About us

Established in November 2015 by John Grams and Avantika Jalan, Mana USA is an innovative tea company that brings you the finest Assam teas that have a long family heritage and a great social mission.

Mana USA directly sources its tea from the award winning, organic tea estate Chota Tingrai. Chota Tingrai is famous for highest quality, organic black tea, and is making a name for itself in green tea innovation. We work with garden management to ensure fair and equal opportunity to all and continue to improve our social welfare systems to create a progressive, self-sustaining, strong community. Learn more about our social projects here.

Additionally, Mana USA supports several social and environmentally sustainable projects in rural India.  We work closely with small tea growers in Assam to help them improve their tea cultivation practice and increase their incomes.

By buying Mana USA, you not only enjoy a great cup of tea, but also support tea growing communities, organic producers, and the environment.

Our Team

 

John Grams is the managing director of Mana USA. He travels to India frequently to work with our partner estates to source high quality teas, understand their operations and help develop their social projects. He is passionate about delivering a product that benefits tea drinkers, tea growers, and the planet.

John has over 4 years of experience as a consultant on social development projects in India, Thailand, and Mongolia for clients such as the World Bank and UNFAO. He served in the Peace Corps from 2009-2011. John holds a Masters of Development Practice from UC Berkeley.

 

 

 

Avantika Jalan is the founder and managing member of Mana USA. Avantika is an experienced tea grower and understands the nuances of tea manufacture. Her goal is to bring innovation and sustainability to the tea plantations. She works on several social projects, and manages the organic systems in the estates our tea comes from.

Avantika is also the managing director and founder of our Indian partner, Mana Organics Pvt. Ltd.  Avantika holds a Masters of Development Practice from UC Berkeley.

Our Partner Mana Organics India

Mana Organics is a social enterprise in India that manages the organic tea cultivation and manufacture. Mana Organics creates job opportunities for local tea estate workers by employing them to become organic trainers, managers and independent cultivators. Mana Organics has been working with tea estates in Upper Assam for five years, and has converted several hectares of tea to organic using sustainable farming methods. Mana Organics runs social projects in the communities it works with. All Mana products are certified organic and ethically produced. Mana USA and Mana Organics are sister concerns that are managed by John and Avantika respectively.

For more information on Mana Organics, visit there website here.

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