http://www.runa.org/
http://www.stashtea.com/
via : GreenMarketingTV, 07 December 2010
Tea Party, Redefined: Organic, Fair Trade Runa Tea
An idea that started while attending Brown University in 2008 has flourished into an exciting social venture for Tyler Gage, one of the founders of Runa Tea. This green entrepreneur has turned an environmentally-sustainable organic, fair trade tea project for into one that will benefit the local community financially and socially. Tyler, while working with indigenous communities in South America, witnessed firsthand the tradeoff indigenous communities face–while they want to preserve their cultural and environmental heritage, they also have an immediate need to earn cash and feed their families in an increasingly globalized world. After long nights of storytelling and ceremonies, Tyler would awaken the next morning to the crisp sound of a chainsaw cutting down hardwood trees nearby.
In 2007, Tyler hosted a family of Ecuadorian shamans at his home in California. They shared an ancestral tea the shaman had carried with him from the Amazon: guayusa (pronounced why-YOU-sa). They began imagining how a Fair Trade business could share this rich-tasting tea with a global audience, and pioneer a proactive and culturally valuable way for the Kichwa people to participate in the global economy.One year after starting from scratch, Runa Tea has reforested over 200 acres of degraded land with guayusa in organic agroforestry systems, provided technical assistance to over 600 small farmers, built and operated their first guayusa drying facility, and sold out of tea during the sales launch in December 2009.
The Amazonian Kichwa communities Runa works with have already met the market. Or rather, the market has met them in a way that is largely disempowering and culturally invasive. Runa’s goal is to facilitate access to capital markets in a way that gives the Kichwa people money to feed the family and send their children to school, and resources to invest in their own development.
Runa Tea - Organic, Fair Trade Amazon Guayusa
In Ecuador concepts like “email” and “the internet” are still very, very new. We find conflicting information about export logistics and registrations, large amounts of haze in the Ministry of Environment’s land management regulations, and strange requirements for selling products in Ecuador, among endless other informational jungle gyms.
Undoubtedly keeping our principles in focus makes the work more difficult – more stakeholders, more priorities, more balance required, more communication required, more levels to think about constantly. On the flip side, it’s more fulfilling, more sustainable, more exciting, and more participatory. That said, we are constantly reminded by our advisors that we must remain a successful business if we are to benefit anyone.
How is Runa different from other development type social entrepreneur projects?
Compared to other market-driven development initiatives, Runa stands out with the strength of its vertically integrated supply chain, integrated land management training programs, and its strategy for leveraging Fair Trade social premium funds.
In comparison to a similar market-based reforestation NGOs, Runa is reforesting with a native, culturally important, and perennial crop that grows exclusive in biodiverse agroforestry plots, as opposed to mono-crop plantations. Guayusa begins generating income after 3 years (in comparison to 15+ years for hardwood trees in the Amazon), produces harvests every 3 months, and exemplifies the efficacy of the “Specialized Cultivation” strategy for non-timber forest products, proven to be the most effective in cross-country comparisons.
How can a social enterprise like Runa remain sustainable as it grows?
Because guayusa requires the shade of other trees in order to grow, it cannot be produced in mono-crop plantations, and thrives in a biodiverse forest ecosystem. Even as demand grows our organic agroforestry model will stay the same.
The results for the farmers are also important. Runa has been able to raise 300 farmers income by 25% each, money which is most often used to buy staple foods and for school expenses (uniforms, transport, books). The average monthly income for a farming family is $30 to $70 / month, and every day we pay three different farmers $35 each for fresh guayusa leaves.
How have you promoted your products in the US? Do you use social media avenues?
We just recently launched our products and are only now starting to promote seriously. Our main focus is through product demos, where we get to interact directly with consumers and share the unique, smooth flavor or our tea with them.
We’re about to launch a brand new website and blog, where we’ll be using social media as an additional way to engage consumers and educate them about guayusa.
Our new Social Media Director will be moving to the Ecuadorian Amazon in February, and working from Runa ground zero to share our story, the guayusa tradition, and the Kichwa culture with the world. She’s got a pretty sweet job.
Runa has worked hard to help the Kichwa preserve their environmental and cultural heritage
BCS, one of the leading independent third party organic certification agencies in the world, certifies our operations and each one of the smaller farmers we work with, according the USDA NOP Organic Certification. We are working with the FLO-Cert and TransFair USA, the world’s leading Fair Trade certification agency, on the Fair Trade certification right now.
From the very get-go, organic and Fair Trade standards were a must. So we design our whole operational structure and production system around the standards. In contrast, most companies or producers “convert” to organic and Fair Trade, which is a much more difficult process.
How are you funded? How did you raise funding?
We’ve raised a convertible debt round from angel investors and received grants from USAID, the German government, and the Ecuadorian government. We also received $75k in cash and services after winning both the Brown University and Rhode Island state business plan competitions.
What advice do you have to other young, social entrepreneurs? Any mistakes that you made along the way that you would like to share?
Follow your heart. Make sure the market understands and likes what your heart has to say. Then persevere, persevere, and persevere some more.
I attribute most of our early failures to a lack of clarity around what exactly we wanted to do. Are we an NGO or a business? Are we a tea company or a bottled beverage company? Are we helping farmers or selling tea? The answers to all of these questions were never black and white. As a social enterprise we’re accomplishing many goals at the same time, and feeding many ducks with one piece of bread (I’m not sure the killing metaphor works so well for social entrepreneurship). Thus, we must understand the points of intersection, the levels, the results, the conjugations, and various languages we speak with a high level of precision, in order to stay focused and accomplish our goals.
Guayusa is a daily drink for the Kichwa people
Guayusa is traditionally brewed by boiling whole leaves in a large clay pot on the fire for long periods of time. Farmers harvest whole guayusa leaves, form piles of approximately 15 leaves, fold them in half, and string many of these leaf packets together on a string, forming a large wreath known as a sarta. The sarta is then hung from the thatched roof of the hut over the fire to dry.
When guayusa times comes around every morning, the women remove a few of the now dried leaf packets and place them in a large clay pot on the fire. Traditionally every family has one special black clay pot that they use only for brewing guayusa.
The leaves are left to boil in the water for anywhere from 30 minutes to 7 hours. Often times the pot will be left to brew overnight. Because guayusa leaves do not have any tannins like other teas, it can be brewed for long periods of time and never acquires an astringent or dry flavor. Once the guayusa is ready, the mother dips a large gourd into the pot and pours servings into the individual gourd that each family member has.
We’ve worked to capture a similar flavor to what the Kichwa people drink through our industrial processing methods. Community leaders often come by our factory to take samples back to their communities, because they appreciate the way we’ve captured the rich aroma and smoothness of guayusa in our drying process.
—-
You can learn more about Runa at www.runa.org. In particular, check out their new Amazonian Holiday Gift Basket, available exclusively from Runa!
Via : .December 01, 2010| FoxNews.com
Guayusa: The New Tea in Town
Recently I spent time in Napo Province, in the beautiful South American country of Ecuador. I was there to study two plants, one of which is a relatively unknown tea called guayusa. Guayusa enjoys a history of use among some native tribes in Ecuador, notably the Jivaro tribe. Among the Jivaro, the drinking of guayusa is a daily event and a morning ritual.
Historically the Jivaro would rise early, make a fire, boil a pot of guayusa leaves, drink the tea and tell stories. This practice helped to reinforce kinship and community, giving people an opportunity to come together and share stories. Among the Jivaro, guayusa is known as “night Watchman,” because it helps to keep you awake.
Guayusa (Ilex guayusa) is a small tree that grows in the Ecuadorian rainforest, and whose leaves are rich in naturally-occurring caffeine. Guayusa contains less caffeine per cup than coffee, but more caffeine per cup than green tea or yerba mate’. Guayusa possesses a mild flavor, and a pleasant aroma.
One morning very early in Ecuador, I set out with about a dozen people from the small town of Archidona, out into the countryside. We arrived at a trail head leading into the forest by about 3:30 a.m., and set out from there to a tiny village farther into the woods. After about half an hour of hiking in the dark, we came to the Wayra Churi village, where about ten native people were sitting around a fire. We joined them, and watched as a woman placed leaves into a clay pot that sat on the fire. After the leaves cooked for several minutes, the woman scooped some tea out into a gourd, and passed that out. She did this with one gourd after another, until we all had some guayusa to drink. In the chill of the early Amazon morning, the hot liquid felt very good. As the sun’s first light scratched at the dark of night, we sat around the fire, telling stories, and talking about the invigorating effects of the guayusa.
Guayusa is unusual. On the one hand, it contains caffeine, and so is useful in helping to maintain wakefulness. On the other hand, guayusa also contains an ample supply of L-theanine, an amino acid that imparts a feeling of pleasant tranquility. The combination of the two creates a light stimulation, but very smooth. Basically in guayusa you have a stimulant without ragged edges.
Wayra Churi Chief in Ecuador
During the course of several days in Ecuador, I was able to see and participate in the planting of guayusa seedlings, harvesting guayusa leaves, and spending time with people from a project called Runa, who have organized guayusa growers and harvesters into a community. Using certified organic agriculture and fair wages, the Runa project is providing economic opportunity to native people who typically rely on performing day labor to get by. It’s a good model of agriculture performed in a safe, non-toxic way that can actually lead to a decent living for growers.
Guayusa is just in the early stages of making its way in the US. You can find the Runa Guayusa in Whole Foods and some other markets, as the beverage becomes more popular. In many ways, guayusa reminds me of the other South American tea, yerba mate’. Several years ago yerba mate’ was little known. But people have become familiar with it, and like the lift. I believe that the same thing will happen with guayusa. The pleasant flavor and smooth stimulation of guayusa make it easy to like.
People like stimulating beverages, including coffee, tea, guarana, cola, cocoa and yerba mate’. All of these beverages contain caffeine, and they give a boost to both body and mind. All of them have played roles in indigenous life throughout history, and all of them are now circulating all over the globe. Guayusa will find its place. It may be a newcomer to the US, but it has been part of native life in South America for a long time. As people discover its smooth lift and get turned on the starting the day with a big cup of guayusa, it is bound to catch on.
Chris Kilham is a medicine hunter, and researches natural remedies all over the world, from the Amazon to Siberia. Chris teaches ethnobotany at U Mass Amherst where he is Explorer In Residence. He advises herbal, cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies , and is a regular guest on radio and TV programs worldwide. His field research is largely sponsored by Naturex of Avignon, France. Visit his web site at http://www.medicinehunter.com/
沒有留言:
張貼留言