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About CHAYA
CHAYA is a universe of tea, people, and stories. Our business consists of two tea shops, an online store, Dronning Louise’s Tea House, Paradehuset in Bernstorffsparken, as well as our warehouse and administration. We supply tea and accessories to both private customers and businesses. That comes with responsibility — both environmental and social — and we take that responsibility seriously. We work continuously to reduce waste, protect the climate, and ensure a healthy working environment. Many of our initiatives are carried out in collaboration with skilled suppliers and partners who help us find sustainable solutions.
Our approach
We work with responsibility, holistic thinking, and continuous improvement — striving to consider the environment, people, and our business as interconnected parts of a greater whole.
EMPLOYEES AND THE CHAYA SPIRIT
Our employees are the heart of our company. Some have been with us for more than 25 years. Some are seniors. Others are young people starting out with their first part-time job as “tea scoopers.” This diversity in age and experience helps create the unique CHAYA spirit – a blend of curiosity, stability, humor, and care. We actively work to ensure a safe and respectful workplace with a focus on personal development, mutual trust, and everyday balance.
CUSTOMERS & PARTNERS
CHAYA’s story is closely intertwined with our customers and partners. Many have been with us since the very beginning in 1981 – a sign of trust for which we are both humble and deeply grateful.
We continuously strive to maintain and strengthen these relationships through dialogue, reliability, and genuine presence. At the same time, we welcome new customers and partners with the same openness and respect.
PRODUCTS & SUPPLIERS
Tea is our core product, and we also offer related goods and services that enhance the tea experience. We carefully select our suppliers based on criteria such as quality, integrity, responsibility, and sustainable development. We maintain an ongoing dialogue about everything from working conditions in production to the optimization of packaging and transport.
THE TEABAG
In 2018, we began a collaboration with COWI to examine our tea bag and its environmental and social impact.
This led to tangible improvements:
- Our pyramid tea bags are now 100% plant-based and free from microplastics.
- The bags are industrially compostable and leave no environmentally harmful residue.
That means you should still dispose of the bag with regular household waste, as not all municipal sorting facilities are yet able to handle this process. It also means you can enjoy your tea free from microplastics — and with a reduced carbon footprint, as biodegradable tea bags have a lower CO₂ impact than nylon ones.
MATERIALS, PRINTING & PACKAGING
We use FSC®-certified, Cradle to Cradle™-certified, and biodegradable materials wherever possible — both in our packaging and marketing materials.
Since 2018, we have collaborated with KLS PurePrint, a company striving to become the world’s most sustainable printing house — an ambition we are proud to support. Our brochures, postcards, and printed materials are produced in close partnership with KLS.
In addition, we actively reuse packaging wherever we can — in our shops, warehouse, and shipping processes.
PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY & WASTE MANAGEMENT
We are a member of VANA.dk, which administers producer responsibility for packaging and single-use products.
This means that we:
- Report and pay for the amount of packaging we place on the market
- Ensure that packaging is properly collected, sorted, and recycled
- Conduct ongoing self-monitoring and data documentation
Across all five of our locations, we handle waste management in collaboration with Marius Pedersen A/S, Marius Pedersen A/S, who tracks our waste volumes and provides CO₂ reports that help us reduce our overall environmental footprint.
ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT
An ever-growing share of our teas are organic — across our shops, webshop, and Dronning Louise’s Tea House. We are committed to continuously expanding the range of organic options throughout our assortment, without compromising on quality.
FOOD WASTE & REUSE
We are constantly working to improve our planning and minimize food waste — especially during peak seasons such as Christmas and Easter.
Examples include:
- At Dronning Louise’s Tea House, we generally serve only guests with reservations, which helps reduce waste.
- Leftovers from, for example, afternoon tea are offered to guests in a TreatBox® — a more sustainable alternative to traditional plastic or foil doggy bags.
- In our shops, we significantly reduce prices on seasonal products, items nearing their best-before date, and products being discontinued.
FROM CUP TO COMPOST – BIODIVERSITY
Used tea from Dronning Louise’s Tea House is composted by Haver til Maver – our neighbour in Bernstorffsparken. It’s a school garden project where children learn about natural cycles, sustainability, and food production.
Starting in autumn 2025, our used tea will become part of an educational project on composting and resource cycles. We look forward to this local collaboration and to sharing a little piece of our tea universe with the children.
ENERGY & OPERATIONS
For many years, we have focused on reducing energy consumption — for example, by replacing light sources with LED. We are continuously exploring new opportunities for renewable energy. We use green energy and minimise unnecessary energy use in our warehouse and shops. In addition, we collaborate with our telecom providers to support their efforts towards renewable energy.
COMMUNATION & ENGAGEMENT
We aim to make it easy for our customers to make sustainable choices. We are in ongoing dialogue with both customers and suppliers about where we can make a difference.
We are always open to dialogue and new ideas. If you have suggestions or input, we would love to hear from you.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY & ETHICS
Since 2013, we have been a member of the UN Global Compact and work actively with its ten principles within the areas of:
- Human rights
- Labour rights
- Environment
- Anti-corruption
This applies both internally and in collaboration with our suppliers – especially those responsible for our key raw materials, such as tea. We maintain close dialogue with them about working conditions, ethics, and local impact.
THE UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
We actively support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – in particular Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, as mentioned earlier. We do this by choosing suppliers who prioritise environmental and ethical responsibility, by continuously increasing the share of organic and sustainably grown teas, and by reducing packaging
DONATIONS & SPONSORSHIPS
We regularly make donations and offer sponsorships to initiatives that we believe create real value in society — especially at the local level. Unless otherwise agreed, these contributions take place discreetly between the recipient and CHAYA.
TOGETHER, WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
We don’t have a finished formula — but every day we work to improve our practices, increase transparency, and run a business that takes responsibility.
