Metropolitan Tea following Japan's Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

We recently received a letter from Metropolitan Tea, our supplier of our loose leaf teas. Due to the natural disasters in Japan and the current issues with the Fukushima I nuclear power plant, Metro Tea has been flooded with questions about the safety of their teas. We decided we should share the information with our customers to help answer any questions they may have.

To paraphrase the letter, Metro Tea explains that they hold sufficient amounts of tea to last 18 months or more of anticipated sales, currently harvested from the 2010 crop year. Premium quality tea is only available at the garden level once per year, and the tea is stored in a high-vacuum, nitrogen atmosphere, ensuring an extremely long shelf life.

Their matcha tea is made in Canada, using authentic Japanese equipment. They only keep a 4 week supply of matcha for distribution, but they have large inventory to continue producing Japanese matcha.

Metro Tea also explained that this isn’t the first threat of nuclear calamity that has stricken their growers. The Chernobyl accident of 1986 endangered their tea gardens in Turkey, Russia and Iran, but they had measures in place to protect their products and deal with the incident. Based on their experience, Metro Tea is carefully assessing and reviewing their options for future supplies of tea.

If you would like more information about Metropolitan Tea and their contingency plan for the future, their contact information can be found in the original letter.