September 2010
QI TEAS WINS GOLD STAR RATING FROM THE UK's MOST RENOWNED FOOD AWARDS
Qi Teas (pronounced chee) has won 2 star Gold for their Organic Fairtrade Golden Vanilla Tea and 1 star Gold for their Organic Fairtrade White & Spicy Tea, from the Great Taste Awards.

Organised by The Guild of Fine Food, the Great Taste Awards is the national, benchmark food awards employing the country's most rigorous judging system, ensuring the fairest, most accurate and trusted results.

The 2010 GTAs has attracted a record number of entries. In total, 6021 food and drink products were blind-tasted, tested and discussed during two months of intense judging by 350 judges, comprising food writers, chefs, deli and farm shop owners, food producers and buyers.

Qi Teas is delighted to have their Organic Fairtrade Golden Vanilla and White & Spicy Teas among the country's most highly rated drinks. Sarah Butler says of their success "It's absolutely brilliant to receive awards for these two products. We are a small family-run business and take pride in doing everything ourselves; we select the best quality teas and ingredients to make sure our teas taste really good. These awards are a recognition of our dedication and hard work in getting the quality and taste right."

Food producers across the UK and Southern Ireland are celebrating their star ratings. One, two and three Gold Stars have been handed out to 1,576 deserving products, from the 1,350 small producers who entered this year. The 95 three Gold Star award winners are in the running for the major, regional and national awards. The 2010 Supreme Champion Trophy winner will be announced at the final at Fortnum & Mason in London on September 6th, where the ultimate three star products will be scrutinised by some of the country's most revered and feared chefs, food critics and as always, a smattering of celebrity!

The Guild of Fine Food's Bob Farrand commented of this year's entries "It's so exciting to see the standards of food and drink in the British Isles go from strength to strength, year after year, proving that for those who enjoy great food - it's there to be discovered". Farrand continued, "We have worked hard to ensure our judging process is as robust as possible. Judging teams are balanced in terms of experience, background and even gender and every Gold Award winning entry has been independently proven to be of the highest standard".
[Go to Great Taste Awards website]

30/10/2008
A new, exciting range of healthy Organic Golden Black Teas!
Research has shown that tea is far better for you if taken without milk. Qi Teas has sourced the perfect, healthy, single estate black China tea you can drink without milk because it’s delicious by itself. 

Now you can have delicious black tea and still retain all the health benefits. Qi Organic Fairtrade Golden Black Teas are made using the small leaf variety of tea bush, so have higher levels of antioxidants and do not have the astringency associated with the usual “builders tea”.

Qi Golden Black Teas are from the small-leaf variety tea bush of the “Golden Triangle” region in southern China. Qi has four delicious teas in this innovative Organic and Fairtrade range. 
[View our Organic Golden Black Tea range]

03/10/2007
China success down to tea
Joe d'Armenia thought he had retired - until a chance discovery of a very special kind of tea.
Download and read the article on Qi Teas from the Daily Express.
[Download - pdf file]

24/09/2007
Virgin Atlantic launches Fairtrade tea and coffee onboard all flights
Virgin Atlantic will be offering passengers organic green and white teas from Qi teas.
Download and read the the full press-release.
[Download - word file]

05/03/2007
Qi - the top rated Fairtrade teas
Fairtrade Fortnight, the annual promotional campaign of the Fairtrade Foundation, which encourages people to buy products carrying the Fairtrade Mark, takes place this year from 26th February until 11th March.

To mark the event, the Ethiscore website has put together its Top 20 Fairtrade products which currently appears on the website's home page [view Top 20]. It lists those Fairtrade-marked brands that also come top of the table in other areas of social and corporate responsibility - brands which have a good environmental record, which respect human rights and prioritise animal welfare.

As well as the top rated coffee, tea and chocolate products, the Top 20 includes Fairtrade jeans, sports balls and spirits.

The estimated retail value of sales of Fairtrade products in the UK in 2005 was £195m, a 40% increase on 2004. The Fairtrade Foundation expects sales of products with the Fairtrade Mark to at least maintain the pace of recent years, doubling every two years.

Fairtrade bananas currently make up 7.9% of the UK banana market by value. Fairtrade roast and ground coffee now accounts for around 20% of the market and Fairtrade pineapples 5.2%. Over 2,000 Fairtrade certified products are now available.

For resources, such as an Action Guide and events listings, visit the
Fairtrade Foundation website at www.fairtrade.org

The Ethiscore website is the online version of Ethical Consumer
magazine. The Ethiscore is a numerical rating designed to allow
consumers to compare companies across a range of corporate
responsibility issues, including the environment, human and animal
rights. The higher the score, the better a company's ethical record.

More information from Mary Rayner at Ethical Consumer Magazine, or call 0161 226 2929

Bryony Moore
Ethical Consumer Magazine
www.ethiscore.org