To learn about Grace Farms and Grace Farms Foods – as well as the organization’s tea line – World Tea News connected with Adam Thatcher, co-founder and CEO of Grace Farms Foods.
Thatcher said the Grace Farms facility in New Canaan, Connecticut, is a new kind of public place – a cultural and humanitarian center that’s open and free to everyone. “A place where we bring people together to experience nature, encounter the arts, foster community and pursue justice,” he explained.
Grace Farms, designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning architecture firm SANAA, is an 80-acre site of meadows, forests, barns and the architecturally renowned River building. The River building at Grace Farms has a continuous roof with five glass enclosed spaces that includes a 700-seat amphitheater, a library, a dining room, a tea pavilion and even a subterranean basketball court.
(Photo: Courtesy of Grace Farms)
Grace Farms is owned and operated by a private operating foundation and 501c3 called Grace Farms Foundation. In 2021, they created Grace Farms Foods, a public benefit subsidiary and 100-percent not-for-profit owned business of Grace Farms Foundation.
“Through the company we source, manufacture and distribute ethically and sustainably sourced coffees and teas from around the world,” said Thatcher, who enjoys slowing down for a great cup of tea or coffee.
Thatcher actually created Grace Farms’ innovative model of not-for-profit owned business – Grace Farms Foods – after learning about a recent change in the IRS code, while attending evening business school at NYU. Prior to co-founding Grace Farms Foods and acting as the CEO, he served as the director of operations and sustainability for Grace Farms from 2015 to 2020.
World Tea News chats with Thatcher to learn more about Grace Farms, Grace Farms Foods, his thoughts on tea issues and trends, and Grace Farms' upcoming new line of teas.
(Photo: Courtesy of Grace Farms)
Question: Hi, Adam – thanks for your time! How did the overall idea for Grace Farms come about and was Grace Farms Foods always a part of the plan?
Answer: Grace Farms began with the land; a fallow equestrian farm in New Canaan, Connecticut, that was getting ready to be subdivided into 12 residential lots. A number of people from the community, led by Grace Farms Foundation’s visionary Founder and CEO Sharon Prince, came together to purchase the land with the intention of giving it back to the local and global community as a place to pursue the Foundation’s charitable work.
Tea and coffee has been a big part of our effort to create a warm, inviting place for people to come visit.
Frank Kwei, Grace Farms’ resident tea master, has been offering a warm cup of tea and welcoming conversation to hundreds of thousands of visitors. At the same time, friends and families have come together to share a cup of our signature coffee sourced exclusively from women-led co-ops for years, since we opened in 2015.
We knew people loved our products because we started getting calls from people asking us to mail them bags of our coffee around the country, but it wasn’t until a small change in the IRS code, called the Philanthropic Enterprise Act, that now allowed private foundations to own 100-percent of for-profit companies, that we really thought hard about the idea of creating an actual business. The aspiration became a reality when the pandemic began, and we realized that sharing our coffee and tea could be a way to remain connected and extend our Grace Farms’ community.
Question: What is the big-picture mission of Grace Farms Foods?
Answer: Our mission at Grace Farms is to build a community of coffee and tea enthusiasts who are making the world a more just, sustainable and peaceful place – one delicious sip and drip at a time.
The company has three goals: 1) Share the story and experience of Grace Farms with as many people as possible through our signature coffees and teas. 2) Demonstrate and educate about ethical and sustainable supply chains. 3) Give back 100-percent of profits to support Design For FREEDOM, an initiative that started at Grace Farms to end forced labor worldwide.
(Photo: Courtesy of Grace Farms)
Question: What does Grace Farms offer in terms of tea and tea-related products?
Answer: Grace Farms offers a line of organic teas and herbal blends that are expertly crafted by Frank Kwei. We currently offer five unique herbal blends – like Spearmint Rose and Chamomile Citrus – that are naturally sweet from organic whole leaf stevia. We also have three black teas, and in my opinion, one of the best Earl Grey teas available, made with single origin Assam tea from the Banaspaty Estate and double the amount of bergamot oil.
In January 2023, we are releasing another seven teas which include two green teas [Jasmine and Genmaicha], a Darjeeling blend [with orange peel, rosehips, lavender and safflower], and a line of four Wellness Blends.
Question: Are the teas made available at the Grace Farms facility, in addition to being sold online?
Answer: Visitors to Grace Farms can have an immersive tea experience with Frank in one of our many tea education programs throughout the month. After one of Frank’s programs, visitors usually leave with bags full of our teas. We also offer our teas on our website [ShareGraceFarms.com] and on Amazon, as one of the giant e-commerce retailer’s first Climate Pledge Friendly brands.
(Photo: Courtesy of Grace Farms)
Question: What can you tell us about the new, upcoming line of wellness blends?
Answer: Of all the teas, I’m perhaps most excited about our four new organic wellness blends. The blends are Breathe, Rest, Revive and Settle.
Breathe is a turmeric ginger with black pepper and cinnamon to ease congestion and be an immune companion for cold season and beyond.
Rest is a dreamy blend of chamomile, vanilla, and dried cherries with adaptogens like ashwagandha root, reishi mushrooms, and valerian root.
Revive is an uplifting brew of yerba mate, green tea with guayusa and gotu kola for a cleansing focused energy.
Settle is a decadent infusion of peppermint and cacao husks for a mint chocolatey digestive that calms your stomach and mind.
Question: Grace Farms is a certified B-Corp that gives back 100-percent of all proceeds towards ending forced labor worldwide. How successful have you been with this? And have you supported tea workers specifically through this effort?
Answer: As a 100-percent not-for-profit owned business and a public benefit company, we are legally bound to embed purpose in our business and give back 100 percent of profits to support Grace Farms Foundation’s work to end forced labor. While we have not become profitable yet, we are on a clear path to profitability as we continue to scale and welcome more customers into our community.
Partnering with B Lab to become a Certified B Corporation was a natural fit. Becoming part of a cadre of companies that seek to use business as a force for good is literally a dream come true.
We are intentionally aligning ourselves with a few key organizations like Fairtrade America and certifications like organic that all contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Question: How is Grace Farms involved with Fairtrade America, and what’s the value of Fair Trade, from your perspective?
Answer: Our partnership with Fairtrade America, the U.S. branch of Fairtrade International, started with our line of coffees. We were immediately impressed by the Fairtrade’s standards and structure that are built around nearly two million farmers and producers, not around corporations.
Fairtrade’s system was designed to provide market-based solutions to strengthen producers’ enterprises, support them in addressing systemic challenges, and influence other actors in global trade to prioritize fairer prices and practices. It’s about working towards the living income that farmers deserve for their hard work and supporting environmental efforts coordinated by an organization that includes producers at every step of the decision making-process.
One of the ways fair trade system was designed to do this, is providing price minimums to farmers, even when the market value drops, and premiums built into the price that get reinvested into the communities where the products were sourced from.
To me, top tier fair trade certifications like Fairtrade America provide a level of assurance from a third party that we are supporting fairer purchasing practices and more decent working conditions. However, no fair trade certification or brand should ever claim their product is 100-percent free of forced labor or child labor. These issues are driven by systemic issues of poverty and lack of educational opportunity, which Fairtrade works to address.
At Grace Farms, we believe that proper due diligence requires both third party audit and first party verification. That is why we travel to the origin; to meet the tea pickers, speak to the factory workers, and confirm that the human rights expectations we have are met and exceeded.
(Photo: Courtesy of Grace Farms)
Question: Do you have any previous experience in the world of tea? How have you educated yourself about tea?
Answer: Other than being a daily tea drinker, I really had no prior experience in the world of tea. However, now that I am immersed in the industry, I am fascinated about every aspect of tea and now consider myself a passionate tea enthusiast.
The cornerstone of my own education has come from my partner, colleague and friend, Frank Kwei.
Frank Kwei is Grace Farms’ resident tea master and created the tea program at Grace Farms. Prior to Grace Farms, he was co-founder of a premium tea brand based in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Frank hosts a wide variety of tea education programs on the vast world of tea that has been a big part of my own education, but also for thousands of visitors.
However, as you know, there is no substitute for visiting the origin. One of our latest trips included a visit to Darjeeling in India. We spent a few days at the Selimbong Tea Garden, operated by Tea Promoters India [TPI], to see tea farming and manufacturing from beginning to end. We witnessed first-hand the organic and biodynamic farming that TPI practices in its tea gardens. We had lunch with the tea pickers and got to hear directly from them how tea is an integral part of their lives and community for generations. We cupped dozens of the finest Darjeeling teas the region offers and had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the culture of the talented and beautiful people who cultivate the mountain gardens.
Question: What’s the most important issue in the tea industry right now?
Answer: Climate resilience. Now that I’m immersed in the tea industry, I find it hard to believe there could be a world without quality tea. But the hard truth is that climate change will have a big impact on the industry, affecting supply. We saw this first-hand with the incredible damage to Assam this last monsoon season.
When touring the Doas valley in India, we saw tea plants that were more than 100 years old. I was thinking about how resilient these plants must be to have survived so long, but could they survive even more torrential monsoon seasons and periods of intense dry spells?
In the end, it is up to consumers and those in the industry to demand that organic farming practices become a bare minimum for tea farming moving forward. Organic and biodynamic tea farming creates more resilient soils and plants, uses less water, and reduces the carbon footprint with every steep.
Question: What tea trends are you paying attention to?
Answer: Like coffee in the early 2000s, I think that tea, especially in the U.S., is going to have a renaissance period very soon. Following the pandemic, consumers are more interested in the health benefits of tea and don’t enjoy being over caffeinated.
The world of tea is so expansive and as consumers become more educated, they will start to demand higher quality teas than are found in most grocery stores in America. While I don’t anticipate every community having a local tea blender like there is a local coffee roaster, I do think that more tea enthusiasts will find the brands and teas they like which will drive innovation and big opportunity for those brands who focus on quality and the story behind each cup.
(Photo: Courtesy of Grace Farms)
Question: Do you offer wholesale opportunities with your teas?
Answer: We are planning on gradually moving into wholesale in 2023, but our primary focus is in corporate partnerships. We’d like to see our teas in the kitchenettes, meeting rooms and corporate cafeterias of every company that wants to show its employees, customers and shareholders it cares about creating a better future.I think most companies overlook the tea they offer in the office, but what better way to show on a daily basis that your company cares about personal wellbeing and giving back than carrying our teas. A simple way for everyone to participate in feeling good and doing good.
For us, tea is just the beginning of partnership with Grace Farms though. When companies partner with Grace Farms, they are joining a network of change-makers through Grace Farms Foundation that are working to make the world a better place.
We want to be really selective about what retailers our products are sold in. We see a world in which our teas are offered more widely through a conventional wholesale program, but for us it’s not about quantity, it’s about quality.
Question: What do you want the global tea industry to remember about the teas from Grace Farms Foods?
Answer: Grace Farms is creating a new philanthropic model of business and using the product and the profits to end forced labor worldwide.
Queston: Thanks for your time! Last question: What does the future hold for Grace Farms and its tea line?
Answer: Right now, we are focused on building a full portfolio of teas so we can satisfy the flavor interests of most tea drinkers every day.From there, we will be releasing special limited release teas that bring the tea enthusiast – and aspiring tea enthusiast – closer to the origin and the story behind these specially selected teas.
From there, I’m not sure exactly where the winding road will take us. But can I see a beautiful Grace Farms coffee and tea shop on the corner of 5th Avenue one day? You bet I can.
To learn more about Grace Farms, visit GraceFarms.org and ShareGraceFarms.com.
Aaron Kiel, based in Raleigh, N.C., has worked in the beverage, tea and coffee industries for nearly two decades. He’s a journalist and writer at heart, but he also wears a PR hat through his consultancy, ak PR Group. He works as the editor of World Tea News with Questex’s Bar & Restaurant Group, as well as a contributing writer for Bar & Restaurant.
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