Tea and Herbal Association of Canada celebrates International Tea Day with “SofaSummit”

The United Nations General Assembly has officially designated 21 May as International Tea Day.

To celebrate, Tea and Herbal Association of Canada (THAC) president, Shabnam Weber, will host a SofaSummit and visit 13 countries and 14 time zones between 9 EST and 7:30 EST. This SofaSummit is open to the public on YouTube Live and will include influential tea industry guests such as Stephen Twining of Twinings Tea (UK), Cindi Bigelow of Bigelow Tea (USA) and Canada’s own tea explorer, Jeff Fuchs.

The United Nations adopted Resolution 74/241 to designate 21 May as International Tea Day to elevate tea and celebrate it around the globe. The resolution acknowledges the “… urgent need to raise public awareness of the importance of tea for rural development and sustainable livelihoods and to improve the tea value chain to contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

At present, the tea industry provides a livelihood for many tens of millions of people across the globe. From east to west, there are so many countries that grow tea from Darjeeling in the Himalayan mountains of India to Kenyan tea produced in the lush hills of Africa.

In Canada, The Tea and Herbal Association is a registered non-profit acting as Canada’s leading voice on tea. Canadians consume more tea per capita than the United States and 8.2 billion cups of tea are consumed around the globe every single day.

THAC president Shabnam Weber commented, “I always find myself humbled when I think of this enormous industry I’m a part of. We are all simply stewards of this tea plant, taking care of it for the next generation. And that is essentially our role here at the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada – stewards of an industry, yes Canada based, but part of a much greater whole. Being able to amplify that message through this International Tea Day is the greatest platform through which to share that message not only with Canadians, but beyond to the many millions of people around the world who are responsible for making our cup of tea possible.”

In addition to the SofaSummit, THAC has created a video to celebrate tea drinks around the world and to give thanks to the people that bring us our tea – click here to watch.

For more information on the SofaSummit schedule and International Tea Day activities, visit: www.tea.ca/calendar/international-tea-day/.