My day in cups of tea

Selling ethical goods in a partnership that spans the globe, we asked Aniqah and Naeema of QÄSA QÄSA how their cuppas help to keep them connected

Good morning! How are you? Time for a cuppa? Blinky-eyed! We both like strong tea with milk to wake us up. If time allows, we love masala chai infused with crushed cardamoms. Sometimes we add ginger or saffron, too – the smell captures our heritage; Indian tea spiked with East African spices. Delicious! Tell us what you do

We run an ethical shop offering hand-crafted goods made in East Africa, designing and sourcing everything ourselves. We both work from home (Naeema’s in Singapore and Aniqah’s in the UK) managing different aspects of the business. When we catch up, and there’s always a kettle on in the background. How did you end up doing that? Both of us left our previous jobs to explore an idea that followed our heritage back to East Africa. Our aim was to combine craftsmanship with social good. We travelled around Tanzania and Kenya, launching QÄSA QÄSA in 2015. We now work with community groups, NGOs and Fairtrade companies across six East African countries. We love seeing how it's helped improve the livelihoods of our artisans. It’s a real honour to represent them. Can we toast to that with a cuppa?

Aniqah loves a strong tea with a dash of milk, while Naeema will settle for English breakfast.

What’s on the snack menu?

Always mandazis – a sort of East African doughnut. Yum! And how do you enjoy your down time? Aniqah waters the houseplants or, if feeling decadent, has a tea in the bath with a candle. Naeema often takes time out to go wakeboarding. We both listen to our QÄSA QÄSA playlist, too – it's wonderfully motivating. Can we get you one last cuppa?

It’s a herbal infusion for the pair of us.