This B Corp Month marks a meaningful milestone for us at English Tea Shop. We are delighted to share that we have achieved an impressive B Impact score of 132.2.
While the score itself is encouraging, the significance of this milestone goes far beyond the number. To understand what this moment represents, it is important to reflect on why we chose to become a B Corp in the first place.
Why We Chose the B Corp Path
When English Tea Shop Organic was founded, the ambition was not simply to build a tea company. The vision was to create an empowering tea revolution. From the beginning, we imagined a business that considers the entire ecosystem around it, including farmers, employees, partners, customers, communities and the environment at large.
Rather than focusing on a single outcome, we believed a business should consider the wider effects of its decisions across the entire journey from farm to cup. Every step along the way touches many people and many parts of the value chain.
As we looked for frameworks that could support this philosophy and our fairly complex business model, the B Corp model emerged as the closest reflection of what we had always imagined for the business. It provides a structure built on transparency, independent validation and accountability to a broad group of stakeholders.
For us, this wider community is what we refer to as our Prajãva.
A Framework That Guides Continuous Improvement
For us, B Corp has never been simply a certification.
The assessment process and scoring system create a systematic and disciplined way to measure impact. They help bring greater transparency to business decisions and encourage companies to continue strengthening their practices over time.
In this sense, B Corp becomes more than a certification. It provides a framework that helps businesses evolve. Each assessment allows us to reflect on our progress, identify areas to strengthen and shape our priorities for the years ahead.
With our own manufacturing operations and an interconnected business model, this places English Tea Shop among the highest scoring B Corp tea companies globally, and among the exceptional performers within the manufacturing category.
What makes this particularly meaningful for us is that this progress has been achieved while operating from Sri Lanka, within the Global South. It reflects the collective effort of our teams, farmers, suppliers and partners across the value chain, and shows that businesses based in developing economies can meaningfully contribute to shaping more responsible and purpose-driven models of business.
Importantly, the score is not only recognition of progress, but also a guide for where we can continue improving in the years ahead.
A Business Built Around People and the Value Chain
At English Tea Shop, tea has always been the medium through which we create impact, but people are at the centre of everything we do.
Our model brings together many parts of the value chain, from working closely with small scale farmers and sourcing ingredients to manufacturing, packing and bringing our teas to global markets. Each part of this ecosystem plays an important role in shaping the impact we aim to create.
Because of this interconnected model, having a systematic and transparent framework has proven especially valuable. It allows us to regularly review how our decisions affect different stakeholders and different parts of the business.
Progress, Reflection and Areas to Improve
While we are pleased with the progress reflected in our new score, the B Corp journey is fundamentally about continuous improvement.
During this assessment, certain structural mechanisms such as mission locking provisions that are not yet recognised within the Sri Lankan regulatory framework meant that additional points could not be realised, even though the potential for a score above 140 was within reach. We have previously explored this direction with the relevant authorities in Sri Lanka and will continue to engage on this path as the regulatory landscape evolves.
At the same time, the assessment has helped us identify several priority areas where we can continue strengthening our programmes and practices.
While we have made meaningful progress across many areas, the process also highlights priority areas where we aim to continue strengthening our work. These include:
- Living wage leadership and verification
- Strengthening water stewardship practices
- Advancing climate and energy transition efforts
- Supply chain environmental improvement pathways
- Supply chain living wage assessment and verification
A Collective Effort Across Our Prajãva (Community)
Any progress we achieve is not created by English Tea Shop alone. It is the result of a deeply connected community.
We owe our progress to the dedication of our small-scale farmers, the support of our ingredient and packaging suppliers, the collaboration of our service providers and global partners, and the commitment of our trade customers and distribution partners around the world.
And of course, we are grateful to the wonderful consumers who continue to choose to be part of this journey.
Continuing the Journey
Our B Corp recertification marks an important milestone in our ongoing journey.
As we move forward, we remain committed to strengthening our impact across people, community and the environment, while staying true to the purpose that inspired English Tea Shop from the beginning.