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Small actions really do change the world!

It's easy to make the world a cleaner, greener, fairer place with these simple fair trades:

Big brands for Scarborough Fair!

Instead of throwing your organic waste into the bin, throw it into a pile in a corner of your garden. Be sure to add plenty of leaves, grass clippings and dirt, then watch how fast it breaks down!

Plastic for cotton

Instead of adding to the estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags used each year, purchase a cotton shopping bag and take it to the store with you! If you make a shopping list, put it in your bag, so you don't forget it. Or leave re-useable bags in your car or by your front door!

Road rage for walking

Instead of fighting traffic and searching for a car park, put on your trainers and hit the road!

Processed for fresh

When doing your food shopping, look for food that is fresh and unprocessed, and where possible choose organic. This will help to cut down on the use of chemicals and pesticides and avoid run off into waterways.

If you have any world-changing ideas of your own, email us!

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Harvesting tea   All tea comes from the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, so the major differences between the various teas are attributed to the way tea is processed rather than the plant species. Tea plants must grow for about three to five years before their leaves can be picked. Tea plants are usually used for about 30 years, after which they are too old to be productive. The trunk of the old plant must then be cut off to force new stems to grow out of the roots in the coming year.

The final step of tea production is simply a drying process. However some chemical changes take place by natural fermentation which gives us different varieties of teas. Black tea undergoes a full fermentation process composed of four basic steps - withering, rolling, fermenting, and firing (or drying). Green tea is often referred to as "unfermented" tea. The freshly picked leaves are allowed to dry, then are heat-treated to stop any fermentation. Chai tea is either a black or green tea combined with a mixture of herbs and spices, usually cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and peppercorns.

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Harvesting Coffee   The two main types of coffee beans used for making coffee are Arabica and Robusta. Arabica beans account for about 80% of the world’s production, with Robusta beans making up the other 20%. Robusta coffee beans have a higher caffeine content and produce an inferior taste to Arabica beans. Coffee beans come from the inside of the fruit, or cherries from the coffee plant. The cherries are harvested during the dry season when they are bright red, glossy and firm. The cherries are either harvested by hand, stripped from the tree with unripe berries, or collected using harvesting machines.

The berries are then pulped to remove the skin of the cherry from the skin. After this has happened the beans are left to ferment for 16-36 hours. After the fermentation process the beans are moved to drying patios where they are dried for about 6-14 days. The coffee beans are then stored in burlap sacks which allow for air to flow.

Beans are then roasted through several stages at various different temperatures depending on the desired end product. If the beans are roasted too hot or for too long, much of the flavour is lost, however, if the roast is short and isn’t hot enough, the flavours are not allowed to develop.

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Harvesting Cocoa Beans   Cocoa beans come from the pods of the cocoa tree. The pods are oval shaped and about 8-14 Inches long, ranging in colours from red, yellow and green. When the pods are ripe and ready to harvest they are green colour. The pods grow directly from the trunk and main branches of the tree and are harvested by simply being cut with a curved knife attached to the end of a pole. It takes 5-6 months for the pods to grow and ripen.

Once harvested, the pods are opened by hand and the Cocoa beans and surrounding pulp is removed and left to ferment. Raw cocoa beans are fermented for about 5 days to allow the flavours to mature. During fermentation flavour develops, bitterness subsides and the seeds turn a rich shade of brown.

After the fermentation process is finished the beans are sent to be dried. This is usually done by spreading them out over a large surface outdoors and allowing the sun to dry them while they are continually turned using large wooden rakes. This process can also be done mechanically, however the natural process is preferred as it lessens the chances of the beans becoming tainted.

 If you've got a suggestion on an article we should write, email us and we'll see what we can do!