So nice to meet you. Thank you for dropping in. You're wondering why, who and what is the Tea Cartel. It's not some Instagram fad or a company full of hipsters, but a family who needed a solution to the sugar addiction that was taking over our lives. What we learned changed our lives, we want to help you too. My name is Trisha and I'm the Founder of The Tea Cartel. Allow me the opportunity to share the backstory to how we got here. 
Photo: From my family to yours, hello! Trisha & Tom, Home, Tea Cocktails & Family
Our mission is simple. "To save one human at a time from sugar sweetened drinks, so they can live healthier and happier. We will do this through education and sharing 15 delicious plant-based alternatives you can try now."
If there's just one thing you take away from your interaction with this website it's this. To be inspired, the freedom to create. To try something new, expand your horizons, try new ingredients, simply to explore and discover tea in a whole new way.
Before I started experimenting, I thought tea were for people who didn't drink coffee. I was so wrong. My bad. What was wrong was not the tea, it was me. I just hadn't found the right tea that made me happy and want to drink it.
Little did I realise at the time my world was about to change. There were so many synchronicities that occurred simultaneously, I believe the universe was sending me a clear message.
"Respect the tea and it will come to me."
I incorporated tea into every aspect from how I consumed drinks, to how I cooked and prepared meals, it was fascinating. Just like a giant chemistry experiment where I could trust my taste buds to be the judge.
Perhaps you're health conscious and you want to find an alternative to sugary drinks, or you're curious to try something someone has told you. You'll be inspired by what's on offer. You'll find answers to questions in this post.
When we started making teas it was only for personal use. We made a few videos on Facebook, shared them how to DIY with our friends and family and had personal 1:1 lesson in our own garden showing people how to grow their tea ingredients at home. At heart, we're foodies. We love trying all different foods and drinks, we grow a lot of produce in our own small scale organic farm "the food forest".
We experimented with different ingredients, prepared in different ways and found blends that just seemed to work - they were effortless and satisfied the 'baddest of bad' sugar cravings.
This is the story of how it all happened. The Tea Cartel.
It's Serious: Sugar Sweetened Drinks Are Killing You
Dr Andrew Weil is a practitioner and teacher of integrative medicine. He has published many articles about health and wellness. We admire Dr Weil for his wisdom, knowledge and understanding how what we eat impacts us more than just the calories consumed.
The more sugar-sweetened beverages you drink daily the greater your risk of premature death from heart disease or, to a lesser extent, from cancer.
To reach these conclusions the researchers analysed data from 80,647 women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study and 37,716 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.
Every two years the participants responded to questionnaires about lifestyle factors and the state of their health. Analysis of this information showed that drinking one to 4 sugary drinks per month was linked to a one percent increased risk of premature death; two to six drinks per month with a six percent increase; one to two per day with a 14 percent increase; and 2 or more daily with a 21 percent increase.
The risk was more pronounced among women than men. The study also found that each additional serving of a sugar sweetened drink daily was associated with a 10 percent higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease. Switching to artificially sweetened drinks lowered the risk a bit, but the study showed that drinking four servings a day or more of these substitute beverages led to a slightly increased risk of death among women.
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How to Live a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life
What started as a personal mission to reduce and eliminate sugar intake has now become so much more. We're on a mission to save one human at a time from unhealthy sugary drinks with a unique blends of plant based teas and herb mixes only available here.
Below you'll read more about how The Tea Cartel started from the kitchen table with ingredients grown in our organic garden in response to finding a solution for sugar free drinks. We believe through education you will become empowered to make better choices and live healthier without sugar.
Breaking the Sugar Habit with a Healthy Alternative
"Embarrassing before and after photos. I struggled with my weight and to keep up with my young family and work, but then tea and herbal infusions changed my life. - Trisha"
Early onset type 2 diabetes. This was the diagnosis that changed my life. I had a choice. Either change how I live, what I eat and manage my weight or go on lifelong medication. I thought I could manage it, but the cravings became too hard and I fell back into a pattern of drinking soft drinks to keep me going during COVID. I struggled to get the weight off and regain energy.
P.s. I'm not advocating use tea to loose weight, but for tea to be a better alternative to sugary sweetened drinks, one that satisfies those urgent cravings and makes you feel better from the inside out. When I had tea iced it did so much for me.
Fast forward 12 months at a follow up doctors appointment it was confirmed I was beyond the point of self-management and now prescribed medication. It was confronting. I couldn't hide anymore. I realised becoming sugar free was no longer a lifestyle choice, but essential if I wanted to enjoy a long and happy life. I needed to find an alternate to soda, specifically Fanta (my go-to drink for a boost).
I started researching lots of different drinks and beverages that met the doctors criteria "NO ADDED SUGAR"! But they all had artificial based sweeteners and to be honest they were horrible. As a organic home gardener I decided to make my own drinks and started to experiment with herbs and caffeine free tea.
Make tea cold, it tastes so much better.
On the kitchen table we cut, chopped, blended, boiled, steamed, steeped, and infused different ingredients in multiple combinations to finally come up with 15 recipes. We made traditional Indian chai masala (coming soon) with whole spices from the pantry, adding fresh mint and basil from the garden.
Harvard School of Public Health
15 HEALTHY DRINKS TO TRY
Made by Mother Nature. Blended with Love. Packed with Energy.
There are three categories, most of the time they are all referred to as tea because they are prepared with hot water because that is the best way to extract the flavour and beneficial elements.
Tea contains the leaf camellia senensis and is available as green, white or black tea. Tea contains caffeine. Green and white tea contain the least amount of caffeine.
Herbal Tea contains no caffeine or camellia senensis. Instead it consists of one or more herbs and plant extracts including roots and bark.
Botanicals, tisanes and infusions are all the same just other phrases used for herbal tea. Often when a drink is prepared cold it is called an infusion. When the ingredients are added to alcohol it's commonly referred to as a botanical.
The 15 drinks below can be brewed either hot or cold. It is our recommendation you always brew hot and allow it to cool in order to get the most nutritional value and flavour from the blend. Your tea ingredients can be used to make a number of different drinks and added to food.
Hot Brew | Cold Brew | Infusions | Smoothies | Kombucha | Desserts | Meals
- Aloha Hibiscus Tea
- Bold English Breakfast Tea
- Calm Sencha Tea
- Cloud 9 Lemongrass and Ginger
- Empress Blue Butterfly Pea Flower
- Forever Young English Breakfast & Rose
- Health Kick Evening Detox
- Immune Booster Wild Ginger and Papaya Leaf
- Love Jasmine and Green
- Refresh Acai Berry
- Relax Sleepy Time
- Stormy Earl Grey
- Chic French Earl Grey
- Super Fruit Acai Berry Powder
- Zen Spearmint
MORE ENERGY, HYDRATION & BIGGER SMILES
With more energy you can join that Yoga class you've been talking about and take your herbal infusion with you.
Give your body what it needs based on what mother nature has already provided. Try these plant based drinks for at least 14 days see how you feel.
Why 14 days?
The Mayo Clinic recommends taking a two-week break from sugar to reset your body. The easiest way to do this is to cut out sugary drinks.
Here at The Tea Cartel, you'll learn about each of the ingredients, what they've been historically used for and their benefits. The more knowledge you have, your awareness and making better choices becomes easier.
Please refer to an integrative medical practitioner for any advice to suit your specific conditions who can develop a personalised wellness program for you.
SMALL BATCH TEA PRODUCTION
Our first batch of tea with our new packaging ready for the opening of The Tea Cartel - 28 March 2023.
Happy Plants = Great Taste
The products you buy from The Tea Cartel have been grown using organic methods. Some farmers are known to play music or sing to their crops! These sounds emulate nature and make plants happy.
The best ingredients are picked early in the morning before the heat of the day. They're lovingly blended and packed in small batches here in Australia at our premises. Small batch means you get higher quality with maximum nutritional content.
- 100% Organic plant based ingredients
- No added sugar to any of our products (ever)
- Ethically sourced around the world (always)
- Tea pouches 100% recyclable
- Mailing satchels 100% compostable
Once we figured out tea for a replacement drink, we wanted to see what else could be done.
FOOD RECIPES
Browsing the internet and taking some time in the kitchen to experiment, we discovered a whole range of different ways to use tea beyond just a drink.
As a foodie this was really exciting.
Does this resonate with you? If yes, you should try a few of the teas on offer.
Foodies are individuals who are passionate about food and drink and take a keen interest in discovering new flavours, ingredients, and cooking techniques. They are not content with the standard or mundane food choices and instead seek out unique and interesting food experiences. Foodies often enjoy cooking, dining out at restaurants, and exploring different cultures through their food. They appreciate high-quality ingredients, presentation, and flavor combinations, and may even create their own recipes or share their food experiences on social media. Foodies also enjoy discussing food and drink and sharing recommendations with other food enthusiasts.
I was so inspired by the different ways we could use tea I created an entire collection of recipes you can try out, click here 'KITCHEN CREATIONS'.
HIGHEST QUALITY INGREDIENTS
All our teas are of the highest quali-tea. What you drink and eat becomes who you are on the inside, feed your body the best quality ingredients whenever possible.
- 100% Organic
- Pure and natural
- No additives
- No added sugar
- Grown in nature as mother nature intended
- Fantastic addition to your daily routine and meal creations
CUTTING SUGAR FROM ALCOHOL
The results of botanical infused gin? Freakishly delicious.
About the Founder - Trisha
Meet Trisha, a small-scale organic farmer, entrepreneur, author (22 books) and sustainability advocate. Three years ago, at the start of the COVID pandemic, Trisha left her corporate career to pursue her passions for organic farming and sustainability.
Together with her family, she started a company that focuses on reducing sugar consumption with plant based drinks, and promoting sustainability through eco-friendly packaging.
In addition to her work with the company, Trisha has also embarked on a project to create a food forest on an inner-city block. Her goal is to show community members how they can collaboratively make a difference to regenerate the land, look after the soil, and grow organically. By using permaculture principles, Trisha is transforming a once-barren space into a thriving ecosystem of fruits, vegetables, and herbs.
Trisha believes that small-scale organic farming can make a significant impact on the health of individuals and the planet. Through her food forest project and company, she aims to educate and inspire others to make healthy and sustainable choices that will benefit future generations.
If you're looking for an alternative to sugary drinks, try one or all of the 15 plant-based drinks on offer at The Tea Cartel. With Trisha's passion, knowledge, and expertise, you can experience a variety of delicious and healthy tea blends that are naturally sweetened and grown organically.
And if you're interested in learning more about permaculture and organic farming, be sure to check out Trisha's food forest project Hug a Bug Organics www.hugabugorganics.com and see the difference that collaborative efforts can make in regenerating our land.
Connect on LinkedIn here: Trisha Founder at The Tea Cartel
