The Real Mr. Tea ("we", "us") sells loose leaf tea, runs a mobile tea cart and hosts tea classes in Mt. Washington, Kentucky. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have. We have tried to write it in plain English rather than legalese.

Who we are

The Real Mr. Tea, Mt. Washington, Kentucky 40047, United States. For any privacy question or request, email ryan@therealmrtea.com. We are the controller of the information described here.

Information we collect

Information you give us

Orders. Your name, email address, phone number, and billing and shipping addresses, plus what you ordered and any delivery preferences.
Event registrations. Your name, email address, phone number, how many tickets, and for virtual tickets a postal address so we can send your tea.
Contact and booking enquiries. Your name, email, phone, event type and date, and whatever you write in your message.
Wholesale applications. Your business name, type, website or social handle, email, and how you intend to use our tea.
Job applications. Your name, contact details, location, availability, work history, and any résumé you upload.
Product reviews. The name you choose to display, your rating and your review text.
Accounts. If you create one, your email address and a securely hashed password. We never store your password in readable form.

Payment information

We never see or store your card details. Card payments are handled entirely by Stripe on Stripe's own checkout page. We receive only the result of the payment, the amount, and the billing and shipping addresses you gave Stripe. Stripe's handling of your data is covered by Stripe's privacy policy.

Information collected automatically

Analytics. We use Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager to understand which pages people visit and how they found us. This involves cookies and collects your approximate location, device and browser type, and the pages you view.
Page views. We keep our own basic record of page visits to see what content is useful.
Security. Our forms use Cloudflare Turnstile to block automated spam. It inspects browser signals to judge whether a submission is from a real person.

How we use your information

To take payment for, pack and ship your order, and to handle any problem with it
To register you for an event and send your ticket, reminders and the venue or Zoom details
To reply to your enquiry, booking request, wholesale application or job application
To publish a review you chose to submit, after we have checked it
To send pop-up location updates by text, if you asked for them
To understand how the site is used so we can improve it
To keep the site secure and prevent fraud and spam
To meet our tax, accounting and other legal obligations

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with anyone for their own marketing.

Marketing and text messages

Our pop-up location updates are opt-in: you receive them only if you text START to the number we publish. Reply STOP at any time to stop them, or HELP for assistance. Message and data rates may apply and message frequency varies. Transactional messages and emails about an order or event you booked are not marketing and will still be sent.

Who we share information with

We share only what each provider needs in order to do its job for us, and none of them are permitted to use your information for their own purposes.

Payment processors, to take payment and prevent fraud. We currently use Stripe, who receive your card details directly and share only the result with us.
Hosting and infrastructure providers, who run the website, the database and the storage behind it.
Email and messaging providers, to send your order confirmations, tickets, reminders and replies to your enquiries.
Analytics providers, to tell us which pages people visit and how they found us. We currently use Google Analytics.
Security and anti-spam providers, to keep automated submissions off our forms.

Named examples are the providers in use when this policy was written. We may change provider within a category without updating this page, but we will not start sharing your information for a new purpose without saying so here.

We may also disclose information where the law requires it, or to protect our rights, safety or property. If the business is ever sold or transferred, customer information may transfer with it.

How long we keep it

Orders and event registrations: at least seven years, because tax and accounting rules require it
Enquiries, wholesale and job applications: up to three years, so we can follow up and keep a record
Account details: for as long as your account is open
Analytics: according to Google's retention settings, currently no more than fourteen months

Your rights

Wherever you live, you may ask us to show you the personal information we hold about you, correct it if it is wrong, or delete it. You may also opt out of marketing at any time. Email ryan@therealmrtea.com and we will respond within 30 days. We will not treat you differently for exercising any of these rights.

Note that we may need to keep records of completed orders even after a deletion request, where tax law requires it.

If you are in California

The CCPA gives you the right to know what personal information we collect and why, to request deletion, to correct inaccurate information, and to opt out of its sale or sharing. We do not sell or share personal information as the CCPA defines those terms, so there is nothing to opt out of, but the other rights apply and you can exercise them at the address above.

If you are in the EU or UK

Our lawful bases are performance of a contract (fulfilling your order or registration), legitimate interests (running and securing the site, answering enquiries), consent (text updates and analytics cookies), and legal obligation (tax records). You also have the right to data portability and to object to processing, and you may complain to your local supervisory authority.

Cookies

We use cookies that are strictly necessary to run the site, such as keeping your cart and your login session, and analytics cookies set by Google. Most browsers let you block or delete cookies in their settings. Blocking the necessary ones will break the cart and checkout. You can opt out of Google Analytics specifically with Google's browser add-on.

Security

The site runs over HTTPS, payments are handled by a PCI-compliant processor, passwords are stored hashed, and administrative access is restricted. No system is perfectly secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we take it seriously and will tell you promptly if a breach affects your information.

Children

This site is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child has given us personal information, email us and we will delete it.

Where your information is held

We operate in the United States and our providers store information there. If you use the site from outside the US, your information will be transferred to and processed in the US, where privacy law may differ from your own.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy we will update the effective date at the top of the page. Where a change is significant we will do more to tell you about it.

Contact

Questions, requests or complaints: ryan@therealmrtea.com. See also our Terms of Service.

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