Selling tea needs the ordinary business layers, a registered name, a tax license, local licenses where required, and a food path. Dried tea and herbal blends don't need time or temperature control to stay safe, which is the kind of food cottage food and homemade food rules cover in a lot of states: you blend at home, label it the way your state says, and sell directly, sometimes to shops too. A home kitchen isn't a food facility under FDA's registration rule, so it doesn't register; a commercial kitchen or a co-packer that makes it for shops does. The rule that catches tea sellers is the health claim: a tea sold to treat, cure or prevent a disease is a drug under federal law, so "detox" and "cures colds" don't belong on the label. In the example below, an Oʻahu tea blender sorts its licenses. Below are the layers, the claims rule, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Business layers: a business name, a tax license, local licenses where required.
- Dried tea blends are the kind of food cottage and homemade food rules cover in a lot of states.
- Home kitchens follow their state's label and training rules, and some states allow sales to shops.
- A private residence isn't an FDA food facility, so it doesn't register.
- A commercial kitchen or co-packer making tea for stores registers with FDA.
- No disease claims: a tea sold to treat or prevent a disease is a drug.
- Label the name, net weight, ingredients, allergens, and your name and place.
- TaroStack keeps each blend's lot, and which tea and herb lots went into it. More below.
The layers
| Layer | Who issues it | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Business name and tax license | State and city | The ordinary business layers |
| Cottage or homemade food | State or local health department | Whether dried teas are allowed, the label, training, where you can sell |
| Food permit | State or local health department | For a commercial or shared kitchen |
| FDA facility registration | FDA | For a facility that makes, packs or holds food; a private residence isn't one |
| Claims | FDA | No claims to treat, cure or prevent disease |
FDA's definition of a facility, which leaves out the private residence of an individual, is in 21 CFR 1.227. How a cottage food business starts is in how to start a cottage food business. This is general information, not legal advice.
Claims
Under 21 U.S.C. 321(g)(1), an article intended to cure, mitigate, treat or prevent disease is a drug, and a tea whose label or website says so is regulated as one. Describe the tea instead: what's in it, how it tastes, where the leaves grew, how to brew it. A blend with hibiscus "for a tart, bright cup" is food; one "to lower blood pressure" is not. How the label works is in food labeling requirements for small business.
An example: an Oʻahu tea blender
Māmaki Mana Tea, the made-up tea company on Oʻahu I use in these examples, blends loose-leaf māmaki and hibiscus at home for two markets and online orders in Hawaii, and has its sachets made by an island co-packer for cafés and gift shops:
| Layer | Status |
|---|---|
| Trade name and Hawaii general excise tax license ($20, once) | Done, June 2025 |
| Homemade food operation under HAR 11-50, for the loose-leaf blends | Done, June 2025: no permit, DOH's label |
| Food safety training | Done, June 2025 |
| Labels | Done: name, net weight, ingredients, name and address, DOH's homemade food statement |
| FDA facility registration | Not needed for the home kitchen; the co-packer's plant registers |
| Claims | Checked: the website says "earthy and bright", not "detox" |
| Market permits | Done for 2026 |
| Product liability insurance | Done February 1, 2026; renews February 1, 2027 |
The sachets for gift shops come from the co-packer's licensed, registered plant; the loose-leaf blends stay homemade food. Hawaii's rules are in Hawaii cottage food law, the co-packer in tea co-packer, and the packaging in how to package loose leaf tea for sale.
Get the checklist
Download the tea business license checklist. One sheet: each layer, who issues it, what it is, whether you need it, the cost, the date done and the renewal date; the status and the total cost fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Loose-leaf blends made at home, sachets from a co-packer, and leaf bought in lots from two farms: a checklist doesn't say which farm's leaf is in which blend, or how many sachets the co-packer still holds.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each blend's lot, and which tea and herb lots went into it.
Each blend a batch. A blend is a batch that records the māmaki and hibiscus lots it used, automatically, gets a lot and best-by date, and lot labels print for the pouches.
The co-packer as a site. The co-packer's premises can be a site, with transfers in and out, so the sachets it holds are counted; more than one site is on Standard at $99 a month.
Where it went. Each gift shop's order records the lots it got, so one recall report shows every customer a blend reached.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which farm's leaf is in a blend | Not recorded | Lots recorded on the batch |
| Sachets at the co-packer | Ask them | Stock at their site |
| Which gift shops got a blend | Invoices | One recall report |
Lots, batches and recipes are on every plan, from $49 a month; more than one site is on Standard at $99. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.