We’re thrilled to announce our newest member from Germany, a family company spanning four generations! J.J.Darboven now brings our membership count over 50 (see who here)- another sign of ETP going from strength to strength and demonstrating our growing international recognition. In June 2018 we held our annual Team Up event in London, attended by audience of over 200 people including NGOs, UN organisations, tea producers, tea brands and it was at Team Up that ETP staff had the opportunity to meet with J.J.Darboven.

Johann Joachim Darboven and his successors laid the foundation for J.J. Darboven, a company that started out in a small office in Hamburg’s old town in 1866 with coffee, tea and spices. It is now an international company with 16 subsidiaries in ten European countries, has more than 800 employees around the world and sells an extensive range of products.

Tea workers are at the heart of all tea companies and through our work at ETP we work to improve the lives of those tea workers and their environment. As a not-for-profit organisation we work on a range of issues from improving access to nutrition to focusing on improving the lives of women tea workers. Through many of our programmes we focus on the importance of women tea workers and through our Malawi Tea 2020 programme we have been able to roll out programmes that increase women’s incomes by an average of 18.5%.

As our work continues to develop, tea brands have become increasingly aware of ETP’s reputation for delivering real change to tea workers on the ground, and their commitment to ETP as a member will help to increase the work that we can do.

“We’re really excited that ETP is welcoming J.J.Darboven, expanding to markets in new countries. Darboven has a strong commitment to the work that we do at ETP and as new members continue to join we are pleased to be able to expand the work that we do”, Sarah Roberts, Executive Director, ETP.

“As a family business, J.J.Darboven has always been aware of its duty to live in accordance with values and perpetuate them. Fairness and social responsibility are thus essential elements of how we view ourselves as a company. We are 100% convinced that socially and ecologically sustainable operations are just as important elements of entrepreneurship − the fundamental requirement for the successful development of our company and the world in which we live.”

The Darboven brand, EILLES TEE dates back to 1873 where it started as a specialty shop in Munich.  25 years ago, the brand was acquired by Darboven. In 2018, to reinforce and expand their existing efforts with Fairtrade, J.J.Darboven became a member of ETP, “with the Ethical Tea Partnership, we found an organisation which shares our goal of (being) socially responsible and ecologically sustainable tea trade” (Quote Albert Darboven). In 2013 they also introduced PLATEANUM –the quintessence of tea. A superior quality tea assortment. Both are exclusive brands for the food service industry and gastronomy professionals.

Read more about Darboven’s work to improve sustainability here.