THIS IS NOT OUR FIRST REBELLION AGAINST THE MAINSTREAM
In 2017, we left our careers in management and marketing in Estonia to do something different, more meaningful, and connected to nature.
We somehow stumbled upon the abandoned tea plantations of Georgia and the story of how Georgian tea had gone from riches to rags got us hooked. The new understanding of how non-transparent the tea industry is, with little to no information about the origins when buying a box of tea at the supermarket, added another push to our dream to help bring Georgian tea back on the map. We started on a mission to rehabilitate abandoned tea plantations and to build the most transparent tea farm out there.
With no prior experience or knowledge about tea, we restored 40 hectares of plantations, learned the fundamentals of organic tea cultivation, figured out how to produce tea (and even won some awards with them), and built a community that gets their yearly tea supply from Renegade Tea Estate.
With our Georgian tea farm well established and increasingly taken care of by the local team members, we are ready to tell the stories of other forgotten treasures!
The Founding team
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Hannes Saarpuu
The visionary behind the Renegade concept, a self-taught tea master of eight years, now travelling to the far corners of the world in search of the untold stories of coffee-growing communities.
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Kristiina Mehik
After eight years of shaping the story of Renegade Tea Estate, now learning the craft of coffee roasting and bringing you the stories of forgotten coffee communities.
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Tomas Kaziliunas
Having learned tea production from the ground up, now taking the same path with coffee — studying the craft of roasting to share the most Renegade coffees with you.
"Be a little crazy, trust your gut and have courage - then you can make anything happen!" This has been our motto from the start and has helped us through some really rough times!
The Daga team
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Grey Puinam
On a mission to bring Daga coffee back to the world — working with remote mountain communities to revive the craft of coffee growing and strengthen the livelihoods of local families.
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Leroy Devvangu
On a mission to bring Daga coffee back to the world — working with remote mountain communities to revive the craft of coffee growing and strengthen the livelihoods of local families.
