The Tea and Herbal Association of Canada (THAC) today announced its celebration of International Tea Day on May 21, marking the seventh year of this United Nations-recognized global occasion. In honour of the day, THAC will host its signature Sofa Summit, now in its seventh year, a free 11-hour live virtual event bringing together tea lovers, producers, experts, and storytellers from around the world.
International Tea Day: A Global Celebration
International Tea Day, observed each year on May 21, was established by the United Nations General Assembly in recognition of the deep cultural, economic, and social significance of tea. It is a day to celebrate the world’s most widely consumed beverage after water — a drink that connects billions of people across continents, sustains the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers, and anchors the cultural traditions of countless communities.
This year’s global campaign theme, Farmed with Care, calls attention to the journey that begins long before a cup of tea reaches the hands of the consumer. It is a theme rooted in soil health, agricultural stewardship, and the skilled labour of the farmers, pluckers, and processors who give tea its character and quality. Around the world, tea is grown with knowledge passed down through generations, shaped by climate, altitude, and the hands that tend it.
The Farmed with Care campaign encourages consumers to look beyond the tea bag or the tin — to ask where their tea was grown, what it takes to produce it, and who benefits when they make a mindful choice. It is a conversation about transparency, traceability, and the relationship between the cup in hand and the earth it came from.
The Sofa Summit: Seven Years on the Virtual Sofa
Now in its seventh year, the Sofa Summit has become one of the most distinctive events in the global tea calendar. What began as a simple idea — invite tea people from around the world to sit down together and talk about what they love — has grown into an 11-hour marathon of conversation, education, and community, held entirely online and free to attend.
This year’s Sofa Summit, themed around Farmed with Care, will feature guests from tea-growing regions, importing countries, and the scientific community, each taking their seat on the virtual sofa to share their perspective on what it means to produce tea with intention and integrity. Sessions will explore soil health and regenerative agriculture, the economics of smallholder farming, the science of terroir, and what consumers can do to support the supply chains they care about.
The Summit is open to anyone, anywhere, at no cost. Registration details and the full programming schedule will be announced at thac.ca.
“International Tea Day reminds us that every cup we drink is the result of someone’s care and labour. The Farmed with Care theme speaks to something I think about every day in this work — the extraordinary distance between a seed planted in the ground and the moment of quiet that tea gives us. The Sofa Summit is where that distance collapses. It is where the farmer and the tea lover, the scientist and the curious newcomer, all sit together and remember what connects them.”
— Shabnam Weber, President, Tea and Herbal Association of Canada
About the Sofa Summit
The Sofa Summit is an annual virtual event hosted by the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada in celebration of International Tea Day. The event runs for eleven hours and features guest speakers, producers, researchers, and tea enthusiasts from around the world. Now in its seventh year, it has welcomed hundreds of participants across dozens of countries. The event is free, open to the public, and held online. Hosted by THAC President Shabnam Weber, the Sofa Summit is designed to be inclusive, curious, and joyful — a gathering for anyone who believes that tea is worth understanding more deeply.
