# Young Mountain Tea

Sharing Ownership Of The Tea Trade With Farmers

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/young.mountain.tea
- Entity ID: wefunder:company:162749
- Last updated: 2026-06-10T05:01:27Z
- Generated at: 2026-06-10T10:09:24Z

## Quick facts
- Launched a farmer-owned processing facility in the Himalayas w/ USAID, Acumen, and others
- Secured sales contracts with Fortune 500 companies & a national distributor
- Featured in Forbes, Food Industry Executive
- Company started with a promise: if farmers would grow tea, we'd sell it.
- Certified organic, single-origin teas in sustainable packaging from a BIPOC owned brand
- 1% of sales donated to farmers

## Active fundraises
- wefunder:fundraise:122320: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:122319: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)

## Story
Young Mountain Tea | Sharing Ownership Of The Tea Trade With Farmers | Worker Owned & Worker Operated (WOWO)The farmers are stuck in a cycle of urban migration and land degradation, and climate change is making it worse. Tea creates rural jobs, revitalizes wastelands and removes CO2 from the atmosphere.We solve both the market and supply problems with a simple solution: Bridging the divide between tea farmers and tea drinkers, and working with farmers to raise the quality of their tea so they can earn more while also creating a transparent supply chain that brings new, exciting and sustainable tea to the market.The Kumaon Tea Factory's launch represents an evolution in our model: we are no longer tea traders, we are tea makers.We are funded by Global Leaders in International Development: USAID, ACUMEN & FRONTIER CO-OPWhat The Media Says About Us | “Young Mountain Tea is building something entirely new.” -Forbes5 Attributes that make our teas unique: 1. High Quality 2. Zero-Waste 3.Organic 4.Mission-Driven 5.Minority-Owned/RunWe spent four years building a legal framework for scalable system change.Our experienced team is ready to grow our business and our impact.We’re growing our revenue, transitioning from Grants to Sales.The potential for tea to be transformational is what inspires our work. This directly connects to five of the UN’s SDG goals. Today we work with 1,500 farmers, 90% of whom are women. These stewards of the land have reclaimed more than 1,000 acres through organic tea, and their growing 2MM+ tea bushes that sequestering carbon right now and everyday.

## FAQ
1. **There seems to be a lot of loans taken and debt. Have these loans been paid off?**
   - Thanks for asking, Brian. We were asked to upload all debt the company has ever taken, so the figures here include debt that has been paid off. At present, our monthly payments are ~$4.4k/mo with a weighted average of 6-7% APR depending on the monthly credit card balance. All term debt is held by flexible lenders, ie CDFIs, foundations, and individual friends and family members. If debt repayment ever becomes a challenge, we can opt to either request flexibility with the lenders (ie switch to...
2. **Hello . What’s the reason that revenue has dropped from 2022 to 2023? Which markets do you targeting? What’s the exit strategy ? And when? Why do you have a small staff? I noticed that the ranking of your products is highly preferred.**
   - Thanks Wael, you ask some good, tough questions! Here goes: 1. Revenue in '23 dropped because our top 3 customers all cut their purchasing by 50% or more, as they returned to pre-COVID levels. This followed the larger trend of all organic markets, which contracted after explosive growth during COVID. It is the only year our revenue has ever dropped, and we've diversified our customer base so we no longer rely on a small number of customers. 2. We are omnichannel and sell both B2B and B2C. We ...
3. **Do you offer a profit sharing royalty?**
   - Thanks for asking! We are not currently offering a profit-sharing royalty through our WeFunder campaign. Instead, your investment provides equity in Young Mountain Tea, meaning you’ll own a share of the company. Investors can expect to earn a return through their equity—when the Board decides to distribute profits, you’ll receive a share proportionate to your ownership. This structure aligns with our mission and long-term goals as we scale the business. Let me know if you’d like more details ...
4. **Microplastics in tea bags are a concern. Can you please provide more information on the specific materials used for the bags? Thank you.**
   - Thanks Yazeth, they certainly are a concern! Our tea bags are made from 100% sugarcane PLA, a commercially compostable material that degrades into only organic matter (no microplastics!). We have this page explaining what all of our packaging is made of: https://youngmountaintea.com/pages/zero-waste?_pos=9&_sid=52951fb1e&_ss=r Also, as we were researching the world of tea bags, we learned quite a bit about the differences in "sustainable materials." I wrote this blog about it all: htt...

## Team
- Adhiraj Murthy Vable (Founder & CEO)
- Lucas Ahlquist (CFO)
- Mitra Nite (Creative Director)

## Q&A
- Q: Microplastics in tea bags are a concern. Can you please provide more information on the specific materials used for the bags? Thank you.
  - A: Thanks Yazeth, they certainly are a concern! Our tea bags are made from 100% sugarcane PLA, a commercially compostable material that degrades into only organic matter (no microplastics!). We have this page explaining what all of our packaging is made of: https://youngmountaintea.com/pages/zero-waste?_pos=9&_sid=52951fb1e&_ss=r Also, as we were researching the world of tea bags, we learned quite a bit about the differences in "sustainable materials." I wrote this blog about it all: https://youngmountaintea.com/blogs/blog/zero-waste-101?_pos=1&_sid=686bb63ae&_ss=r I hope that helps, please let me know if I can further clarify!
- Q: I missed the deadline for investing. Can I still invest?
- Q: Do you offer a profit sharing royalty?
  - A: Thanks for asking! We are not currently offering a profit-sharing royalty through our WeFunder campaign. Instead, your investment provides equity in Young Mountain Tea, meaning you’ll own a share of the company. Investors can expect to earn a return through their equity—when the Board decides to distribute profits, you’ll receive a share proportionate to your ownership. This structure aligns with our mission and long-term goals as we scale the business. Let me know if you’d like more details about the terms or how your investment will be used!
- Q: Hello . What’s the reason that revenue has dropped from 2022 to 2023? Which markets do you targeting? What’s the exit strategy ? And when? Why do you have a small staff? I noticed that the ranking of your products is highly preferred.
  - A: Thanks Wael, you ask some good, tough questions! Here goes: 1. Revenue in '23 dropped because our top 3 customers all cut their purchasing by 50% or more, as they returned to pre-COVID levels. This followed the larger trend of all organic markets, which contracted after explosive growth during COVID. It is the only year our revenue has ever dropped, and we've diversified our customer base so we no longer rely on a small number of customers. 2. We are omnichannel and sell both B2B and B2C. We target the organic markets for specialty food and beverage through a range of channels, including DTC through our site, grocery, private label, bulk, and food service. 3. As a sustainable brand that reflects the values of social/eco-conscious consumers, a possible exit is through acquisition by a larger company looking for a sustainable brand. We aren't legally allowed to provide projections or timelines for returns through a public crowdfunding campaign, but our goal is to provide investors with both financial and impact returns. Overall, our goal as a mission-driven company is to build something durable that will last and create long-term value for all stakeholders -- from investors to farmers alike. 4. Our core team is small to keep payroll down. We work with a network of function-specific partners, and have outsourced a number of labor-intensive operation roles to make our expenses variable rather than fixed (ie for production, we pay per unit rather than having a full-time production team.) We believe this approach of contracting out logistics keeps us lean, allowing us to focus where we can uniquely shine (ie working with farmers and marketing their tea), while also positioning us well for scalable growth, as our logistic partners can handle high volumes. 4. We've been happy to have high rankings and strong reviews of our teas from the first day we've been in business. As a avid tea drinkers ourselves, we understand the needs and desires of the markets we serve. It's a joy to be able to make the teas you dream about drinking!
- Q: There seems to be a lot of loans taken and debt. Have these loans been paid off?
  - A: Thanks for asking, Brian. We were asked to upload all debt the company has ever taken, so the figures here include debt that has been paid off. At present, our monthly payments are ~$4.4k/mo with a weighted average of 6-7% APR depending on the monthly credit card balance. All term debt is held by flexible lenders, ie CDFIs, foundations, and individual friends and family members. If debt repayment ever becomes a challenge, we can opt to either request flexibility with the lenders (ie switch to interest-only for a period), or convert the debt to equity. It's certainly something we keep a close eye on, and review during our monthly Finance Committee meetings. At this point, we feel confident that with our monthly payments and monthly revenue, it's not an overburden on the business. Hope that helps, happy to chat more if you'd like!