Thinking outside and inside the box
Transcription
Thinking outside and inside the box
Numi Organic Tea’s brand refresh Thinking outside and inside the box In January 2011, Numi Organic Tea launched a brand refresh to better showcase its unique product line. Through full-color photography and artistry in its design, Numi’s new packaging communicates the superior taste and quality of Numi Organic Teas, which contain real fruits, flowers, and spices rather than perfumes or flavorings used in most competitive products. Using a new way to communicate the same beloved teas and tea blends that the company has produced for more than a decade, Numi’s unique artistry helps transport the tea drinker into a world of exploration and transformation. Celebrating people, planet and pure tea People Numi Organic Tea sources its teas and ingredients directly from fair labor gardens that pay farmers and workers fair wages that allow their families to thrive. Over half of Numi’s teas (14 of 24 product SKUs) are sourced from Fair Trade Certified gardens, which empower tea growers to invest Fair Trade premiums back into their communities. Fair Trade premiums earned on tea gardens have helped procure and develop new roads, cooking stoves, mosquito nets, schools, college scholarships, maternity benefits, onsite medical staff and life insurance for farming families. Planet Numi Organic Tea is committed to minimizing impact on the planet through thoughtful choices in sourcing, production and packaging. Numi Organic Tea sources organic teas and herbs, which helps protect the health of farmers, the consumer and the planet. Numi Organic Tea uses natural, biodegradable, filter-paper tea bags, rather than GMO corn or plastic “silky” tea sachets. Numi’s tea boxes are made of 85% post-consumer waste, printed with soy-based inks and without unneeded shrink-wrap. Numi Organic Tea partners with programs that lower and offset carbon emissions, including a solar-powered production facility. Pure Tea Numi Organic Tea blends premium, organic teas and herbs with 100 percent real fruits, flowers and spices.. By using real ingredients and not bitter-tasting tea dust or fannings, it is not necessary to mask poor quality tea with “natural” flavorings, oils or fragrances. Numi Organic Tea has utilized the alchemy of careful blending to produce an award-winning product line. Numi Organic Tea lets Nature speak for itself. Numi Mission Numi’s mission is to be the most innovative tea company in the world dedicated to quality, sustainable values and a commitment to community. Numi Vision Numi’s vision is to inspire well-being of mind, body and spirit through the simple art of tea. Numi elevates the tea experience through innovation and quality, as well as a commitment to the environment and our global community. Numi hopes to educate and influence others to make a difference in their contribution to society. Numi is an organization that celebrates difference and creativity; the company occupies a vibrant office space and tea garden that invites all to find their own thoughts and visions and take the tea transformation. Numi Flavors Numi offers 26 teas and herbal teasans, a variety of Flowering Tea, Organic Puerh Iced Teas, loose leaf tea, gifts and tea chests. See www.numitea.com for full catalogue. Where is Numi sold? Numi is sold nationally in Whole Foods Markets, Safeway’s Organic Marketplace, other premium independent natural food stores and natural sets within conventional grocery stores. Numi is sold internationally in more than 20 countries. Visit www.numitea.com for a store locator. Numi Organic Tea’s brand refresh Thinking outside the box RE-POSITIONING: Through authenticity, creativity, and commitment to people and planet, we bring you the purest best tasting organic tea. Numi has shifted it’s messaging and communication to highlight the quality, purity and taste of its ingredients; as well as focusing on being a company with sustainable values. Logo remains same for continuity; Organic Tea addedd to highlight Brand differentiation Brand Promise/Tagline: Celebrating people, planet and pure tea Product Tagline: 100% Real Ingredients. Nothing Else. Best Tasting Organic Tea: Premium Organic Teas & Herbs Real Fruits, Flowers & Spices No “Natural” Flavorings or Fragrances previous Packaging Focus was on artistry & romance. Product quality & Brand values not being communicated. brand Refresh - new Packaging Product quality & Brand values now being communicated. Artistry maintained in painterly backgrounds & photos. Primary focus on taste and real ingredients. Flavor name and taste description more pronounced. Organic and Fair Trade symbols more visible. Non-GMO Biodegradable tea bags called out. Numi Organic Tea’s brand refresh Thinking around the boxe: entire box tells a story of Celebrating people, planet and pure tea TO lEARN MORE ABOUT OUR COMMITMENT TO PEOPlE, PlANET AND PURE TEA, vISIT US AT nUmitEA.COm. FOUNDERS, Ahmed & Reem Rahim we are artists, alchemists, world travelers, tea lovers and above all, a brother and sister. Our dedicated tea’m shares our mission to bring you the best tasting organic tea, sourcing directly from fair trade gardens that guarantee livable wages and better opportunities for farmers and their families. People Panel includes a story on people at garden or on Numi Tea’m’s sourcing efforts pEOplE ~ we thank you for your support In Southern India, tea farmers in the hilly tropical rainforests of the Niligris District voted to use Fair Trade funds towards scholarships, health programs and life insurance. Celebrating people, planet and pure tea ORANGE SPiCE WhiTE TEA lOwER CAFFEINE prEmiUm OrgAniC tEAs & HErbs rEAl FrUits, FlOwErs & spiCEs nO “nAtUrAl” FlAVOrs Or FrAgrAnCEs Planet Panel left original paintings & poetry for continuity. Highlight eco-responsible efforts plAnEt Ingredients: organic Cinnamon, organic Orange Peel, organic Cloves, Fair Trade Certified™ organic White Tea, organic Hibiscus, organic Allspice, organic Ginger, organic Lemongrass, organic Schizandra Berry, organic Dried Lime Through thoughtful choices, we are committed to reducing our impact on the planet. Organic tea cultivation protects the health of farmers, the planet and you See Orange Spice Pancakes recipe using this tea on inside flap Recycled boxes made of 85% postconsumer waste, printed with soy-based inks and without unneeded shrink wrap Celebrating people, planet and pure tea Natural biodegradable filter-paper tea bags; not GMO or plastic “silky” bags Programs that lower and offset our carbon emissions including a solar-powered production facility ORANGE SPiCE white tea, real orange peel & spice Most elements of this package can be recycled or composted! 16 NON-GmO BiODEGRADABLE TEA BAGS Organic & Fair Trade Certified. Certified B Corporation, meeting standards in sustainability DiSTRiBUTED By NUmi, iNC PO Box 20420, Oakland, CA 94620 Certified Organic by QAi Net Wt. 1.58 OZ. (44.8g) ECO -rEspOnsibilit y AUDit Halal Through thoughtful choices, Numi annually conserves: Kosher Trees Saved Landfill Reduced (lbs.) Energy Reduced (000) BTU Water Reduced (gallons) Net Greenhouse Emissions 5,202 334,560 2,754 million 2,332,740 470,475 Environmental impact estimates were made using the Environmental Defense Fund Paper Calculator. For more information visit http://www.papercalculator.org Please be Thoughtful and Recycle! ® PRINTED WITH SOY INK P.O. Box 20420, Oakland, CA 94620, USA info@numitea.com www.numitea.com 888.404.6864 All Rights Reserved. © 2010, Numi, Inc. 131 x 83 x 68mm Eco-Responsibility Audit Panel front panel 92240-C 08.15.10 Our sublime blend of organic smooth white tea and real orange peel, schizandra berries and lemongrass balances complex citrus notes with luxurious spice. All make for the most divine cup. EXPERIENCE NUMI’S ARTISTIC JOURNEY ON INSIDE OF BOX & AT NUMITEA.COM best before end (date (MMYY)-Lot) OrAngE spiCE Sipping thoughts of peace, hope floats my way Pure Tea panel Media Fact Sheet: Pu-erh Pu-erh (pu-er) is an ancient healing tea picked from 500-year-old organic, wild tea trees in the mountains of Yunnan, China. Pu-erh tea leaves are piled, dampened and turned in a unique 60-day fermentation process. This results in Black Pu-erh’s deep, earthy flavor and many health benefits that have been touted for thousands of years. Pu-erh contains more antioxidants than most green teas. Pu-erh is the oldest known tea that travelled along one of the five “Tea Horse Roads,” or Ancient Tea Route, that originated in the village of Pu-erh and wound through the Yunnan Province of China, comprising the Southern Silk Road. Merchants discovered Pu-erh by accident, compressing the tea into bricks for easier transport. They found that when aged in damp conditions it developed a richer flavor and more healing properties. It is said that the Last Emperor’s mother, known as the “Beautiful Countenance,” was eased of her ailments by drinking Pu-erh. This same process of compressing and aging Pu-erh is used today, and Pu-erh improves with age in terms of quality and value, much like a fine wine. Numi Organic Tea produces Pu-erh tea in traditional brick as well as teabag form. Numi also offers several varieties of Pu-erh, including green Pu-erh, which is sundried immediately after harvest; and black Pu-erh, which is fermented for 60 days to create a deep, earthy flavor. Numi’s Organic Pu-erh is sourced from old-growth; wild tea trees in the Yunnan Province of China that are said to give forth “chi,” or life energy. Unlike common tea bushes that are frequently replanted, Numi’s Pu-erh only comes from broad-leaf trees with intricate roots that reach far down into the earth. The deep root system of these Puerh trees makes them uniquely drought resistant and sustainable without need for irrigation. The trees are harvested by local villagers who pick the tea leaves for their livelihood. These wild tea trees are carefully picked to ensure that they continue to grow for generations to come. A picture of sustainability, the Pu-erh tea trees, village and nature all harmoniously live together for mutual benefit. For centuries, Pu-erh has been celebrated in Chinese culture to have myriad health benefits, but formal scientific research is still in early stages. Clinical trials conducted in China and France have found promising results that substantiate cultural beliefs and anecdotal evidence that Pu-erh can help improve digestion and circulation, increase metabolism and energy, aid in the reduction of cholesterol, support healthy weight loss and reduce risk of cardiovascular disorder by dropping blood lipids. A rich velvet, chocolaty aroma envelops this enticing blend of deep, dark Puerh and organic cocoa nibs. Numi’s Chocolate Puerh is made with organic wild-harvested tea leaves fermented and ripened into an earthy black tea. Whole vanilla beans and sweet accents of orange peel enhance this blend along with nutmeg and cinnamon rounding off a spicy finish. Numi’s Chocolate Puerh is available at select Whole Foods stores and in leading natural and independent grocery outlets. SRP $9.99 Numi’s Emperor’s Puerh comes from China’s majestic Yunnan Mountains where organic wildharvested tea trees are up to 500 years old. Handpicked broad leaves are fermented into black tea then ripened, resulting in an earthy aroma and dark sienna hue. Puerh boasts a deep bold body, smooth and slightly sweet with hints of malt. This rich, energizing tea is deeply satisfying as a coffee alternative. Numi’s Emperor’s Puerh is available at select Whole Foods stores and in leading natural and independent grocery outlets. SRP $9.99 Numi’s Magnolia Puerh enraptures the senses with sweet layers of floral scents. Rich and aromatic, this blend of magnolia-scented green tea and black Puerh is picked from wild-harvested tea trees up to 500 years old. Magnolia Puerh changes with every sip, taking you on a journey of flavors from flowery vanillas and earthy notes to hints of fruit. Numi’s Magnolia Puerh is available at select Whole Foods stores and in leading natural and independent grocery outlets. SRP $9.99 Accented by Numi’s signature organic Moroccan Mint, Mint Puerh imparts a refreshing, vibrant flavor with a smooth, mellow body and long, sweet aftertaste. Sipping Mint Puerh, tea drinkers will feel enlivened by a rich and powerful wonder tonic. Numi’s Mint Puerh is available at select Whole Foods stores and in leading natural and independent grocery outlets. SRP $9.99 Unlike traditional teas that are oxidized for an 8 hour period, Puerh undergoes a unique 60day fermentation process resulting in a bold, earthy flavor with hints of malt and elevated levels of antioxidants. After fermentation, Puerh tea leaves can be sun-dried, compressed into bricks and aged. Like fine wine, a Puerh Brick can be aged for months, years or even decades, increasing its value, health benefits and premium taste. Numi’s Aged Puerh Brick contains 12 portions. Each portion can be steeped 4 times; up to 48 pots/brick. Numi’s Puerh Brick is available at select Whole Foods stores and in leading natural and independent grocery outlets. SRP $12.99 From tea garden to tea cup: top efforts in sustainability By supporting organic agriculture, paying an above average wage and buying tea through Fair Trade Certified farming cooperatives, Numi Organic Tea has provided health care, housing and/or land on which to build and farm as well as a chemical and pesticide-free work environment to farmers and farm workers around the world. Organic Agriculture Numi Organic Tea is committed to sourcing USDA Certified Organic teas and herbs. Conventional tea growing and processing exposes workers to harmful chemicals, which are sprayed directly onto the tea leaves. All but one of Numi’s 22 teas and teasans are USDA Certified Organic and Kosher, and Numi is currently in the process of helping certify the orchard where its Dry Desert Lime grows. Fair Trade Numi is highly committed to ethical sourcing that supports the rights and livelihoods of farmers and farm workers. Numi works with Fair Trade USA to source as many Fair Trade Certified products as are currently available within Numi’s innovation and quality standards. Numi also has worked diligently to fill in the gaps where Fair Trade Certified is not yet applicable, and has been instrumental in the launch of the new Fair Labor Practices and Community Benefits Certification developed by Scientific Certification Systems, a leading U.S. standards developer and certifier in sectors such as food, forestry, fisheries, and cut flowers. Numi began purchasing Fair Trade Certified teas in April 2005 and is now one of the top importers of Fair Trade Certified tea to the US. Since that time, the company has purchased over 358,000 pounds of tea from 17 different Fair Trade tea estates in six countries resulting in more than $134,800 in social program funds benefitting tea workers all over the world. Communitea A high percentage of Numi’s handmade bamboo gift and packaging items are assembled by women. With the option of working from home, these women are able to care for their children and household while still earning income from bamboo handicraft production. In 2005, flooding took more than 600 lives and forced the evacuation of about 333,000 people in the region where Numi’s bamboo supplier is housed in China. Numi donated more than $10,000 USD to the supplier to help with replacement of equipment and the rebuilding of the factory. Here in the U.S, Numi’s assorted packs and bamboo items are assembled by people with disabilities. For more than 8 years, Numi has worked with Community Gatepath for assembly production needs. For each dollar of business we give to Community Gatepath, the state of California matches that dollar to support their programs. Sustainability All of Numi’s packaging materials are biodegradable and/or recyclable, and its retail products are cello-wrap free. More than 95% of our packaging materials incorporate the use of post-consumer waste or bamboo. In the village of Guangxi, China, bamboo producers converted from using petroleumbased lacquer to using 100% natural lacquer in 2004. In 2007, Numi switched to soy-based inks for the printing of its retail cartons and other printed materials. In 2009, Numi announced its initiative toward minimizing impact: A partnership with Big Tree Climate Fund on an offsetting program, including the purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs) and carbon offsets. Numi also reduced its overall packaging materials by 50 percent by replacing foil with a metalized, white lining in its tea bag overwrap. Utilizing 100 percent post consumer waste paper has reduced Numi’s landfill usage by more than 82 thousand pounds annually. Eco-Audit Numi’s Eco Audit, compiled through direct work with Enviornmental Defense, appears on all of Numi’s cardboard teaboxes. Our boxes and marketing collateral are made from 100% recycled material made of a minimum of 85% post-consumer waste. By using recycled materials in all of our packaging, Numi annually conserves the below estimates: ECO AUDIT Trees Saved Landfill Reduced (lbs) Energy Reduced (ooo) BTU Water Reduced (gallons) Net Greenhouse Emissions 5,202 334,560 2,754 million 2,332,740 470,475 Data research is provided by Environmental Defense at: www.environmentalsdefense.org founding owner’s biographies Reem Rahim Numi’s Creative Director and co-founder Reem Rahim oversees Numi’s brand identity, including all packaging design and marketing elements. Reem has influenced Numi’s commitment to sustainability and speaks regularly on the topic of sustainable packaging. An artist by trade, Reem’s original artwork has been a major inspiration for Numi’s brand vision. Reem also shares with her brother a passion for all aspects of tea, including its history and cultivation, and routinely leads tea tastings and pairings. After earning her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, Reem shifted disciplines and went on to pursue a Diploma d’Arte in Drawing and Painting from Lorenzo di Medici Art Institute in Florence, Italy and then a M.F.A. from John F. Kennedy University in the department of Arts & Consciousness Studies. Reem continues to create art in her studio in Oakland, California and is fluent in English, Italian, Spanish, and Arabic. Ahmed Rahim Ahmed Rahim is the master blender, CEO and co-founder behind Numi Organic Tea. Before starting the Numi business in 1999 with his sister, Reem, Ahmed spent a decade living, working and traveling throughout Europe as a professional film maker and photographer. Calling home to Paris, the German Alps and eventually Prague, Ahmed began to help create and design several teahouses in Prague. He became a partner in one of them, helped expand and grow the business and found his professional calling. From this immersion into European teahouse culture evolved a keen passion for blending teas, and ultimately resulted in Ahmed developing the blends that have become Numi’s distinctive product line. Ahmed remains Numi’s alchemist today, seeking and sourcing the worlds most exotic and premium teas and blending them into unique flavors that awaken and inspire the American palate. Ahmed is fluent in English, Arabic, French, German and Czech. He holds a B.A. in Psychology and Theatre from New York University, and has studied Film and Photography at various universities in New York, Paris and Prague. Travels & Transformations 1999 Brother and sister team Ahmed and Reem Rahim create Numi Tea in a 750-square-foot apartment in Oakland, California. They launch 28 bagged and loose tea products, as well as introducing Rooibos, Honeybush and Dry Desert Lime (the company’s namesake) to the U.S. market The History of Numi Organic Tea 2000 The first floor of Ahmed Rahim’s 1250-square-foot home becomes Numi’s new headquarters. 2001 Ahmed and Reem move Numi to their first, 5000-squarefoot warehouse, near the Oakland Airport. 2002 Numi Tea launches 5 new flavors, including a revolutionary Aged Earl Grey scented with real bergamot oranges. 2003 Numi converts all of its teas to USDA Certified Organic and makes that an official commitment. They re-brand the company as Numi Organic Tea. 2005 Numi’s Bamboo Flowering Tea Gift Set becomes one of Williams-Sonoma’s and Amazon’s top sellers. Numi wins several awards for packaging and innovation for the Flowering Teas. 2008 Numi introduces a revolutionary new tea category: organic Puerh in four flavors: Chocolate, Mint, Magnolia, and Emperor’s. Inc. Magazine’s “Inner City 5000” names Numi Organic Tea among the Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. Numi converts its Flowering Tea line to USDA Certified Organic. 2011 Numi Organic Tea makes a bold move to give a fresh, new face to its entire packaging line. By incorporating full-color photography, fresh copy and high design standards, Numi focuses on greater awareness around real ingredients and sustainability. 2004 Numi Organic Tea took the tea world by storm with the introduction of Flowering Tea to the US retail and foodservice market. Numi relocates to a 25,000-square-foot warehouse in Oakland near Jack London Square. 2006 Five new tea flavors are added to the Numi lineup: White Nectar, White Rose, Toasted Rice Green, Decaf Green Ginger, and Decaf Black Vanilla. 2009 Numi launches an innovative line of organic, bottled iced teas. Five flavors blend Numi’s best selling teas with Puerh; the sixth is Honey Lemon, a blend of Rooibos and Honeybush. Puerh product SKUs include Earl Grey, Peach Nectar, Magnolia Jasmine, Mango Passion, & Moroccan Mint. PRODUCT AWARDS 2010 Gold Medal, Beverage Category Numi Organic Bottled Puerh Tea, Best of Expo 2008 Best New Educational Training Product Journey Into Flowering Tea video Specialty Coffee Association of America 2006 Best Flavored Iced Tea Brrrgamot Black Iced Tea, World Tea Expo Best Commercially Brewed Tea Brrrgamot Black Iced Tea, World Tea Expo 2005 Outstanding Food Gift, “Gold Medal” Bamboo Flowering Tea Gift Set NASFT- The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade 2004 Most Innovative Product Flowering Tea Natural Products Expo Best Packaging Flowering Tea Natural Products Expo cOMPANY AWARDS 2009 #3285 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America Inc. Magazine Inner 5000 2008 #75, 100 Fastest Growing San Francisco Business Times 2008 Small Business of the Year Oakland Chamber of Commerce Socially Responsible Business Award Socially Responsible Business Awards #2,048 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America Inc. Magazine Inner City 5000 2007 35th Fastest Growing Company between 2004-2006 San Francisco Business Times #24 Fastest Growing Inner-City Companies in America Inc. Magazine Inner City 100 #16, 50 Fastest Growing Private Companies List East Bay Business Times Top Minority Owned Companies East Bay Business Times #1,344 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America Inc. Magazine Inner City 5000 #25, Fast 50 East Bay Business Times #24, Fastest Growing Inner-City Companies in America Inc. Magazine Inner City 100 GREEN & COMMUNITY AWARDS 2010 Acterra Award for Sustainability Small Company Acterra Business Environmental Awards Responsible Packaging Award Food Trade Sustainability Leadership Association (FTSLA) WRAP Award Recipient Waste Reduction Awards Program of CA 2009 WRAP Award Recipient Waste Reduction Awards Program of CA CoolCalifornia Small Business of the Year Award California Air Resources Board 2008 WRAP Award Recipient Waste Reduction Awards Program of CA 2007 Impact Award Inner City Advisors (ICA) 2006 WRAP of the Year Waste Reduction Awards Program of CA 2005 WRAP Award Recipient Waste Reduction Awards Program of CA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tisha Winters (510) 533-8720 x 1140 tisha@numitea.com Numi Organic Tea’s Rings in 2011 With New Packaging Numi’s brand refresh to be featured at this month’s NASFT Winter Fancy Foods Show Oakland, Calif. (January 5, 2011) -- Leading premium tea purveyor Numi Organic Tea will unveil a fresh new look at the NASFT Winter Fancy Food Show at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, January 16-18, 2011. Numi’s new packaging showcases the 100 percent real ingredients used throughout Numi’s product line, as well as Numi’s sustainable values and business practices. Numi Organic Teas are produced with premium quality organic and fair trade teas and herbs, blended with only real fruits, flowers and spices. Because Numi uses only 100 percent real ingredients, there is no need to apply “natural” flavorings or fragrances to create flavor. Numi’s new packaging will educate existing and new tea drinkers about the quality and importance of real ingredients in its teas. “For more than a decade, Numi Organic Tea has elevated the tea drinker’s experience through the alchemy of blending fine teas with real ingredients for pure flavor,” said Ahmed Rahim, co-founder and CEO or Numi Organic Tea. “We feel this fresh new face to Numi’s beloved teas can better express our celebration of people, the planet and pure tea.” Numi Organic Tea has maintained its high standards as a leading importer of organic and Fair Trade ingredients. Organic tea cultivation protects the health of farmers, the planet and the consumer. Fair Trade guarantees workers a fair wage and empowers farming communities to improve their homes, schools, medical access and village infrastructure. The back panel on Numi’s new packaging will feature photographs and narrative that detail Numi’s farming partners and sourcing practices. Numi Organic Tea will also continue to innovate its packaging, seeking new ways to minimize environmental impact. The new packaging line will continue to use natural, biodegradable filter-paper tea bags and recyclable boxes, which are made of 85 percent post-consumer waste and printed with soy-based inks. The bottom panel of Numi’s box features an Eco-Audit that reflects the waste reduced due to the company’s eco-responsibility efforts. Visitors to the Numi Organic Tea booth # 429 will experience a sensorial display that showcases the 100 percent real ingredients used to blend Numi Organic Teas, compared with the “natural” flavorings prevalent in most competitive tea products. Numi Organic Tea’s new packaging will begin to ship to distributors on February 1, 2011. Numi Organic Teas are available in boxes of 16-18 teabags for an SRP of $6.99-$9.99 as well as loose leaf tea canisters for an SRP of $8.99-$14.99. They are also sold nationally at Whole Foods Markets, Safeway, Wegmans, Kroger and other leading grocery and natural specialty stores as well as online at www. numitea.com. Numi Organic Tea blends premium organic teas and herbs with only 100 percent real ingredients, allowing Nature to speak for itself. As a pioneering, quadruple-bottom line company (people, planet, product, profit), Numi sources directly from fair labor gardens that guarantee a livable wage and better opportunities for farmers and their families. Numi is a company committed to reducing its impact on the planet through ecologically responsible choices in sourcing, production and recycled and non-GMO packaging. www.numitea.com. Numi Organic Tea blends premium organic teas and herbs with only 100 percent real ingredients, allowing Nature to speak for itself. As a pioneering, quadruple-bottom line company (people, planet, product, profit), Numi sources directly from fair labor gardens that guarantee a livable wage and better opportunities for farmers and their families. Numi is a company committed to reducing its impact on the planet through ecologically responsible choices in sourcing, production and recycled and non-GMO packaging. www.numitea.com. Numi Organic Tea celebrates Fair Trade Month Oakland-based tea purveyor converts its Organic Chamomile Lemon Teasan to Fair Trade Certified™ Oakland, Calif. (October 5, 2009) – Leading specialty tea purveyor Numi Organic Tea announced today that Numi’s Organic Chamomile Lemon/Sweet Meadows Teasan is going Fair Trade. The longstanding product is now being produced and packaged with Fair Trade Certified Chamomile sourced from a garden in Egypt. The product should begin to appear in stores as early as December 2009 with the Fair Trade Certified label on its packaging. The product conversion coincides with Fair Trade Month this October. To date, Numi Organic Tea’s commitment to Fair Trade products has resulted in close to $135,000 in social projects that have benefitted tea growers and workers in the developing world. Tea producer groups in India, China, Sri Lanka and other major tea producing countries are using social premium funds to build schools, develop women’s empowerment programs, transition tea gardens to 100 percent organic production, provide meals for school children and much more. As of now, 17 of Numi’s tea varieties are Fair Trade Certified, including loose leaf and bagged teas. Additional products are slated for conversion in 2010. “We maintain a strong commitment to sourcing practices that ensure both quality in the cup and a high standard of sustainable business practices,” said Ahmed Rahim, CEO of Numi Organic Tea. “As we continue to search for ways to raise our own bar for social and environmental standards, we are delighted to present this long-standing product as part of our Fair Trade Certified product offerings,” Rahim added. A Fair Trade Certified label on a product ensures consumers that a fair price was paid for the product, fair wages were paid to the workers who produced the item, and that the goods were produced in a sustainable manner thereby protecting both the workers and the environment. Additionally, monies were invested in the farming communities for much-needed community development projects such as schools and health clinics. Part of Numi’s core product line, Organic and Fair Trade Certified Chamomile Lemon/Sweet Meadows contains premium-quality organic and Fair Trade Certified chamomile blossoms which are blended with real organic lemon myrtle for a pleasant, lively flavor. As with all of Numi’s products, this herbal teasan is made with 100 percent real ingredients for a pure taste. A box of 16 teabags has a SRP of $6.99 and is available in leading grocery stores and natural food markets nationwide. Numi Organic Tea blends premium organic teas and herbs with only 100 percent real ingredients, allowing Nature to speak for itself. As a pioneering, quadruple-bottom line company (people, planet, product, profit), Numi sources directly from fair labor gardens that guarantee a livable wage and better opportunities for farmers and their families. Numi is a company committed to reducing its impact on the planet through ecologically responsible choices in sourcing, production and recycled and non-GMO packaging. www.numitea.com. Numi Organic Celebrates 10 Years in the Tea Business Oakland-based organic beverage leader opened its doors one decade ago and still growing. Oakland, Calif. (August 3, 2009) – When brother and sister team Ahmed and Reem Rahim began blending teas in a one-bedroom apartment 10 years ago, neither of them had any idea where they might be a decade later. But today, Numi Organic Tea is a leading purveyor of premium-quality, fullleaf Organic and Fair Trade Certified teas made with 100 percent real ingredients. The company has managed to lead the charge in sustainable tea sourcing and packaging, and commits to philanthropic causes in the interest of giving back to its “communitea” – all while remaining an independent, familyowned business and among the top 10 best-selling teas in the natural/specialty foods sector. Iraqi-born brother and sister team Reem and Ahmed founded Numi in 1999 with the vision of bringing a dried lime, known as “Numi,” from their homeland to America. This became the first official Numi Tea, and Dry Desert Lime still exists in the company’s core product lineup. Today Numi has more than 100 different organic teas, herbs and related products with national and international distribution in grocery, retail and specialty stores; as well as cafés, hotels, restaurants and spas; a Tea Garden open to the public; and an online business. “In 10 years it’s amazing that we’ve grown to become one of the leading tea companies in the U.S.,” said Ahmed Rahim, co-founder and CEO of Numi. “We’ve strived to ensure that our values align with the brand, and I think our line extensions and product innovation have been keys to our success.” The founders, who both have backgrounds as artists, have also woven their artistry into their brand. Ahmed, the Alchemist, leads product development and still hand-blends new teas for new products and line extensions. Reem, the Artist, hand-paints original artwork that graces Numi’s boxes. They have both combined their skills to create a handcrafted brand identity from product to packaging. “From our initial days, we set out to create a product and a brand ethos that inspired reflection and overall wellbeing through the art of tea,” said Reem Rahim, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer. “We both still return to our artistry today, whether it’s discussing product strategy or company vision. We’ve been able to remain true to ourselves as artists while still doing good business.” In the past five years alone, Numi has seen a compounded growth of more than 300 percent; the company’s staff has grown from 12 to 36 people; the company now occupies 30,000 square feet of offices and warehouses; and distribution has expanded to Europe, delivering Numi Organic Tea to 28 countries around the world. In addition, Numi has recently moved into more of a philanthropic phase of its business, setting aside one percent of profits from the company’s new Puerh product line to give to social and environmental causes. A new carbon offset program has been put into place, ensuring that emissions are offset through donations to domestic wind energy and international water treatment projects. “We look forward to bringing our focus toward more philanthropic work, both here in Oakland and overseas,” Ahmed Rahim added. (continued) Numi’s 10-Year Anniversary Celebration On August 7, 2009 from 8:00 pm-2:00 am, Numi Organic Tea will host its 10-year anniversary celebration as an open house at the Numi Tea Garden, located at 2230 Livingston Street in Oakland, CA. Tea-infused libations and refreshments will be served by Numi along with partnering Bay Areabased food and beverage companies, Numi Organic Tea blends premium organic teas and herbs with only 100 percent real ingredients, allowing Nature to speak for itself. As a pioneering, quadruple-bottom line company (people, planet, product, profit), Numi sources directly from fair labor gardens that guarantee a livable wage and better opportunities for farmers and their families. Numi is a company committed to reducing its impact on the planet through ecologically responsible choices in sourcing, production and recycled and non-GMO packaging. www.numitea.com. Numi Organic Tea offsets emissions in 2009 Leading organic tea purveyor partners with Big Tree Climate Fund to offset carbon output in 2009. Oakland, Calif. (June 2, 2009) – Continuing a long-term commitment to sustainable and innovative business practices, Oakland-based Numi Organic Tea announced today its latest initiative toward minimizing impact: A partnership with Big Tree Climate Fund on a twofold offsetting program, including the purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs) and carbon offsets. From its inception ten years ago, Numi Organic Tea has committed to operating a sustainable business through ethical sourcing, ecological packaging and core values focused on protecting the health of people and the planet. “We are excited today to continue to raise the bar for corporate environmental practices by launching this exciting new initiative,” said Ahmed Rahim, co-founder and CEO of Numi Organic Tea. “We believe it’s the responsibility of all business owners to find new ways to care for people and the planet while maintaining a bottom line. This is really one of the most innovative means to give back while being more conscious of our overall environmental impact.” Big Tree Climate Fund, founded in 2007 by Frederick Schilling, former CEO of Dagoba Chocolate, provides carbon offsets, renewable energy certificates and tree-planting programs to companies that want to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and lower their environmental impact. These partnerships support projects that help combat climate change while benefiting communities and protecting local environments. “I am truly excited to be working with such a progressive company as Numi Organic Tea on their continued commitment to environmental leadership and company excellence,” said Schilling. “By offsetting their carbon footprint to the depth they are, it not only solidifies them as an environmental leader in the food and beverage industry, but global industry at large.” Big Tree assisted Numi in conducting an annual emissions audit through calculations of carbon output in electricity and natural gas usage, employee air travel, use of company car, pounds of landfill use and overall shipping for 2008. Big Tree then sources and supplies the equivalent amount of carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates. These fund high-quality renewable energy and greenhouse gas abatement projects. Numi has purchased enough carbon offsets and Renewable Energy Certificates to offset its total estimated emissions for 2009. The emissions from electricity were offset by buying Renewable Energy Certificates, or RECs, and all other emissions were offset by buying carbon offsets. Big Tree Climate Fund certifies that Numi Organic Tea has purchased 515 metric tons of CO2 equivalent and 24 Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to offset its emissions for 1 year from May 1, 2009. The REC purchases support the Wilton Wind Energy Center, a wind farm in North Dakota that generates enough electricity to power 15,000 homes. The carbon offset purchases support the Brazilian Methane Avoidance/Clean Water Initiative, which is certified under the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) and has been selected by the Environmental Defense Fund as a model project for global carbon reductions. As a result, treated wastewater from the Irani Brazilian pulp and paper (continued) manufacturing company can now be directed to a river without containing harmful organic material, thus maintaining a clean water supply for animals, plants and humans. Numi’s additional sustainable initiatives include a recently implemented social 401K program and a European-based distribution facility, allowing for Numi to reduce environmental impact by providing manufacturing and distribution closer to the end buyer. Both Numi Organic Tea and Big Tree Climate Fund are certified B Corporations, representing a high bar of corporate social and environmental responsibility. Big Tree Climate Fund is a vertically integrated provider of carbon offsets, renewable energy certificates and tree-planting programs. The first B Corporation in its sector, Big Tree works with companies that want to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and lower their environmental impact. These partnerships support projects that help combat climate change while benefiting communities and protecting local environments. As a developer, Big Tree designs its projects to go beyond greenhouse gas reductions by also showing improvements in a variety of social and environmental metrics. The offsets generated from these projects are called Fair Carbon™ and 10% of their proceeds support Big Tree’s Community Fund to further benefit local communities. www. bigtreeclimatefund.com. Numi Organic Tea blends premium organic teas and herbs with only 100 percent real ingredients, allowing Nature to speak for itself. As a pioneering, quadruple-bottom line company (people, planet, product, profit), Numi sources directly from fair labor gardens that guarantee a livable wage and better opportunities for farmers and their families. Numi is a company committed to reducing its impact on the planet through ecologically responsible choices in sourcing, production and recycled and non-GMO packaging. www.numitea.com. Numi introduces World’s First Organic Puerh Tea, in bags, brick and bottles! Leading tea purveyor first-to-market with Puerh, a revolutionary new tea category. Oakland, Calif. (February 23, 2009) – Premium-quality tea purveyor Numi Organic Tea today announced six offerings of Ready-To-Drink (RTD) bottled tea blends, including five varieties of Puerh Tea blends and one Rooibos Herbal blend, available in retail and foodservice channels. Numi Organic Tea will offer samplings of its complete line of RTD Puerh and Rooibos blends, along with its current offering of bagged Puerh teas and the pure compressed loose Puerh tea “brick”, at booth # 2728 at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California, March 5-8, 2009. Puerh (pu-er), an ancient healing tea long revered in China for its medicinal properties and rich taste, is a fermented tea that packs a heavy antioxidant punch. Numi is unique in that it sources from rare, wild-harvested 500-year old tea trees from the Yunnan region of China, the leaves of which yield a superior quality. Puerh’s broad leaves undergo a fermentation process whereby the leaves are moistened and turned frequently for a period of 60 days. Puerh is then compressed into bricks and aged, which increases its value, flavor and medicinal properties. The end result is a bold, earthyflavored tea with hints of malt. Independent ORAC tests have shown that one serving of Numi’s Organic Puerh tea yields 32% higher antioxidant capacity than one serving of hot green tea. Numi Organic Puerh Tea is the world’s first complete product line of organic Puerh teas available for the national US market. Numi’s direct relationship with small-scale, Chinese Puerh tea producers has enabled Numi to bring the finest, rarest Puerh teas to American consumers. True to Numi’s innovation, Numi has developed a functional beverage that also tastes delicious. Unlike most RTD drinks currently on the market that use flavorings and extracts, Numi RTD blends use only 100% real ingredients for a refreshing pure taste. Numi Organic RTD Puerh teas will be available in five SKUs: Mango Passion Puerh Black Tea, Earl Grey Puerh Black Tea, Magnolia Jasmine Puerh Green Tea, Peach Nectar Puerh Green Tea, Moroccan Mint Puerh Green Tea. In addition, Honey Lemon Rooibos Teasan is available as an herbal , caffeine-free option. Barely sweetened with honey, agave nectar and/or organic cane sugar, the blended teas have a SRP of $2.79 per recyclable glass bottle. In addition to Puerh having its own unique flavor profile, Numi Organic RTD blends bring some of Numi’s most popular tea flavors into bottled form for a refreshing and healthful alternative to sodas. “We wanted to bring the wonderful flavor and health benefits of Puerh to the U.S. market, and offer enough product SKUs to appeal to a variety of taste preferences,” said Ahmed Rahim, CEO and Alchemist of Numi Organic Tea. “We therefore decided to offer our Ready-to-Drink lineup as blended teas, combining some of Numi’s most popular flavors – Moroccan Mint and Earl Grey, for example – with Puerh to make it at once accessible and innovative,” Rahim added. Numi Organic Tea blends premium organic teas and herbs with only 100 percent real ingredients, allowing Nature to speak for itself. As a pioneering, quadruple-bottom line company (people, planet, product, profit), Numi sources directly from fair labor gardens that guarantee a livable wage and better opportunities for farmers and their families. Numi is a company committed to reducing its impact on the planet through ecologically responsible choices in sourcing, production and recycled and non-GMO packaging. www.numitea.com. D uring the nine years after Ahmed Rahim graduated from New York University with degrees in psychology and theater, he shot fashion photography and studied film in Paris; worked construction in the German Alps; and refurbished a caravan of junkyard Winnebagos to drive from Berlin to Spain. He never made it to Spain, but landed in Prague, where he worked in film and helped run some tea houses. His is not the typical resume of a CEO whose company pulled in millions in revenues last year. Nor is his company typical. Rahim is the CEO and self-proclaimed alchemist of Numi Tea, the company he started with his sister, Reem, in her Oakland apartment in 1999. Since then, Numi has elbowed its way into the top pack of the gourmet tea market; its mostly organic, Fair Trade Certified products finding their way onto the shelves of Whole Foods, Safeway and Trader Joe’s, among other stores. Outside the United States, Numi is now sold in 22 countries, including Spain, Holland, Australia, Japan and China. Despite the company’s rapid growth, much of its character can be traced back to the brothersister duo of Ahmed and Reem Rahim, the children of Iraqi immigrants who both spent more time thinking about art than money before settling in Oakland to try their hand at tea. Reem paints the images on much of Numi’s packaging. Ahmed has developed all of Numi’s flavors through a process that is more art than science: he samples teas and ingredients, mixes them together and trusts his nose and mouth. The Alchemist On a recent Saturday afternoon, Ahmed was in his tea lab in the Numi offices in Oakland’s Embarcadero Cove experimenting with new blends. He poured boiling water over eight varieties of Peurh, a tea Ahmed says is popular in China but has yet to be widely marketed in the United States. Rows of teabags he’d filled with everything from cranberries to hibiscus, osmanthus to black pepper lay on the countertop. Samples of even more herbs, spices, fruits and flowers crowded the shelves along the wall. It would be hard to find a better smelling lab in the city of Oakland. “When I’m tasting these,” Ahmed said, pouring tea from each pot into a paper cup, “I’m thinking, which one will handle the lavender flowers, for example. Like if you want to make a curry dish, you don’t put too much cinnamon because it will destroy the curry taste.” Ahmed had come to work on Saturday so no one would disturb him. His goal was to create four new blends that will eventually join Numi’s offerings of more than 100 teas and herbal teasans. To find the right flavors, he would taste infusions of all of his potential ingredients - 16 fruits, 20 herbs and 10 spices - in addition to nine varieties of Puerh, one of which he’d use as a base. Ahmed is 39 and olive-skinned. He wears rectangular-framed glasses and sports a tuft of beard under his lower lip. His pension for slip-on shoes or sneakers, jeans and open collars makes him look more like an independent filmmaker than a businessman. He speaks softly and calmly, like someone who has spent a lot of time drinking tea. “As an artist, I’ve always collected garbage and used found materials,” he said. When he lived in Europe, he’d retrieve chipped tiles from junkyards and turn them into mosaics and tabletops. “I was always interested in sustainability, and if you could take public transit rather than a car, I was into that.” This philosophy of sustainability now influences the way Ahmed runs Numi. All of Numi’s packaging is recycled and recyclable, he says; the company doesn’t wrap its boxes in plastic. In 2006, the California Integrated Waste Management Board gave Numi its “WRAP of the Year” award for its waste-reduction activities. All but one of Numi’s bag teas, and many its loose teas, are certified organic, which Ahmed sees as similar to making art with found materials. The idea, he says, is “to do as much as possible with the earth and what is already there.” This also drives his use of only real ingredients to flavor his teas, as opposed to the oils most tea companies use. After he’d tasted all nine teas and jotted notes on a sheet of paper, Ahmed rinsed the pots, and poured water over 16 herbs. “Reminds me of dandelion,” he said of the safflower. “Very fragrant,” he said of the rose. “I can see it with lavender and jasmine.” He then did the same with fruits and spices, steeping everything from Chinese gogi berries to cardamom, licorice to allspice. Using only real ingredients frees Ahmed from having to depend on white-coat labs for his flavors. But it also limits him, because some tasty fruits - cranberries for instance - release very little flavor in hot water. “If you use cranberry oil you get more flavor,” he said with a shrug. “So I just won’t use cranberries.” Luckily for Ahmed, the chocolate and cocoa bean nibs he steeped for a new chocolate blend actually made the water taste like chocolate. He sipped the sample, looked over the rows of cups and reached for the coconut. “Mmm!” he said. He held one cup in each hand and sipped back and forth. “I’d like to do chocolate, coconut and vanilla. That’ll be a grand slam, I can tell.” The Artist Reem Rahim held a small painting of a yellowhaired ballerina in her lap and smoothed out the contours of the dancer’s arm with a fine brush. It was Sunday evening, and she had ridden her bike to the downtown Oakland loft studio she shares with three others to make the art she rarely has time for during the week. She looked at home in her studio, wearing paintspecked pajama pants and a purple shirt, her black hair pulled back to reveal lightly freckled cheeks and warm brown eyes. Around her were numerous projects in various stages of completion. Five-foot canvasses from her thesis project for the master’s in fine arts she got in 2002 leaned against the wall. A pastoral scene painted for a future Numi product rested on a nearby easel. In front of her on the desk sat eight more ballerinas. When the dancers are done, the 41-yearold artist said, she’ll hang them in her new bathroom, adding that even when she was in art school, she never liked the idea of creating art to sell. “I was like, that’s not my purpose for making art,” she said. “And look at me now - I’ve sold millions of paintings.” More correctly, her paintings have helped sell millions of boxes of tea. The journey to get those teas to market began in 1970, when the Rahims’ father, a kidney doctor, moved from Iraq to Cleveland because his refusal to join the ruling Baath party impeded his Iraqi medical career. The rest of the family joined him a year later. Ahmed was 3; Reem was 5. Life was a struggle for the Rahims in Cleveland at first. They had been affluent in Iraq, and had come to America by choice, not as refugees, but their father had to redo his residency so he could practice. He often worked 14-hour days when Ahmed and Reem were children, telling them they could do anything in America if they worked hard enough. Inside the home, life retained an Iraqi character. The family spoke Arabic, practiced Islam, ate Iraqi food and drank an Iraqi lime tea called “Numi Basra” that the kids talked about selling to Americans. They visited Iraq every few years, and their mother reached out to other Iraqi and Arab families in Cleveland, turning their house into what Reem calls a “de facto Iraqi community center.” “The house was everyone’s,” Ahmed says. He was often asked to give up his bed so his parents could host new immigrants, refugees or foreign students who needed a place to land when they reached the United States. Ahmed often found the contrast between the cultures in and outside the home jarring. “The hardest part of growing up in Cleveland was the mentality and the mindset,” he says. “There was a lot of racism. I was a dark-skinned kid with a different name. I wasn’t Mike or Sam or John or Joe.” This changed during his two years at a private, Christian high school, he says, where he started “experimenting with substances,” outgrew his childhood paunch and got interested in philosophy and art. By the time he transferred back to public school, he was a different person, considered more exotic than strange. Reem loved art from a young age and went to Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, where she was captain of the tennis team. She studied biomedical engineering because her mother said she was “too smart for art.” The summer after her junior year, she was in a car on its way to New York when the driver lost control and rolled the car twice. Both of her knees were dislocated, and she had eight surgeries in the next month. She turned 21 in the hospital. It took her more than a year to recover, and she returned to tennis practice the following spring in leg braces. She spent much of the next few years “imploding psychologically and emotionally,” she says. After the accident, an insurance case won her about $400,000 because the driver had been uninsured, she says, but the trial was so arduous that the money provided only scant consolation. After college, she moved to Boston, where her best friend died in a car accident and her boyfriend of two and a half years informed her he was seeing someone else. “Art was my savior,” she says of how she survived that time, “the only way I could sustain myself.” She got fired from her job as a research assistant after accidentally killing a lab mouse, and her boss suggested she get an automated job. So she went to art school. Her studies took her to Italy for two years, then to the Bay Area, where she enrolled at John F. Kennedy University. She worked odd jobs while in school, and recalls driving home in tears after a terrible day substitute teaching. “I just thought, I have so much more to give,” she says, “so much to offer. So I thought, just choose one thing. And I chose Numi.” The birth of Numi That summer, Ahmed retuned from his European adventures for a Rahim family vacation at the Grand Canyon, and Reem told him she was going to import the lime tea they had drunk as kids. “So am I,” he said. And thus, Numi was born. They wrote up a rudimentary business plan, and their father took out a home equity loan to help them raise a quarter of a million dollars. Ahmed joined his sister in Oakland, where they developed their first products in Reem’s kitchen. “We were never business people, nor did we even know what a business was,” Reem recalls. “It was an art venture.” She remembers painting their first box covers in her kitchen while Ahmed crushed herbs between two stones and steeped them in glass vials. They both experimented with tea stains, developing the rippled color patterns that now adorn many of their products. Early on, they even considered writing “the Alchemist” and “the Artist” on their business cards. “I think people who come from outside the business world come in with a fresh eye,” says Gayle Stansfield, a Numi sales manager who was one of the Rahims’ early employees. She gave the example of Numi’s Flowering Tea, hand-sewn bulbs that unfurl like blossoms in hot water. The company had no idea if they’d sell, she says. They now make up about 20 percent of Numi’s business. The Rahims realized they were onto something when they released their first nine teas in August, 1999, at the San Francisco International Gift Show. “All the other booths around us had three or four customers,” Ahmed recalls. “We were packed. Everyone came and was like, what is this tea? How do you produce it? We want this in our store.” They got more than $10,000 in orders during the four-day show, and did 15 more trade shows in their first year. Much of their early growth, Reem says, was sheer luck. In 1999, Starbucks bought the Tazo Tea Company, sending specialty coffee roasters looking for a new brand to sell with their coffees. Many of them stumbled upon Numi. Numi’s launch also fell within a propitious time for the tea industry. “It used to be that the only people drinking tea were little old ladies with blue hair,” said Joe Simrany, president of the Tea Council of the USA. But primarily due to increasing health awareness, he said, the tea industry has grown from under $2 billion in 1990 to about $7 billion in 2007. Ahmed Rahim says they never thought of building a worldwide company. “It was to do a Bay Area niche thing,” he says. “Import some unique herbs and take it day by day sort of thing. I had no idea it would be this big this fast.” At the office By Wednesday morning - thanks to two late nights in the tea lab - Ahmed’s new blends had expanded and evolved. He’d crafted two citrus blends with lemon and orange peel, and spiced the chocolate blends, which he’d decided to call “Aztec,” with vanilla bean, nutmeg and chili powder. That afternoon, he’d serve his 25 creations to the Numi staff for feedback. But before then, he had to tend to the business side of things. At 10:15, he entered the conference room to meet with representatives from a corporate search firm. Numi is planning to hire a president, he said, someone to take over many of the daily business operations so that he can focus on new products and working with suppliers in Asia. He’d brought Numi to this point, he said. “Taking it to $50 million, someone else can do that.” Ahmed’s casual dress - V-neck T-shirt, brown jean jacket, tennis shoes They wrote up a rudimentary - appeared at odds with the business plan, and their father two headhunters, who were all took out a home equity loan to help corporate starch and high heels. them raise a quarter of a million Tea was served. He told them the dollars. Ahmed joined his sister new president had to be good on in Oakland, where they developed finance, but that personality was their first products in Reem’s most important. “If they’re not really breathing kitchen. We were never business the culture, we don’t want them in people, nor did we even know what here,” he said. “We’re not looking a business was,” Reem recalls.“It for a suit-and-tie personality.” was an art venture.” He also said the new president should like tea. were women who sew the Flowering Tea. “If we had someone who drank five cans of Coke a day....” He shook his “That was really unprecedented,” she says. “They’d never been outside their villages.” head. After the meeting - Ahmed found the The office closed early that afternoon firm’s fees too steep - he dropped by his and about two-thirds of Numi’s 40-some office to check e-mail. There was a phone employees filed into the Tea Garden to message from an ad man at Ode Magazine. taste Ahmed’s new blends. He passed out They’re going to press, he said, and he can evaluation forms and told them to rate each give Numi a full-page for $850. He called it a blend between one and nine in terms of “win-win” and said they’re big fans. Ahmed color, aroma and flavor, then give an overall score and jot comments. He told them to be deleted the message. as specific as possible. “We don’t believe in advertising,” he said. After lunch, Ahmed walked to the Numi The staff did not disappoint. Tea Garden, the company’s new teahouse, “Grassy and earthy,” someone wrote of a to meet with a group from TBL Capital, a chocolate blend. “Smells like honey, tastes socially conscious venture capital fund that like rose,” someone else wrote of one of the recently invested $1.8 million in Numi. He floral teas. gave them a tour of the facility, and showed Perhaps because the alchemist is her them photos he’d taken during business trips brother, Reem pulled no punches. to Asia: here’s an organic farm we buy tea “Tastes like bad sewage water,” she wrote from; here’s Reem with the women who of one of the straight Puerhs. She liked floral #3 better, writing, “Puerh hand-sew the Flowering Tea. Mark Finser, general partner at TBL, jasmine heaven!” said the group had invested in only six of The following week, Ahmed would be the 200 companies it had considered since back in the lab, further tweaking his blends. starting last September. It chose Numi based Two weeks later, he’d take another round to on what he called “the authentic nature of the staff, then to a consumer focus group. In the entrepreneurs and what they’re trying to the meantime, Reem would work with the marketing team on the design for the new do.” “There are a lot of people jumping on the products, which will be released this week green bandwagon or into sustainability and at the Fancy Food Show in New York. If all organic,” he said. “But [the Rahims] do it goes well, Ahmed says, they’ll be on shelves because they really believe they’re making a by October. But none of this was on his mind as he difference.” Twelve of Numi’s products are fair trade flipped through the sheets after the tasting. certified, a choice Ahmed says is due to his On one sheet, someone had drawn a heart around Aztec #4 and written “LOVE!” in the and his sister’s background. “That came from being a minority and comments box. Rahim smiled. being called names and traveling in places “Look, this one got a 10,” he said. “I don’t where people don’t have the resources and even have a 10.” abundance we have here,” he says. “I just felt that treating people fairly was the most important part.” He and his sister agree that their parents’ willingness to help people out also played a role. “They always had open arms and open hearts for other people,” Reem says. “We just grew up with that lifestyle. It’s not about Ben Hubbard likes tea, but drank more you.” Julie Beals of Fresh Cup Magazine, a trade coffee to get himself through the UC publication, says Numi broke new ground Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, last year by bringing four of its Chinese from which he graduated last month. He is partners to a U.S. trade show. Two of them interning at the Washington Post. E-mail magazine@sfchronicle.com.