This travel blog is about our personal journey, our changing minds which led us to make our teashop carbon positive. To make it interesting, we exhibit four scenes in four countries: Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia and Portugal, which played a role in this change.

• Quick summary of what we just did
• Why this environmental cause?
• Four select experiences (including where we're living now)
• Final climate-y thoughts

Note from the Founders...

WHEW. That was a lot of work! Since we launched this tea shop in 2019, we have wanted to be as ethical and environmentally friendly as possible. Tea is such a wonderful thing that brings so much joy and relaxation, it shouldn’t cause pain and suffering on the way. That’s why all our teas are sourced from members of the Ethical Tea Partnership, and why we have always had tree planting as a central focus in our shop.

We have both learned so much about tea and climate change over the last two years, and it feels amazing to finally complete this research and confidently know that we are carbon positive. We are indebted to the wonderful undergraduates we’ve worked with on this project: thank you Luce Brandt, Cayley Evans, Lauren Hirth and Anna Silverstein for your dedication to this project! And a big thank you to all of our lovely readers, for your words of encouragement and support as we’ve worked away on this!

About the Authors & Founders

Elizabeth Ta'eed MSc is a teahead from Vermont and one of the co-founders of MatchaAlternatives.com. She has a BA in Geology & Economics from Mount Holyoke College and an MSc in Aquatic Resource Management from King’s College London. She has worked as a business and environmental consultant for the past decade. Her tea love grew and grew from years through regular visits to Japan, drinking tea while living in London, teaching tea classes in Madrid, and then traveling for four years with Vientiene to research tea for TravellingforTea.com and this shop and blog.

Vientiene Ta’eed is a British teahead and the other co-founder of MatchaAlternatives.com. He has a BSc in Economics from University College London, with a focus on development and environmental economics. He has worked in business consulting and e-mentoring solutions. Her love of tea started with the classic Earl Grey at home, growing up in the UK. Parents from India and Iran meant for more exciting teas on special occasions with boiled milk chais and Persian tea, earl grey for fragrance, ceylon for color, cardamom, cloves, and fresh mint!

Read more about tea, emissions & the environment in our Going Carbon Positive series

➔ Part 1: Global Warming and Tea Primer

➔ Part 2: Making Your Tea Greener: Environmental impact of teabags, coffee, packaging & more

➔ Part 3: Reducing Your Online Business’ Carbon Footprint: Key Factors 

➔ Part 4: What are the Main Carbon Offsetting Methods? Top Ways to Capture Carbon & What to Look For

➔ Part 5: What is Greenwashing? Examples of Greenwashing & 'How to Spot It' Free Downloadables

➔ Part 6: Investigating Carbon Offsetting: What to Look for in the Tea Industry & Beyond

➔ Part 7: Where Does Your Tea Water Come From? 3 Water Rights Case Studies in North America

 ➔ Part 8: MatchaAlternatives.com Goes Carbon Positive - Our Teashop’s Journey Part 1: How We Got Here.

 ➔ Part 9: MatchaAlternatives.com Goes Carbon Positive - Our Teashop's Journey Part 2: The Big Reveal