Yes, you generally need a license to sell tea online. At a minimum, most sellers need a general business license from their city or county, some form of food-preparation approval (either cottage food authorization or a licensed commercial kitchen), FDA-compliant labels on every package, and a sales tax permit in each state where they meet the economic nexus threshold. If you import tea or want to call it organic, additional federal registrations apply.
The exact mix depends on whether you blend and package the tea yourself or resell someone else’s packaged product, and whether you ship across state lines or stay local.
Business License and EIN
Before food rules enter the picture, you have to exist as a business. Most cities and counties require a general business operating license before you can legally sell anything within their jurisdiction, and fees vary widely by location.
You also choose a legal structure. Sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs, and corporations each affect how you file taxes and how much personal financial risk you carry.1U.S. Small Business Administration. Choose a Business Structure An LLC is popular with small food businesses because it separates personal assets from business debts.
The IRS issues a federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) for free through its online portal, and the process takes about ten minutes. You need one if your business is an LLC or corporation, or if you plan to hire employees.2Internal Revenue Service. Business Structures Sole proprietors with no employees can technically file taxes under a Social Security number, but most banks require an EIN to open a business account.
Home Kitchen or Commercial Kitchen
Tea is a food product, so public health rules govern where and how you prepare it. Enforcement happens mostly at the state and county level, and the first question is whether you can operate from home under cottage food laws or need a licensed commercial kitchen.
Cottage food laws let you produce certain low-risk foods in a home kitchen without a commercial license. Dry tea blends typically qualify because they have very low moisture content and minimal spoilage risk. The catch is the restrictions. Annual revenue caps in states that impose them range from roughly $3,000 to $250,000. Many states restrict or outright prohibit shipping cottage food products across state lines. Some states that technically allow online cottage food sales still require in-person delivery, which defeats the purpose of running an online store.
If your plan involves interstate shipping, or if you expect to outgrow your state’s cottage food cap, you need a licensed commercial kitchen. That means renting shared commercial space or building out a facility that can pass a health department inspection for sanitation, temperature control, and pest management. The person blending and packaging the tea may also need a food handler’s permit, which involves a short safety course. Some states mandate the permit, others recommend it, and fees run anywhere from under $10 to around $200.
FDA Food Facility Registration
Any facility that manufactures, processes, packs, or holds food for consumption in the United States must register with the FDA, regardless of size.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 21 USC 350d – Registration of Food Facilities If you blend, package, or store tea for sale in a commercial kitchen or warehouse, you almost certainly need to register.4FDA. Registration of Food Facilities and Other Submissions
Farms, restaurants, and retail food establishments that sell directly to consumers are exempt.5eCFR. 21 CFR 1.226 – Who Is Exempt From Registration Home kitchens under cottage food laws may fall inside the retail exemption depending on how the state classifies them, but the exemption is not guaranteed once you ship rather than sell face to face.
Registration is free through the FDA’s online portal. Once you’re in, you must renew between October 1 and December 31 of every even-numbered year. Miss that window and your registration expires and gets removed from the system.6FDA. Food Facility Registration User Guide – Biennial Registration Renewal
Labeling Requirements for Packaged Tea
Federal law under the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act requires accurate labeling on all packaged food sold in the United States.7FDA. Guidance for Industry – Food Labeling Guide Every package of tea must show four things:
- Statement of identity — the common name of the product, like “Green Tea” or “Chamomile Herbal Tea”
- Net quantity by weight
- Ingredient list, in descending order by weight
- Name and address of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor
Nutrition Facts Panel
Plain tea is explicitly exempt from carrying a Nutrition Facts panel because it contains insignificant amounts of all required nutrients. The FDA regulation lists “tea leaves” and “plain unsweetened instant tea” as examples. That exemption disappears the moment you add a nutritive ingredient like sugar or honey, or the moment you put any nutrition claim on the label or in your advertising. A separate small-business exemption exists for companies with fewer than 100 full-time-equivalent employees selling fewer than 100,000 units of a product per year, provided the label makes no nutrition or health claims.8eCFR. 21 CFR 101.9 – Nutrition Labeling of Food
Allergens
If your blend contains any of the nine major food allergens (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, or sesame), you must declare it.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 21 USC 343 – Misbranded Food This comes up more often than sellers expect. Chai blends may contain almond milk powder, dessert teas may include coconut (which the FDA classifies as a tree nut), and flavored blends sometimes use soy-based ingredients. You have two options: print “Contains:” followed by the allergen immediately after the ingredient list, or put the allergen source in parentheses after the relevant ingredient.10FDA. Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA) Flavorings and incidental additives that contain a major allergen are not exempt.
Flavor Declarations
Any characterizing flavor, meaning the flavor the customer would consider the main draw such as “peach” or “vanilla,” must appear on the front of the package. If the flavor comes from natural sources, the flavor name alone suffices. If it comes from artificial sources, the words “artificial” or “artificially flavored” must appear in type at least half the height of the product name.11eCFR. 21 CFR 101.22 – Foods: Labeling of Spices, Flavorings, Colorings, and Chemical Preservatives In the ingredient list, natural and artificial flavors can be declared simply as “natural flavor” or “artificial flavor.”
Health Claims
Tea sellers often want to market antioxidant content, stress relief, or immune support. The FDA draws a sharp line between structure/function claims and disease claims. Saying something like “supports a healthy immune system” is allowed on a conventional food label without prior FDA approval and does not require a disclaimer.12FDA. Structure/Function Claims Claiming that your tea “prevents cancer” or “treats anxiety” crosses into drug-claim territory, which requires FDA approval. The working rule: describe what the tea does for normal body function, and never claim it diagnoses, treats, cures, or prevents a disease. Any nutrition-related claim on the label also triggers the Nutrition Facts panel requirement, even if you would otherwise be exempt.
If You Import Tea
Most tea sold in the United States is imported, so this affects the majority of online sellers. If you source from foreign suppliers, you are considered an “importer” under federal law and must comply with the FDA’s Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP). The rule requires you to perform risk-based verification that your foreign suppliers produce food meeting U.S. safety standards, evaluate each supplier’s practices, keep records, and produce them if the FDA asks.13FDA. Final Rule on Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) Key Requirements
Every shipment of imported food also requires prior notice to the FDA before arrival. The lead time is at least two hours for road, four hours for rail or air, and eight hours for ocean freight.14eCFR. 21 CFR Part 1 Subpart I – Requirements To Submit Prior Notice of Imported Food If tea arrives by international mail, prior notice must be submitted before the package is sent. A customs broker can file it, but the legal responsibility falls on you as the importer. Imported tea is also subject to customs duties that vary by type, processing, and country of origin.
Calling Your Tea Organic
You cannot label tea “organic” without USDA certification through an accredited certifying agent, and your labels must be reviewed and approved before you use them.15Agricultural Marketing Service. Labeling Organic Products The wording you can use depends on how much of the product is actually organic:
- 100% Organic — every ingredient (excluding salt and water) is organic; the USDA seal is allowed
- Organic — at least 95% organic ingredients; the USDA seal is allowed
- Made with Organic — at least 70% organic ingredients; you can name up to three organic ingredients on the front, but not use the USDA seal
- Below 70% — organic ingredients can only be identified in the ingredient list; the word “organic” cannot appear on the front of the package
Without certification, no organic claim goes on the front of the package and the USDA seal cannot appear anywhere. The USDA’s Organic Certification Cost Share Program can reimburse a portion of certification costs for eligible producers and handlers, subject to annual caps.16Farm Service Agency. Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP)
Sales Tax Permits and Economic Nexus
You need a seller’s permit (sometimes called a sales tax license) from your state’s department of revenue before you can collect sales tax from customers. Collecting without one is illegal in most states.
The harder question for an online seller is where else you owe tax. The Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair established that a business does not need physical presence in a state to owe its sales tax.17Supreme Court of the United States. South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. If you exceed a state’s economic nexus threshold, typically $100,000 in annual sales into that state, you must register, collect, and remit its sales tax.
Many states originally paired that dollar threshold with a 200-transaction alternative. That has shifted. South Dakota dropped its transaction count in 2023, and as of mid-2025 over a dozen states that once used the 200-transaction trigger have eliminated it, while another thirteen never had one. Roughly 17 states and territories still use a transaction count as an alternative. Track your sales into each state and register for a seller’s permit whenever you cross a threshold.
One wrinkle: many states exempt groceries from sales tax or tax them at a reduced rate. Whether tea counts as an exempt grocery or a taxable beverage varies by state and sometimes depends on whether it is loose-leaf, bagged, or ready to drink. Check the specific rules in any state where you have nexus before assuming tax applies to every order.
Product Liability Insurance
No law requires a small online tea seller to carry product liability insurance, but going without it is a gamble that gets harder to justify as sales grow. If a customer has an allergic reaction to an undeclared ingredient or claims your product made them sick, a single lawsuit can exceed what most small businesses can absorb. General liability policies for small food businesses typically cost between $500 and $1,500 per year for $1 million in coverage, depending on location, claims history, and sales volume. Many commercial kitchen rentals and wholesale buyers also require proof of insurance before they will work with you.