Choice Organic Teas is an American organic tea brand founded in Seattle, Washington in 1989 under the umbrella of Granum Inc., a natural foods company, earning a place in American tea history as one of the earliest companies to bring USDA certified organic tea to American consumers — before organic certification was commercially widespread, before the organic food movement had entered mainstream retail, and before the specialty tea category had the vocabulary and infrastructure it has today. Operating through natural food stores, food cooperatives, and the independent natural retail channel, Choice Organic Teas built its audience among health-conscious consumers who valued organic certification as a guarantee of what was not in their tea — no synthetic pesticides, no chemical fertilisers — at a time when the rest of the tea industry was largely uninterested in these questions. The brand’s legacy is as a pioneer: the companies that came later to certified organic tea sourcing in the American market were following a path that Choice Organic Teas had already established, and the organic tea category as it exists today owes something of its mainstream commercial legitimacy to the work the brand did in the 1990s and 2000s when organic tea was an outlier rather than an expectation.

In-Depth Explanation

In 1989, when Choice Organic Teas was founded, the American food landscape looked very different from today. Organic certification was rare, the natural food movement was largely confined to food cooperatives and independent health food stores, and the tea industry was dominated by commodity producers who had no commercial incentive to invest in organic sourcing. The choice to build a tea brand around certified organic sourcing was, at the time, an act of genuine market pioneering.

Organic Tea Pioneer in the American Market

Choice Organic Teas, through its parent company Granum Inc., was among the first American tea brands to work with suppliers to achieve and maintain USDA organic certification for tea. This required convincing tea-producing farms and cooperatives — primarily in Asia, where Western organic certification standards were not standard practice — to go through the certification process, and working with the American certification infrastructure to apply agricultural standards to an imported product category.

The work required was significant, and the initial commercial returns were modest — organic tea was an expensive niche in a market that was used to cheap commodity teabags. But Choice Organic Teas persisted, and in doing so created a certified organic tea supply chain that later brands could access and build upon.

Distribution Through Natural Food Retail

Choice Organic Teas built its brand through the natural food retail channel — natural food stores, food cooperatives, and the independent health food stores that formed the physical infrastructure of the American natural food movement. This channel was the right one for an organic tea brand in the 1990s: the consumers shopping in these stores were already committed to organic purchasing, already familiar with certification labels, and already willing to pay a premium for certified products.

This channel focus meant Choice Organic Teas did not compete for shelf space in conventional supermarkets in its early years, instead building deep penetration and brand recognition in the natural retail channel where its customers already were. The brand became a recognisable name for organic-oriented food consumers in the Pacific Northwest and eventually nationally.

Range and Positioning

Choice Organic Teas offers a broad range of certified organic teas — black, green, white, herbal, chai, and flavoured varieties — at price points that are accessible for organic tea. Unlike the premium craft brands (Rishi, Steven Smith Teamaker) that position organic sourcing alongside exceptional quality at high price points, Choice Organic Teas has always positioned organic certification as accessible: a standard that should be affordable for everyday tea drinkers who simply want to avoid agricultural chemicals in their cup.

This accessible-organic positioning distinguishes Choice from both the luxury end of the organic tea market and from the commodity end of the conventional market, occupying a middle ground that has been commercially productive and has helped normalise organic certification as a reasonable expectation for everyday tea.

History

• 1989: Choice Organic Teas founded in Seattle, Washington under Granum Inc.; among the first USDA certified organic tea brands in the United States; natural food retail channel distribution.
• 1990s: Builds brand presence in natural food stores and food cooperatives; establishes certified organic tea supply chain with Asian farms; organic tea pioneer position established.
• 2000s: Organic tea becomes more mainstream; Choice Organic Teas benefits from the broader natural food movement’s growth; national distribution through natural retail expands.
• Present: Continuing operation under Granum Inc.; broad certified organic tea range; accessible price positioning in the organic category; natural food retail channel focus maintained.

Social Media Sentiment

• Natural food and organic community: Very positive — Choice Organic Teas is a trusted, long-established name in the organic food retail environment; the pioneering history and consistent organic commitment are valued by consumers who have been buying organic for many years.
• Co-op shoppers: Strong recognition among food cooperative members who have encountered Choice Organic Teas in the natural food retail channel; often one of the first certified organic tea brands people encounter when shopping in this channel.
• Budget-conscious organic buyers: Appreciated for maintaining accessible price points while offering genuine organic certification; fills a gap between cheap conventional teabags and expensive premium organic brands.
• Tea history enthusiasts: Recognised for the pioneer role in American organic tea certification; the 1989 founding date and the Granum natural foods connection are noted in discussions of organic food movement history.

Last updated: 2026-06

Related Terms

• Organic Tea
• USDA Organic
• American Tea Culture
• Natural Food Movement
• Certified Organic
• Specialty Tea
• Seattle Tea

See Also

• Sakubo – Japanese Study

Research

• Choice Organic Teas founding (1989): Granum Inc., Seattle, Washington, pioneer USDA certified organic tea in the American market.
  Summary: Documents the founding of Choice Organic Teas in 1989 under Granum Inc. in Seattle — the context of the early American organic food movement, the then-unusual decision to build a tea brand around USDA certified organic sourcing before this was commercially mainstream, the work required to establish certified organic supply chains with Asian tea farms unfamiliar with Western certification processes, and the brand’s pioneer role in the American organic tea category.

• Choice Organic Teas’ distribution through the natural food retail channel: food cooperatives, health food stores, and the natural food consumer base.
  Summary: Examines Choice Organic Teas’ go-to-market strategy through the American natural food retail channel — natural food stores, food cooperatives, and independent health food retailers — and the consumer base of organic-committed shoppers this channel delivered in the 1990s. Covers how this channel focus allowed the brand to build recognition and loyalty among consumers already oriented to organic purchasing before the organic food movement entered mainstream supermarket retail.

• Choice Organic Teas’ range and accessible organic positioning: certified organic at everyday price points.
  Summary: Examines Choice Organic Teas’ product range — black, green, white, herbal, chai, and flavoured categories — and its positioning as accessible certified organic tea rather than luxury or premium organic. Covers the price positioning that distinguishes Choice from both high-end specialty organic brands and conventional commodity teas, and the role this accessible organic positioning has played in normalising organic certification as a reasonable expectation for everyday American tea drinkers.

• Choice Organic Teas’ pioneer legacy and the growth of the American organic tea market from niche to mainstream.
  Summary: Covers Choice Organic Teas’ historical significance as a pioneer of USDA certified organic tea in the US market — the path it established that later organic tea brands followed, the role it played in building the supply-chain infrastructure and certification processes that made certified organic Asian tea commercially viable in America, and the brand’s place in the broader history of the American natural food and organic food movements from the 1990s to the present.