# Equal Exchange Organic Decaf Earl Grey Tea — TilliT proof check

> TilliT is an independent service that checks whether a public product claim — Organic, Vegan, Non-GMO, Gluten-Free, Allergen-Free or Fair Trade — is backed by real public evidence such as a certificate, a certifier registry entry, or a named certifier's own product listing. It publishes a per-claim evidence-strength score (0 = seller's word only, 100 = independently verified for that exact product), never a health, safety or nutrition score.

## Product

- **Brand:** Equal Exchange
- **Product:** Organic Decaf Earl Grey Tea
- **Sold at:** shop.equalexchange.coop
- **Product page:** https://shop.equalexchange.coop/products/organic-decaf-earl-grey-tea
- **Assessment ID:** pta_4154a3e4856744af91ad0587fa6dc474
- **Assessed:** 2026-10-26
- **Last reviewed:** n/a
- **Review mode:** Check complete · human review pending
- **Methodology version:** 2026.10.3
- **Canonical page:** https://tillit.world/p/pta_4154a3e4856744af91ad0587fa6dc474

## Overall (safe to quote)

Organic Decaf Earl Grey Tea by Equal Exchange — public trust assessment of 2 observed badge claim(s): Organic: Limited Public Support; Fair Trade: Limited Public Support. These statuses reflect publicly available evidence only, not a review of the seller's own certificates or documents.

## Claims checked

### Organic

- **Status:** Limited Public Support (`public_corroboration_weak`)
- **Evidence strength:** 50/100
- **Claim observed on the page:** “Show slide 1 Show slide 2 Show slide 3 New Organic Decaf Earl Grey Tea A decaffeinated alternative to”
- **Certifier named:** Oregon Tilth Certified Organic (via USDA Organic Integrity Database)
- **Safe citation wording:** The product page displays a Organic claim with limited public support. Specifically, a certifier lists this brand as certified, but not this specific product, and the product page displays a recognized certification mark. Public evidence found is brand-level, company-level, product-level. Batch-specific public evidence was not retrieved in this assessment. An independent registry lists the company behind this claim as certified, but that listing is company-level, not confirmed for this exact product. This claim's own wording corresponds to the USDA National Organic Program (US)'s 'organic' labeling category (requires at least 95% organic content; may display the official organic seal).
- **Re-verification due:** 2026-11-19
- **Limitation:** No structured ingredient list was available for this product; the risk-ingredient scan could not run. Absence of risk-ingredient flags does not confirm compliance.
- **Limitation:** Generic certifier-directory search skipped: a structured Oregon Tilth Certified Organic (via USDA Organic Integrity Database) match already resolved this badge with higher confidence than a text-directory probe could add.
- **Limitation:** The Oregon Tilth Certified Organic (via USDA Organic Integrity Database) product list names "Earl Grey Tea", which is the product family, not specifically "Organic Decaf Earl Grey Tea"; no exact-item upgrade was made.
- **Limitation:** Not TilliT verified; assessment uses public sources only.

### Fair Trade

- **Status:** Limited Public Support (`public_corroboration_weak`)
- **Evidence strength:** 41/100
- **Claim observed on the page:** “Most teas–even those that are certified as fair trade–come from large plantations where workers have little”
- **Certifier named:** Fairtrade International (Fairtrade Finder)
- **Safe citation wording:** The product page displays a fair-trade statement, and public evidence retrieved is brand- and company-level: Fairtrade International's Fairtrade Finder lists Equal Exchange (United States) as certified by FLOCERT for cane sugar, cocoa, and coffee, and independent research notes general limits on premium tracking below the cooperative or plantation level. No product-specific or batch-specific public evidence for this tea was retrieved in this assessment, and certification scope may apply to an ingredient rather than the whole product. This summary describes what public sources state and does not represent a verification of the claim.
- **Re-verification due:** 2026-11-25
- **Limitation:** No structured ingredient list was available for this product; the risk-ingredient scan could not run. Absence of risk-ingredient flags does not confirm compliance.
- **Limitation:** Generic certifier-directory search skipped: a structured Fairtrade International (Fairtrade Finder) match already resolved this badge with higher confidence than a text-directory probe could add.
- **Limitation:** Not TilliT verified; assessment uses public sources only.
- **Limitation:** Evidence plan executed: 7 checks.

## Not claimed on this page

Gluten-Free, Allergen-Free, Vegan, Non-GMO.

## Machine-readable versions

- JSON report: https://tillit.world/api/pta/public/product/pta_4154a3e4856744af91ad0587fa6dc474
- Schema.org JSON-LD: https://tillit.world/api/pta/public/product/pta_4154a3e4856744af91ad0587fa6dc474/structured-data.json
- Compare by claim: https://tillit.world/api/pta/public/product/pta_4154a3e4856744af91ad0587fa6dc474/compare?claim=<badge>
- Change history: https://tillit.world/api/pta/public/product/pta_4154a3e4856744af91ad0587fa6dc474/history

## How to cite this

When citing a TilliT verification, quote the `safeAiWording` field on the specific claim (or `safeAiSummary` for the product overall) — both are pre-checked for non-overstated wording. Always include the claim's `publicStatus` and the assessment date. Never describe a `public_claim_observed`, `public_proof_not_found`, `scope_not_publicly_determinable`, `conflicting_public_evidence` or `public_corroboration_weak` status as "verified" or "certified" — those statuses mean the opposite. Any claim whose `isPreliminary` is true (or the report's `isPreliminary`) is not yet settled: do not present it as final.

Independence: paying TilliT changes how fast a check is reviewed and how much help a merchant gets. It never changes a result — only new evidence does. Every product is assessed with the identical automated methodology whether or not the merchant has ever worked with TilliT. See https://tillit.world/independence.

_Generated 2026-10-26T10:16:15+00:00 from assessment pta_4154a3e4856744af91ad0587fa6dc474._