Best Organic Tea Brands in 2021

There are many natural organic tea brands to choose from, and sometimes it can be hard to decide which natural tea brands to try. The best organic tea brands exhibit a combination of flavorful tea leaves and health benefits while upholding environmental and social responsibility.

The Best Organic Tea Brands

When it comes to the best organic tea brands, there are several natural options to select from herbal tea, caffeine free, non-GMO, and USDA organic certified. We’ve gone through and highlighted the noteworthy ones, which range from high-end to budget-friendly.

Art of Tea

Art of Tea is an organic tea importer based out of Los Angeles, founded by Steve Schwartz. Their organic teas are hand blended and custom crafted, as well as packed by hand. Mr. Schwartz has been called the “Master Tea Blender,” and from his wonderful organic tea blends, it is easy to see why.

As with other organic tea brands, Art of Tea is a direct importer of their organic tea. They purchase their organic tea directly from the farmers and co-ops, ensuring the excellent quality and health benefits of the organic tea leaves as well as offering fair market value. Fair trade teas, authorized by Transfair USA, also make up some of the products and botanicals that they offer.

Environmental responsibility is an important part of Art of Tea’s philosophy. They focus on on-site recycling, composting, energy efficiency, and sustainable energy sources in their business operations. The tea bags and packaging are all reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable.

Art of Tea also gives back to the community. They support charitable organizations, educational and eco-friendly programs, and encourages both individuals and corporations to reduce their carbon footprint for a sustainable future.

Not sure where to start in picking out an organic tea from this brand? Try Earl Gray Crème Tea, which is a customer favorite and includes citrus notes and french vanilla. This black tea contains a medium amount of caffeine and is a great drink if you need a bit of an energy boost.

If you’re looking for an organic tea that will work well as hot or iced and provide you many health benefits, try Tin Artisan’s Green Pomegranate Organic Green Loose Leaf Tea. Its fruity flavors profile contains both sweet and tart notes. Tin Artisan has added rosehips as an ingredient in this tea, giving it some added health benefits. There is some caffeine in this green tea, so avoid drinking it before going to bed or if you want a caffeine free option.

Simple Loose Leaf 

The Simple Loose Leaf Subscription Box allows you to explore curated loose leaf tea blends from around the world. The brand offers four different tea box options. The original sampler box includes black, green, and herbal teas, along with something that captures the season. 

If you prefer malty and dark flavors, you will enjoy black teas like Assam and Keemun. Each box also consists of bittersweet herbal teas such as chamomile and lemongrass. The rest are floral and fruity Sencha and Genmaicha green teas that help lower cholesterol to aid in your weight loss journey. 

Aside from the reasonable tea pouches, each box comes with little cloth bags that serve as reusable tea filters for single-cup brewing. While you can’t avail of personalized boxes, you can choose whether to go for a monthly or yearly plan. 

Sampler Details

• Amount: 4 unique teas, 10 grams of each  
• Types: Black, Green, Herbal
• Packaging: Recyclable containers 

Rishi Tea

The first of our organic tea brands, Rishi Tea, is a direct trade importer of organic loose leaf teas with their headquarters in Milwaukee, WI. This organic tea company cultivates relationships directly with natural tea growers worldwide, focusing on importing organic tea leaves from ecologically sustainable farms.

The buyers from Rishi personally travel all over the world to deal directly with farmers. Cutting out additional steps in the supply chain helps ensure that Rishi’s products are received with the high standards that they request from all suppliers. Direct trade is the foundation of their quality control and social responsibility practices.

95% of the natural ingredients that this tea company imports are certified organic teas. The small amount of non-certified ingredients come from countries where being USDA certified organic teas or getting another organic tea certification is untenable for smaller producers, and in those cases, Rishi themselves verify that the natural products are of high quality with plenty of health benefits and safe for consumer use.

Rishi products pan across the full range of worldwide leaves. Many of their organic tea is available for sale is pure such as oolong, white, black tea, and green tea. Many of their products have different amounts of caffeine while others are caffeine free. They produce blends as well as Earl Grey and English Breakfast, often with other natural flowers or herbs added to extend the flavors range.

If you’re looking for good flavors to start with, try their Organic Earl Grey Loose Leaf Tea. Rishi combines the sweet caramel flavors from Dianhong teas with the fruity natural flavors from Thai teas to create their unique take on Earl Grey. There’s some caffeine in this tea, so you should avoid it if you’re looking for a caffeine free choice.

Tea Forte

Another tea company that prides itself in directly working with organic tea growers, Tea Forte focuses on diverse and subtle natural flavors in their luxury blends. 

Their herbal tea blends have been winning awards since 2011, starting with their Blueberry Merlot Herbal Tea (winner of the Best Herbal Tea at the North American Tea Championships) and most recently the Strawberry Hibiscus Herbal Tea (2019 Bronze Medal at the Global Tea Championships).

Tea Forte’s natural herbal tea blends are USDA Certified Organic and presented in a trademarked pyramid-shaped silk teabag. This unique design allows Tea Forte to use whole leaf herbal tea with better health benefits since the pyramid shape will allow the herbal tea leaves to expand while steeping.

This organic tea company was founded by Peter Hewitt, a product designer, whose design background can be seen in not only the pyramid herbal tea bag but also in the Tea Forte line of teaware. They have won packaging awards for design with products such as the Cafe Cup and the Tea Over Ice herbal tea pitcher set.

TeaVivre

The founder of TeaVivre, Angel Chen, explores different regions and farms in China looking for the top possible organic tea leaves. Her personal dedication to finding the high-quality product has led to numerous awards for their products since the tea company was established in 2011.

“The finest teas are produced in China.
Many known brands buy tea from wholesalers,
Mark their own label atop,
and sell abroad.
The grower is not recognized,
While the brand makes great sales with widespread advertisement.
I don’t want to be like these brands.
I only want to bring you the finest teas I experience.”

– Angel Chen, Founder and Tea Product Manager, TeaVivre

TeaVivre takes food safety and health benefits very seriously. They have attained organic certification from the United States Department of Agriculture National Organic Program (USDA Certified Organic – NOP) and European Union Organic Standards (EU).

Each organic tea that TeaVivre produces has a long list of facts about that particular tea leaf. The specific origin, season, harvest date, whether they’re caffeine free or not, and even plucking standard are all listed, as well as the type of bush the leaves come from. Aroma, taste, and final tea color are described with very good detail.

Ms. Chen also includes a personal quote for each tea they sell. As an example, for the Organic Superfine Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea, Ms. Chen states, “A quality organic tea with a beautiful shape and a delicate sweet taste. Enjoy this Long Jing tea every day to feel relaxed and refreshed.”

Teatulia

The Teatulia story starts with a barren swath of land in the Tetulia region of Northern Bangladesh. This area, located between Assam and Darjeeling, had never grown tea leaves before. It has now been turned into a 3,000+ acre co-op made up of farmland and organic tea gardens.

As they own their own farms, Teatulia can consistently produce single-garden direct organic teas. There is never any question about the high quality, health benefits or price, and they do not have to worry about worker conditions halfway around the world.

The tea garden creates jobs for local residents in an impoverished region of Bangladesh. Teatulia teaches organic farming and has other educational programs as well. All tea sales help to support the cooperative, continuing the cycle of employment and empowerment.

The packaging for Teatulia tea is made from post-consumer waste which is recyclable and compostable. The tea bags are very simple and stripped down, without any staples or excess string that would create additional waste. They have enough space that the whole-leaf tea has room to expand.

Teatulia is USDA Certified Organic, a certified B Corporation, and also certified by the Rainforest Alliance.

For an organic, full bodied tea, Teatulia’s Masala Chai Tea is a great option. This tea includes traditional Indian spices and is also lower in caffeine than typical black teas, although not entirely caffeine free. 

Stash Tea

While Stash is not generally known as an organic tea brand, their products are all-natural, non GMO and they have a large number of organic teas that they produce. Stash does make a point to keep any GMO sources out of your tea – everything that steeps in the cup of tea is Non GMO Project Verified.

Organic teas are not genetically modified plants, but there is a possibility that some of the other ingredients that go into tea blends could have GMO sources. Stash guarantees that every component is GMO-free. Their tea bags are made from sustainable natural fiber and non-GMO cotton string.

Stash is a certified B Corp. This means they meet the B Lab’s strict standards of environmental and social performance, health benefits, accountability, and transparency.

The organic teas that Stash produces are 100 percent natural and USDA Certified organic through the USDA and QAI. They are committed to renewable energy, purchasing green power for their manufacturing plant.

Stash’s Organic Premium Green Tea is a great quality flavors option if you want a Japanese Style green tea. To keep the sweet flavors of the leaves, they are steam processed, which is the traditional method for making organic green tea. This is medium caffeinated, in case you were looking for a caffeine free option.

Numi Tea

Numi organic tea prides itself on using 100% real ingredients. From premium quality organic teas to the fruits, spices, and flowers used in their blends, Numi tea never uses anything artificial in their products.

The products that Numi produces are made of full leaf high quality (FOP grade and above) organic tea. As a higher quality grade than you find in most tea bags, these leaves will produce a much smoother flavor and health benefits than tea steeped with fannings or tea dust. Numi’s tea leaves are USDA Certified Organic.

Ecological responsibility is important to Numi Tea. Their packaging is made up of innovative materials focusing on minimizing the ecological impact of waste, including the recyclable cardboard box made from 85% post-consumer waste. 

They are working with a group of other companies to launch a new packaging material that would be the first home-compostable, plant-based, USDA certified organic, non-GMO packaging product on the market.

While focusing on Numi organic tea variations like the Ginger Lemon Herbal Tea and the Aged Earl Grey, they also have a selection of herbal tea and holistic ones like bamboo, guayusa, hibiscus, and mate. Numi also makes a selection of flowering products that blossom into bouquets when steeped in hot water.

DAVIDsTEA

What started out as a single herbal tea store in Toronto, Canada, DAVIDsTEA has expanded to over 230 locations and serves over 100 different products. Not all of their products are organic, but the ones that are have been certified by Ecocert Canada. Be sure to check the packaging.

70 of DAVIDsTEA’s products are kosher certified by Montreal Kosher. 11 of their products have Fair Trade USA certification and many are caffeine free.

Each tea’s product page contains a list of ingredients and calls out priority allergens.

DAVIDsTEA uses full-leaf tea and whole ingredients, making their herbal teas a little more flavorful than crushed counterparts. Their herbal teas are generally loose-leaf so there isn’t any worry about the leaves not being able to expand enough in tea bags when they are steeping in hot water.

While most of DAVIDsTEA’s products are blends, they do produce premium pure ones such as Nepal Black or Ceremonial Matcha. Their Organic Cream of Earl Grey is an excellent choice and a great example of organic loose leaf tea.

Each tea’s product page contains a list of ingredients and calls out priority allergens.

Top Organic Tea Brand Samplers

When discovering what your favorite organic tea brand is, a good idea is to start with a sampler pack. This will offer a wide range of flavors from a tea brand, allowing the opportunity to find a tea to suit anybody’s taste. 

The recommended samplers below would be a good starting point for any tea enthusiast looking to find new flavors.

Best Overall Organic Tea Brand Sampler: Tea Forte Organic Tea Sampler

When it comes to organic tea brands, Tea Forte produces some of the top single-leaf tea and blends. The Chakra Organic Tea Sampler includes blends inspired by masala chai tea, contained in unique silk pyramid shaped sachets.

All of this tea company’s collections consist of organic whole leaf tea blended with aromatic fruits, flowers, herbs, and/or spices to create subtle and distinct flavors. They are presented in an elegant embossed, patterned gift box with a satin ribbon. Descriptions of the different organic variations are shown under the lid.

The tea flavors found in this variety pack are blended with Indian spices that have strong aromatic flavors. Overall, these scents are meant to help bring mental clarity and positivity.

Tea Forte has other variety collections you can also try out if you prefer different flavor profiles. For example, they have a dessert collection, a black collection, and an organic tea collection as well.

Tea Sampler Details:

• Amount of Tea: 20 Count
• Types: Maté Mantra Chai, Vanilla Veda Chai, Ginger Guru Chai, Rooibos Raja Chai, Tumeric Tantra Chai
• Packaging: Presentation box

Best Organic Tea Sampler for the Money: Stash Organic Variety Pack

Stash Tea is a well-known organic tea company, available in grocery and health food stores. This Stash Organic Tea Sampler Assortment Variety Pack provides a large number of their organic teas to try out.

Stash imports teas from around the world. The selection presented here is a large collection of their 100% USDA organic and non-GMO teas. There are three tea bags of each of the 15 natural high quality blends. All of Stash’s teas are of the highest quality and contained in stay-fresh foil wrappers.

With the large number of choices in this Certified USDA Organic tea sampler, there should be a flavor for everyone. The tea leaf types included are herbal teas, black, green, and white. While some are caffeine free, there are others with different amounts of caffeine in them.

The Stash Organic Tea Sampler comes wrapped in an eco-friendly cotton tea bag that makes it perfect for gifting. The bag can be reused for other gifts, storing pantry items, or for displaying your Stash tea.

Sampler Details:

• Amount: 45 Count
• Types: Sunny Dandelion Root, White with Mint, Very Berry, Vanilla Honeybush, Premium Green, Rainforest Chai, Matcha Mate, Lavender Tulsi, Gold Cup Chai, Cascade Mint, Moringa Mint, Earl Grey, Chocolate Orange, Chamomile, and Breakfast Blend
• Packaging: Reusable Printed Cotton Gift Bag

Best Cheap Organic Tea Sampler: Numi’s Collection Variety Pack

Even though this is listed as the “cheap” selection of the top organic tea samplers, Numi’s Organic Tea Collection Variety Pack shouldn’t be considered as lower quality. Numi Organic is one of the premier organic tea brands and this sampler is a great way to try them out for a small amount of money. 

All of Tea Numi products are full-leaf quality and with no dust. They range from caffeine free to different levels of caffeine in them. The leaves have not been ground as some other producers do to lower costs or increase yield. Numi does not use or artificial flavorings or fragrances.

Flavors in this sampler pack include:

• Green Tea: Gunpowder, Jasmine Green, Toasted Rice, Maté Lemon
• Black: Aged Earl Grey™, Breakfast Blend, Golden Chai™
• Pu∙erh: Chocolate Pu∙erh
• White: White Rose
• Herbal Teas: Chamomile Lemon Herbal Tea, Rooibos Herbal Tea, Moroccan Mint Herbal Tea, Rooibos Chai Herbal Tea, Honeybush Herbal Tea, Dry Desert LimeHerbal Tea, Amber Sun Turmeric Herbal Tea

Numi uses premium organic teas and herbs blended with real fruits, flowers and spices. The flavor notes range from scented with jasmine blossom to sweet flowers with tart lemon. With a sampler pack like this one, it is easy to mix different combinations to come up with your own unique flavors.

Sampler Details:

• Amount of Tea: 16 Count
• Types: Green, Black, Pu∙erh, White, and Herbal Teas
• Packaging: Box

Benefits of Organic Tea

In addition to the pure taste of organic tea, there are many other benefits as well. Organic tea has many health benefits, helps the environment, and even local economies.

Organic Teas are Better for Health

When an item is certified as organic, one of the requirements is that synthetic and chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides are not used in its farming. Most non-organic produce can be rinsed or washed of dirt, pesticide residue or other impurities before it is eaten or prepared. 

Tea leaves, on the other hand, are generally not washed before they are processed and packaged, leaving them open to the possibility of passing along any residue of harmful chemicals.

People with allergies to chemicals or preservatives commonly find that their symptoms can clear up after switching to organic food.

Certified organic tea leaves have added health benefits of being non GMO. There have not been enough long-term studies performed to judge the safety of GMO crops, but for those wishing to stay away from them, certified organic is the way to go.

Organic Teas are Better for the Environment

The use of chemicals in the cultivation of leaves and other plants can have negative effects on not only the farm products themselves, but also the animals who make their homes in and around the fields. 

In addition to the animals possibly getting sick from eating the crops, the runoff from watering the fields can affect the local water supply as well.

Organic farming reduces pollution, conserves water, and uses less energy. These practices use natural methods as opposed to chemical, removing possible dangers to the water table as well as nearby streams and rivers. The sustainable methods used in organic farming reduce soil erosion as well as increase soil fertility. 

Organic Teas are Better for Local Economies

The Organic Trade Association released a white paper written by by Penn State Agricultural Economist Edward Jaenicke, Ph.D., explaining studies made on U.S. Organic Hotspots and their Benefit to Local Economies. Organic hotspots are defined as areas with a number of counties close to each other with high levels of organic activity.

The white paper explains that the organic hotspot areas have, on average, a higher median income and lower poverty levels than areas that focus on chemically-intensive agriculture. This is an excellent indicator for the long-term feasibility of organic farming as an important part of the future of agriculture.

Why Drink Organic Teas?

With so many different varieties and blends available, there is a type of organic tea out there for everyone. Different variations have different uses and different health benefits. Some organic black teas have a higher caffeine content and can be used as a healthier substitute for coffee. Others like herbal teas have are caffeine free and can be enjoyed as a calming treat before bed.

The taste of organic tea can range from earthy and smooth to citrusy and bitter. Lighter teas often have a more mellow flavor while the flavor of dark teas can be quite strong.

There are studies showing that drinking tea provide many health benefits and contain antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and other components that promote good health with used on a regular basis.

Preparing The Best Organic Teas

The most important aspect of brewing, the best organic tea especially, is getting the correct ratio of water to tea, and steeping for the appropriate amount of time. Most packaging will have instructions that give that information, as well as temperature recommendations for the hot water used for steeping.

Most organic variations will come as full-leaf, sometimes loose leaf tea in a tin or separated into sachets. Full-leaf should be treated gently as the leaves can have a tendency to bruise.

There are many different ways of brewing organic teas, but they mainly come down to two methods – the Eastern method vs. the Western method. 

The Eastern method is at its core very simple, hot water is poured over loose leaves in a teapot. The Western method contains the loose leaf tea in an infuser or other form of filter to keep leaves from sneaking into the cup of tea.

If using a USDA certified organic product packaged in bags, simply pour hot water over the bags and let steep for the recommended amount of time. Note the amount of water per bag in the manufacturer’s instructions. Full leaf bags that are certified organic can be reused a few times, but bags containing crushed leaves often lose their flavor after the first steeping.

Brewing Tips for The Best Organic Teas

One of the benefits of purchasing and drinking from the best organic tea brands is the amount of information they will give you. Any tea company that is proud of their product want their customers to get as much enjoyment out of them as they can, so they share recommendations on brewing procedures. Look for instructions inside the packaging or even on single tea bags.

Different families of leaves such as white organic green tea, black, and oolong tend to have different steep times. In general, steep darker teas for longer, and lighter ones for a shorter period of time.

The temperature of steeping water can vary with the different types of certified organic tea leaves as well. A good rule of thumb is to steep with water that is just below boiling. The easiest way to achieve this temperature is with an electric kettle with temperature control; set it to about 208 Fahrenheit.

A trick to get “almost boiling” temperature water is called “boil then wait.” Boil water on the stove, then remove it from the heat for a few minutes before pouring over your leaves.

Conclusion

Drinking tea is an enjoyable experience, but finding the right one can often be confusing. A good place to start is with these tea brands; the best organic tea brands will often make the best organic tea.

In addition to the flavor and quality of the best organic tea, many people find it important to look into the mission of certified organic tea brands. Some things to ask when judging an organic tea brand’s level of social and ecological responsibility are:

• Do they promote sustainability? 
• Do they give back to the community? 
• Are they certified organic?
• Do they follow fair trade guidelines?
• Is their packaging eco friendly?

When following these guidelines, you should be able to find the best organic tea brands to fit your drinking needs.