Yorkshire Tea

How ethical and sustainable is Yorkshire Tea? 

Yorkshire Tea is a brand that appears in The Good Shopping Guide’s Ethical Tea Ratings Table. Yorkshire Tea has not yet met our ethical benchmark, but we hope that the brand will make the necessary changes towards operating as a more ethical company in the future. A way that Yorkshire Tea could increase confidence within The Good Shopping Guide and its customers is if
it applied for Ethical Accreditation, whereby we would conduct a more detailed assessment and provide recommendations for ethical advancement. Visit The Good Shopping Guide to Ethical Tea for additional information on the importance of organic Tea in the business. Then compare it to other brands in our Ethical Tea Rating Table.

What does Yorkshire Tea do?

In 1886, Charles Taylor and his two sons set up a tea and coffee company in Harrogate, Yorkshire, with the first batch of its famous Yorkshire Tea launching in 1977. In 1962 Charles Taylor’s brand was purchased by Bettys’ Taylors Group Ltd and still operates under that parent brand now.

For which criteria does Yorkshire Tea perform poorly? 

Despite the progress that has been made, there are still areas that the brand could improve. Yorkshire Tea does not offer a range of organic tea or Fairtrade tea. The brand receives a middle rating for its sustainability report as the parent company only listed two packaging targets which for a brand of this scale is not adequate. There is also no statement on Genetically- Modified ingredients so we are unsure about the usage of these within Yorkshire Tea’s products.

Past Criticisms of Yorkshire Tea’s ethical record

Yorkshire Tea uses Lujeri as its supplier, which has come under fire after women working on plantations in Malawi filed a claim in UK courts for failure to protect the women employees from sexual assault, sexual harassment, coercion and discrimination by male workers. Read more on this story here. Please be aware that this report contains some upsetting details.

In what areas does Yorkshire Tea score well for its ethics?

Yorkshire Tea performs well in terms of Animal welfare having no links to any animal cruelty within the production of its products, it also has no links to any Nuclear issues or Armaments.
The brand has not made any Political Donations meaning they are not linked to any political views, politicians or decisions.

How can Yorkshire Tea improve its ethical rating?

The Good Shopping Guide uses three separate categories to calculate a brand’s ethical rating: the Environment, People and Animals. For more specific recommendations on how to improve, Yorkshire Tea should apply for Ethical Accreditation. A way that Yorkshire Tea could improve its rating and reach our minimum ethical benchmark would be to improve its Environmental Report to include more detailed targets to work towards as well as look into providing organic and Fairtrade tea products in the future.

Do you run or work for a tea company? Do People, Animals, and the Environment really matter to your ethical tea company? Do you want to achieve our acclaimed Ethical Accreditation and receive specialised guidance on how to enhance the ethical standards of your company? Consumers trust brands with a track record of taking sustainability and ethics into account; get listed on our Ethical Ratings Tables and cut through all the greenwash. To begin, contact us or complete our preliminary assessment form.