The Perfect Cuppa Tea

 

My Commodity chain item of choice was one of my favourite drinks, Red Rose Black Tea. I love tea and drink a cup almost every day!  When i was given this assignment to do, i was intrigued as to exactly how Red Rose tea was made and how Red Rose itself is entrained in the space and place of consumer culture. I have to admit, i was a bit scared as i did not want my opinion of the product to be diminished in any way. But in the end it was better to know so that i could make a more informed consumer decision, and i was not disappointed. Overall, it has actually made me like the product even more :)

The objective of this assignment is to  give a deeper understanding to readers about this product specifically, as well as the tea industry as a whole. It also aims to shed some light on the way these products shape place and space, and how companies impact on the environment and people (not just consumers but those in employment and in proximity) through their operations. It was hard at times to gain information for this product (two emails, calls unanswered) but through a lot of digging i learned a great deal. 

According to Trevor Barnes, 'Commodities are crystallizations of social and and material relationships, which are often invisible to us'. He paints a picture where commodities are seen as the complex entities that emerge from a variety of processes and ideologies, and these products are in turn 'fetishized' so that they are assigned some value. Interestingly, the commodities themselves are actually made to be simpler through this machination; when we see a product of a certain brand, it jumps out at us and we feel a sense of attachment to it, simply through the labeling, which compels us to purchase it without a thought as to the underlying factors. 

Commodity chains can allow for connections to be made between the product itself (defetishized) and the social and geographical processes (effects of place and space) that account for its production (Barnes). They trace an item from primary stages through production, marketing, sale and consumption, while integrating the effects of these and upon these in a variety of scales. 

Ambapo ni mzima?- Where is it grown?

This post is geared towards answering the questions of where the teas are grown and by whom. Red Rose sources its teas from a variety of areas, including Kenya, Sri Lanka, outhern India and Indonesia. It has been noted that tea leaves grown in higher altitudes have been found to be richer in flavour and more plentiful, hence many of the tea garden estates from which Red Rose source their teas are in these types of areas.

The Kenya Arroket tea estate is an example of this as it is established 6000 feet in altitude, west of the Great Rift valley, and is very close to the equator. This allows for the production of a full-bodied aromatic tea that is highly prized.

Another area where Red Rose selects their tea is from Sri Lanka. These teas are grown between 2000-3500 ft and have a rosy red tinge. Teas from Southern India are not as strongly flavored and are grown at medium elevations, allowing for a great balance when tea mixing. Indonesian tea is sourced from the higher elevations of Indonesia, creating a more developed and complex tea.

Red Rose was established by Theodore Harding Estabrooks in 1890, who was the first person to suggest that teas should be consistently produced and packed at a high quality. Red Rose was initially sold in Canada but was then distributed into the US in the 1920s. This distribution still however only remained in areas close to Canada such as Detroit and Portland.

Red Rose was then sold to Brooke Bond and Company of England, which was owned by Arthur Brooke. Due to his England connections and an already vast market within England, Red Rose flourished after its purchase. After WWII, Brooke Bond established a more formidable business in Canada and by 1970 was sold in much of both the US and Canada.

Unilever acquired Brooke Bonds in 1985 and shortly thereafter split the sale of the company, selling the US rights of Red Rose to Redco. Foods Inc, while retaining the rights in Canada and other parts of the world. One such derivation of Unilever, Unilever Tea Kenya (UTK) operates a tea estate in Kericho, Kenya, which supplies a total of 20 000 tonnes of tea annually.

Tree---->Leaf---->Tea

This post is to delineate the process through which the tea tree becomes a commoditized product. It encompasses the growing at a specified tea estate (UTK Kericho) and follows the process to its final stages where it then enters the Canadian Unilever for final processing and taste distribution.

Harvesting: Tea harvesting requires considerable skill, and expert harvesters, or pluckers, must be trained to recognize the optimum time that the tenderest tea leaves of the highest quality should be plucked. The leaves are plucked in the morning and collected in a basket. Typically, only the top two leaves and a bud are plucked to allow the tree to continue its normal growing process. When the basket is full, it is taken to a weighing station where the leaves are weighed.

 

Withering- The tea leaves are then delivered to a factory, where they are placed in a large drying trough away from direct sunlight. They are left to wither under large fans which reduce the moisture content. Leaves are spread evenly for uniform withering, maximum air flow and no heat generation. Finally, the leaf becomes limp and pliable.

Rolling-  When the leaves are withered, they are cut and rolled in rolling machines, which exposes their enzymes to air to begin the oxidation process. This is the process by which oxygen reacts with the enzymes to darken the tea leaf and enhance the flavour and strength of the tea (the longer the oxidation, the more intense this will be). A balance must be maintained as the leaf cannot be oxidized too long. Therefore, the oxidation process is monitored constantly by skilled workers who observe and regulate the temperature.

Drying- After oxidation the leaves are then dried/fired by passing them slowly through
 hot air chambers which evaporates all moisture. The leaves turn dark brown to black. This drying destroys the enzymes, hence stopping the oxidation process and transforming the tea into a stable product. The tea must then be cooled, after which it is sorted and graded. Each lot of tea must be sampled and is carefully measured and brewed in special cups. They are analyzed for quality by a taster and the sorted and graded tea is then shipped to a Unilever Tea blending expert.

Blending- The expert creates a well balanced flavour using teas of different character and origin, ensuring that there is a high quality consistence within the tea blends. This is to ensure a signature Red Rose taste. 

After blending, the teas are then transported to the main factory plant where they are packaged in tea bags. They are then boxed and distributed to the major branches of Unilever within the Caribbean. The boxes which i normally buy are sourced from Unilever Chile and shipped in bulk to Trinidad groceries.

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Social Conditions

This post is part of a two part post on Social and Environmental conditions.
Within the scope of the commodity chain, there must be some emphasis placed on the impacts (both positive and negative) that comes from the manufacture of this product, on both the welfare of the environment in which the teas are grown as well as the multiple stakeholders who are associated with the tea (consumers, employees, owners and those who live in proximity to these estates).

Unilever Kenya Ltd.

A case study was analyzed on the signature tea estate run by the UTK, which is situated in Kericho, Kenya. This estate encompasses more than 11 000 hectares and produce approximately 20 000 tonnes of tea annually. A mandate of this company has been to achieve complete social, environmental and economic sustainability through a step by step approach.

Socially, UTK has been in operation for over 80 years, and provides employment for over 17 000 jobs, which possibly means that it is the largest single employer in Kenya's private sector. The company employs various measures to aid in the state of its employees. This includes the minimal use of fertilizer, and absolutely no use of pesticides which could have had detrimental health effects. UTK also runs a training program for employees which is aimed at reducing or preventing the risk of accidents and occupational disease. This is reinforced by the application to the Rainforest Alliance Certification.In terms of further employment, UTK offers contracts to over 300 contractors and 250 suppliers within the community, which is aimed to alleviate poverty in rural communities surrounding the tea gardens.

UTK recognizes the need to interact positively with surrounding communities, and contributes to the cost of local infrastructure by the provision of buildings for 39 nurseries, 19 primary schools and 2 secondary schools. It runs a hospital, medical centers and 31 dispensaries. UTK also donates native trees for planting.

Environmental Conditions- The Rainforest Alliance Certification

This is the second part of the analysis on the social and environmental impacts of the UTK estate in Kericho. This type of industry can potentially have massive impacts on the state of the surrounding impact, characteristic of most agriculturally based endeavors. These have both short term and long term effects on the general health of the environment.

For the most part, UTK has been very commendable in their management of sustainable agricultural practices. This is part and parcel with their affiliation and subscription to the Rainforest Alliance Certification. The Rainforest Alliance is an independent NGO that works with individuals, communities and companies whose livelihoods depend on the land, to reduce environmental impacts and increases social and economic benefits. They verify that practices and standards are ethical, equitable, economically viable and environmentally sound. Unilever International also tries to ensure that the external tea estates are also well certified and practice cultivation properly.

UTK ensures that there is little to no fertilizer input, and places measures to ensure that tea-growing is as natural as possible. Basic precision farming and soil testing techniques are employed to ensure that only specific soils are fertilizer applied. There is absolutely no use of pesticides in the estate at present. UTK also practices mixed cropping to provide natural manure, control weeds and minimize erosion. High density plants per hectare also aids in preventing soil erosion, and various soil conservation methods such as micro catchments and mulching covering are used.
UTK also ecologically recycles wastes, while wastes from tea factories are derived exclusively from the teas themselves, and hence are re-used as organic fertilizer.

UTK owns a forest within Kericho and has planted over half a million trees of 69 different native species of tree in a reforestation program, the 'Tree 2000 Program'. There are also specialized employees who ensure that the wildlife, especially the monkeys, are well taken care of.

UTK keeps to the natural rain cycle and hence does not need irrigation. The estate is situated in close proximity to Lake Victoria and takes advantage of the naturally occurring rainfall patterns.

The Rainforest Alliance Certification

In order to achieve this certification, certain criteria must be met at both a social and ecological perspective. This includes:

1. Less water pollution- all sources of contamination are controlled
2. Wildlife habitat is protected
3. Less waste as farm byproducts are used as natural fertilizer and others are recycled
4. Less soil erosion through soil conservation practices
5. Less Water used as water conservation methods are applied
6. More efficient farm management- better planning and scheduling, monitoring and identification
7. Improved conditions for workers
8. Improved profitability and competitiveness for farmers
9. More collaboration between farmers and conservationists

What does tea mean to you? The linking of commodities and man

What does tea mean to you? Is it something you sip after a long day to calm the nerves? Is it an early morning energy boost? Whatever its meaning, the value of tea to each person will differ, as will be the case for all commodities.

As stated before, there has been/is a fetishization associated with commodities. They have a target audience, and the goal is to entice this audience, whoever it is, into buying the product for a profit. The differences within these commodities are represented in their commodity chain- how they are made, by whom, under what conditions, how they are marketed and how they are packaged and sold at whatever price.In an odd way, everything natural or man made on the earth can be commodified. There is literally no limit! Even today we may find ourselves wondering, what on earth do i need that product for? And yet still there is someone else who has an mad desire to own said product.

In Capital, Karl Marx outlined the nature of a commodity, where he stated that, 'a commodity appears at first sight, a very trivial thing, and easily understood. Its analysis shows that it is, in reality, a very queer thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties......There is a definite social relation between men, that assumes, in their eyes, the fantastic form of a relation between things... The Fetishism which attaches itself to the products of labour, so soon as they are produced as commodities and which is therefore inseparable from the production of commodities".

Wallace Shaw in his book The Fever (1991) also took a view that the pricing of an item, its commoditization, lent with it some form of erasure to the historical nature of the item, such that the people involved in its manufacture and sale, and the whole concept of these, are rather ignored or at the very least placed on the back burner so that the item itself gains a value of 'newness' and ownership that was not 'tainted' by a past legacy.

"The notion of the commodity chain traces the entire trajectory of a product from its conception and design, through production, retailing and final consumption. Commodity chains are defined as the network of labour and production processes whose end result is a finished commodity (Leslie and Reimer)

Image and Representation

As we have seen, commodities must be produced in such a way that they romanticize with consumers. We as consumers must feel some sort of attraction toward the product, through its design, taste, parent company etc. These are conveyed best through image and representation. The way in which a product is marketed all encompasses its image; from advertisement to the shelf product itself (Stringer 2008)

In this case, Red Rose is one of the more modestly packaged teas that i have come across. There is no flashiness or extravagant design. It could be that they get most of their sales through their long and illustrious reputation as a major tea player. Their logo, literally a Red Rose, is symbolic with the name but for me does not hold too much in the way of appeal.

Red Rose packaged for the US

A separate image is constructed through the media; Red Rose operates two websites (one for Canada/Unilever and one for Redco/US). These websites present Red Rose as the relaxing tea (which it is) while also giving a historical background to the company and its founders. In a way, there is a bit of distortion, since it began as a family owned enterprise and is now owned by a mega conglomerate in Unilever. Still, the company itself, especially UTK seems to be of a very high operating standard,, which entices consumers into buying.

There is nothing i like more than supporting a company which practices safe, organic production, while contributing to the sustainability of more than just their business. This in itself is the way in which Red Rose's image as a 'greener' type of company will earn them a larger number of followers.
Additionally, it must be noted that Red Rose has various packaging types depending on region, so it is possible that the company is more extravagant when presenting to larger markets like the US, than in the Caribbean (as seen in pictures). The US box is noted as being much ore colourful and contains mountains and plains to give a calming feel. The box which i normally buy is packaged by Unilever Chile can be seen in another picture below.

Red Rose Packaged for the Caribbean (my box of 100)

I tend to find that Red Rose tea is not as popular among tea-drinkers in Trinidad and ^ this could be why; it is not exactly the most appealing packaging and doesn't stand out as much among the other tea brands. It also does not educate consumers as to why they should buy the product, apart from 'Finest Quality Tea'.

Tea as a whole has a historical image that may have a serious conscious and maybe sub-conscious way in which we as consumers view it. Tea was once associated with nobility and this image may lead to feelings of grandeur and power among people who drink it. (Okal 2012).  Its link to England may also be appealing to expatriates and those in the English-speaking Caribbean.
In conclusion it can be seen that the way a commodity is presented as an image definitely has an impact upon consumer choice, though this may not be the case in all situations.