About the Founder

Annabel Kalmar

Tea Rebellion was founded by Annabel Kalmar to change the way tea is traded and to connect tea drinkers with tea farmers. Annabel developed a passion for improving farmers’ market access and incomes while studying agriculture and working in the fields of El Salvador and Dominican Republic, harvesting coffee and interviewing farmers.

Annabel believes in transforming things that don’t work. She noted that coffee and chocolate seemed to have gotten all the love from consumers and that drinkers cared deeply about the origin of their coffee. Why then did most tea drinkers know so little, buy the same product and drink low quality blended teas? Annabel decided it was the perfect time to shake things up in this traditional industry and create a social enterprise to change how tea is traded, marketed and consumed.Annabel grew up with artisanal production of olive oil, white wine and herbal tea. The family’s verbena harvest is something that Annabel enjoys doing with all the kids. 

Join the rebellion. Taste fiercely authentic teas from Tea Rebellion.

BOLD 

You want to enjoy tea of the finest quality and flavour knowing the skilled artisans who produced it were fairly compensated. That’s why we have made a radical break from colonial tea grading and traditional tea sourcing. We have re-imagined tea sourcing by working directly with a handful of tea smallholders and cooperatives who are transparent about their operations. In doing so, we aim to disclose the full story of every tea. We credit all our teas to our partner farmers and tea masters as the creators of the tea. This allows us to move beyond fair trade and directly impact workers and communities.

PURE 

You care about the authenticity of the products you consume. We only sell teas in their pure (whole and complete) form true to its origin so you can taste and fall in love with the original flavour of each specific tea. Each tea differs based on altitude, soil, rainfall, variety, plucking method, processing and artistry. Our tea artisans are masters at crafting teas that are authentic to their origin and in balance with nature. We believe in letting the true flavour of tea stand and avoiding over stimulating your palate with scents and ingredients that don’t belong. It’s amazing how revealing untainted tea can be.

UNITED 

You like to stay connected and you want to know the whole story about what you are buying. We share the stories of those who plant, prune, pluck, harvest and craft the teas. We want you to experience a direct connection with our partner farmers and their communities. The story from bush to crop is part of every cup of tea we drink. Tea is a rich learning and sensory experience, and the livelihoods of farmers, workers and cooperatives are an integral part of this experience. Let’s create an authentic tea experience together.

Frequently Asked Questions

We currently ship to Canada, US, the European Union and other countries in the world. Try us; we might be able to make it work for your country too.