Our Mission

Runa promotes healthy lifestyles and livelihoods by connecting producers and consumers through sustainable Amazonian products.

We believe that it’s time for a new kind of energy. Energy that allows us to live a stimulating life: fully engaged and full of curiosity. Energy to do more of what we love and are called to do. Sustainable energy that attracts, connects, expands, and propels us into the world with a clear mind and an open heart.

Runa buys guayusa directly from the Napo Runa Artisan Association of guayusa farmers in Napo, Ecuador. Runa works with the Association and Fundación Runa, an Ecuadorian non-profit organization, to ensure Fair Trade practices that promote the social and environmental integrity of guayusa production.

Our Values

  1. We live a Runa lifestyle

    Our whole team at Runa shares a commitment to be awake as "fully living human beings," and serve as contributing members in our families, communities, and friendships.

  2. We aim to run a business like a guayusa ceremony

    Where individuals are woven into the stories they tell, where communities find inspiration and power in the simple act of sharing, and where caffeine is treasured for the divine resource that it is.

  3. Transparency

    We are committed to transparency and traceability with our producers, clients, and employees, and recognize the importance of exchange through all levels of the value chain. We want our employees and partners to know who we are, what we stand for, and how we do business.

  4. Work Hard & Celebrate Life

    We have a lot of good we want to create in the world, so we enjoy pushing ourselves and one another to accomplish our goals.  In order to be effective and inspired in our work, we also take time to enjoy life and rock out.  We dance, laugh, refresh, and appreciate.

  5. Markets should be used as tools for good

    Rather than exploiting producers and destroying the environment, we believe that businesses have the responsibility and opportunity to create livelihoods and inspire positive change. Trade is a powerful tool that can help us build deeper bonds as a global community. Exchange is what helps us learn each other's stories through the goods that carry them.

  6. Small Farmers Deserve Respect & Opportunity

    Runa purchases 100% of its fresh guayusa leaves from indigenous farming families, a truly unique practice in the world of tea. Additionally, whenever we have new job opportunities we look to the farmers first.

  7. Development with Identity

    We carry the name Runa with pride and profound respect for the indigenous Kichwa people whose cultural heritage we represent. Rather than imposing an idea of development in Ecuador that only fulfills specific development indicators and perpetuate dependency, we support the indigenous people in creating sustainable livelihoods on their own terms while maintaining and sharing their unique identity as people. Indigenous traditions do indeed have real value today.

  8. We're all people!

    When working with indigenous Amazonian communities, we focus on the shared humanity that brings us together and are attentive not to overly exotify our partners and thus distance them as "others."

  9. Cultures are Evolutionary

    Indigenous cultures and their stories are by nature evolutionary, growing and changing with their environment.  We believe that cultural preservation or conservation is less important than creating opportunities and spaces for these cultures to grow and find their place in a modern context.

  10. The Amazon Rainforest is a LIVED place

    Often in global environmental dialogs the Amazon is portrayed as a litany of statistics (deforestation rates, population growth, etc.). In contrast, Runa primarily focuses on the lived experience of today's indigenous inhabitants of the Amazon as their home and is committed to supporting these communities as the principal stewards of this globally important place.


    Photo taken by ©Caroline Bennett