusy, Middle Eastern

dried lime Dried lime, also known as: black lime; ''noomi basra'' (Iraq); ''limoo amani'' (Iran); and ''loomi'' (Oman), is a lime that has lost its water content, usually after having spent a majority of its drying time in the sun. They are used whole, sli ...

tea they drank as children growing up in Iraq. The name Numi is derived from the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

word for ''citrus''.Phillips, Ryan
"The rare flavors and unique taste of Oakland's Numi Tea"
'' Oakland North'', 8 September 2011. Retrieved on 6 April 2012.

The J.M. Smucker Company The J.M. Smucker Company, also known as Smuckers, is an American manufacturer of food and beverage products. Headquartered in Orrville, Ohio, the company was founded in 1897 as a maker of apple butter. J.M. Smucker currently has three major bus ...

holds a minority stake in Numi.

Certifications

All of Numi's teas are

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

certified Organic Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products, in the European Union more commonly known as ecological or biological products.Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/ ...

and many are certified Fair Trade. In 2010, Numi was recognized as the largest brand purchaser of Fair Trade Certified teas in the U.S.Lagorio, Christine
"How to Obtain Fair Trade Certification"
'' Inc.com'', 31 January 2011. Retrieved on 6 April 2012. Numi blends organic and fair trade certified tea leaves and herbs exclusively with real ingredients leaving out the use of artificial flavorings, "natural" flavorings, and/or fragrances commonly used in food & beverage products."Numi Organic Tea"
''BCorporation.net'', Certified December 2007. Retrieved on 6 April 2012.

Products

Numi sells bagged tea, loose leaf tea, iced tea, gift items and other tea-related products. The company offers tea types including green, black, white, oolong,

pu-erh ''Pu'er'' or ''pu-erh'' is a variety of fermented tea traditionally produced in Yunnan Province, China. In the context of traditional Chinese tea production terminology, fermentation refers to microbial fermentation (called 'wet piling'), and ...

, and herbal teas such as honeybush and

rooibos Rooibos ( ; , meaning "red bush"), or ''Aspalathus linearis'', is a broom-like member of the plant family Fabaceae that grows in South Africa's fynbos biome. The leaves are used to make a herbal tea that is called rooibos (especially in S ...

. Numi was first to introduce a full line of pu-erh tea products to the U.S. market. In 2012, Numi added five new pu-erh flavors to its existing bagged pu-erh tea line. The company is also known for introducing a full line of flowering tea and Bamboo Flowering Tea Gift Set in 2005. Flowering teas are made from organic tea leaves that have been hand sewn around flowers to create small, round bundles that blossom when steeped in hot water.

Practices

Numi Organic Tea is a prominent

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ca ...

in the U.S. and a founding

B Corporation In the United States, a benefit corporation (or in several jurisdictions including Delaware, a public-benefit corporation or PBC) is a type of for-profit corporate entity, authorized by 35 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, that include ...

. The company manufactures and distributes its tea in biodegradable, filter-paper tea bags rather than silk tea bags often made from petroleum based materials. Numi's tea bags are packaged in recyclable boxes made of 85%

post-consumer waste Post-consumer waste is a waste type produced by the end consumer of a material stream; that is, where the waste-producing use did not involve the production of another product. The terms of pre-consumer and post-consumer recycled materials are ...

, printed with soy-based inks and not wrapped with plastic. In 2020, Numi introduced commercially compostable, plant-based tea wrappers. The wrappers are made from a sugarcane Non-GMO PLA layer, metalized eucalyptus layer, FSC certified paper, and have been tested to produce no eco-toxicity when they break down. Numi is a Climate Neutral certified brand, meaning it has committed to measure, offset and reduce its annual carbon emissions.

References

{{Reflist

External links

numitea.com
Tea companies of the United States Tea brands in the United States Fair trade brands Organic farming organizations Companies based in Oakland, California American companies established in 1999 Food and drink companies established in 1999 1999 establishments in California Certified B Corporations in the Food & Beverage Industry Benefit corporations