To legally sell tea and coffee in the United States, you need a license to sell tea and coffee that typically bundles three things: a registered business, a sales tax permit from your state, and a food-related permit from your local health department. Roasting, blending, or packaging adds federal FDA registration on top. Importing beans or leaves adds a separate layer of customs and FDA prior-notice requirements. The exact mix depends on whether you sell sealed packages or prepared drinks, where you operate, and whether your supply chain crosses a border.
Packaged Goods vs. Prepared Drinks
This is the single distinction that drives most of your paperwork. Selling sealed bags of whole-bean coffee, ground coffee, or loose-leaf tea is the lighter regulatory path. Many jurisdictions do not require a full food service permit for operations that only offer pre-packaged goods that don’t need temperature control. You still need a general business registration and a sales tax permit, but you can often skip the health department inspection cafes go through. Rules vary, so confirm with your local health department before assuming you’re exempt.
The moment you brew a cup for a customer, you’re running a food service establishment. That triggers local health department oversight and requires a retail food establishment license or food service permit. Getting it means submitting facility plans for review and passing an inspection covering sanitation, food storage, water supply, and preparation areas. The inspection happens before the permit issues, not after you open.
Business Registration and Local Licenses
Before any industry-specific permit, you need a legal business entity. A sole proprietorship is the simplest and in most cases requires no formal state filing; an LLC offers more protection for your personal assets if things go wrong.1U.S. Small Business Administration. Choose a Business Structure
Most cities and counties also require a local business license or registration, with fees and specifics tied to your location and activity. Restaurants and retail operations are commonly regulated at this level.2U.S. Small Business Administration. Apply for Licenses and Permits Contact your city or county clerk to see what applies, and track renewal dates, because local licenses often expire and lapsing creates compliance problems.
Food Handler and Manager Certifications
If you prepare drinks, employees who handle food or beverages typically need individual food handler permits. The process involves a food safety training course and an exam, and the resulting certificate is usually valid for two to three years depending on jurisdiction. Many jurisdictions also require at least one person on staff, usually a manager, to hold a higher-level food protection manager certification, which involves a longer course and a more rigorous exam. Budget for both during hiring, because staff generally can’t start handling food until the certification is in hand.
FDA Registration for Roasting, Blending, and Packaging
If you roast coffee, blend tea, or package either product for sale, your facility likely qualifies as one that manufactures, processes, packs, or holds food. Under federal law, the owner or operator must register the facility with the FDA.3U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Registration and Listing Registration is done through the FDA’s online system and renewed every other year during the October-to-December window.
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) then requires most food facilities to develop and maintain a written food safety plan with hazard analysis and preventive controls. The plan must be prepared or overseen by someone trained as a “preventive controls qualified individual.”
Smaller operations get a meaningful break. Businesses that average less than $1 million per year in food sales (adjusted annually for inflation) qualify as a “very small business” under FSMA and are exempt from the full preventive controls requirements. The most recent FDA inflation adjustment puts that threshold at roughly $1.37 million.4U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FSMA Inflation Adjusted Cut Offs Qualified facilities still have to follow basic good manufacturing practices and submit an attestation to the FDA, but the full hazard analysis and written plan requirement is waived.5U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Frequently Asked Questions on FSMA
Labels on Packaged Tea and Coffee
Federal labeling rules apply to every bag, tin, or box of pre-packaged product. The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act requires three elements on any packaged consumer commodity:
- A clear statement of what’s inside, such as “Organic Green Tea” or “Medium Roast Ground Coffee.”
- The name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor.
- The net quantity of contents in both U.S. customary and metric units, displayed on the principal display panel in a uniform location.
The net quantity statement must appear in the bottom 30 percent of the principal display panel, in bold type that contrasts clearly with the rest of the packaging.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 Chapter 39 – Fair Packaging and Labeling Program Font size scales with the display panel area, so smaller packages can use smaller type, but it still has to be legible and distinct.7eCFR. 21 CFR Part 101 – Food Labeling
You also need a full ingredient list in descending order by weight, a nutrition facts panel that follows FDA formatting rules, and allergen declarations for any of the major food allergens. Getting the nutrition panel right usually means lab testing or FDA-compliant analysis software. A botched label is one of the fastest ways to draw an FDA warning letter.
Permits by Business Model
Your physical setup drives a separate layer of permits beyond the food and health basics.
Brick-and-Mortar Cafe or Shop
A fixed location means dealing with your city or county’s planning and building departments. A zoning permit confirms the property is approved for commercial food service. Build-outs or remodels need a building permit. Before opening, most jurisdictions require a fire department inspection and a Certificate of Occupancy confirming the space meets safety codes.
Grease interceptors catch many cafe owners off guard. If you serve milk-based espresso drinks or any food, local sewer authorities may require a grease trap on a maintenance schedule. Even coffee-only operations can trigger this depending on local rules. Submit drainage plans to the utility authority early, because retrofitting plumbing after build-out is expensive.
Mobile Coffee Cart or Truck
Mobile operations need a mobile food facility permit, which involves a health inspection of the vehicle itself. Most jurisdictions require your cart or truck to operate from a licensed commissary kitchen for cleaning, restocking, and waste disposal. Some agencies will waive the commissary requirement if the vehicle has adequate on-board washing and storage, but don’t count on it.
Mobile vendors often also need vending zone permits or right-of-way permits from local transportation departments that control where and when you can park and sell. Many cities restrict mobile food vendors to specific zones or require minimum distances from brick-and-mortar restaurants. Insurance requirements run higher too, with some cities requiring $1 million or more in general liability coverage.
Home-Based Operations
Every state has some version of a cottage food law allowing small-scale food production from a home kitchen, but the rules vary enormously. The critical question for tea and coffee sellers is whether beverages or roasted products are on the allowed list. Many states limit cottage food to shelf-stable baked goods, candies, and jams. Some explicitly prohibit beverages. A few have broader allowances that could cover dry tea blends or roasted coffee beans. Some states allow dry tea blends under cottage food rules; others have explicitly upheld bans on selling roasted coffee from a home kitchen.
If your state’s cottage food law doesn’t cover your product, you’ll need to produce it in a licensed commercial kitchen, which usually means renting time at a shared-use facility and meeting the same health department standards as any other food business.
Even where cottage food laws apply, they come with limits. Most states cap annual sales, often between $25,000 and $75,000. Many restrict you to direct-to-consumer sales, meaning farmers markets or your front door but not wholesale to a grocery store. Check your state’s department of agriculture or health website for the current list of allowed products and sales caps.
Sales Tax Permit
Selling tangible goods requires a seller’s permit (also called a resale permit or sales tax license) from your state’s department of revenue. This authorizes you to collect sales tax from customers and remit it to the state. Applying usually requires your business name, federal Employer Identification Number if you have one, and an estimate of expected monthly sales. Some states issue the permit free; others charge $5 to $100. Many require periodic renewal.
One nuance matters for this industry: many states exempt grocery items from sales tax, and unbrewed tea and whole-bean or ground coffee often qualify as groceries. The moment you sell a prepared beverage, it’s almost always taxable. If you do both, you may need to track sales tax differently for a bag of beans versus a latte. Your state’s revenue department can clarify which of your products are taxable.
Importing Beans or Leaves
Sourcing directly from overseas adds federal steps on top of everything above.
Most forms of tea and coffee enter the United States duty-free under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Green coffee beans, roasted coffee, green tea, and black tea all carry a general duty rate of “Free” for 2026.8U.S. International Trade Commission. Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (2026) Chapter 9 – Coffee, Tea, Mate and Spices Flavored or processed blends may fall under different tariff headings, so confirm the classification before your first shipment.
Green, unroasted coffee beans imported for commercial use (not planting) do not require a USDA import permit. Customs officers may still inspect shipments for pests like the coffee berry borer or coffee leaf rust.9Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services. Coffee (Seed) Green, Unroasted – Commodity Import Requirements One important boundary: coffee shipments are not admissible for transit through or delivery to Hawaii or Puerto Rico, where local agriculture is more vulnerable to these pests.
Tea imports are subject to FDA examination at the port of entry, and importers of “impure tea” face a statutory prohibition on entry.8U.S. International Trade Commission. Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (2026) Chapter 9 – Coffee, Tea, Mate and Spices
Every food shipment entering the country also requires advance notice to the FDA. The lead time depends on how the food arrives:
- By road, at least 2 hours before arriving at the port of entry.
- By rail, at least 4 hours before arrival.
- By air, at least 4 hours before arrival.
- By sea, at least 8 hours before arrival.
Prior notice is submitted through either the Automated Broker Interface used by customs brokers, or the FDA’s own Prior Notice System Interface. The FDA issues a confirmation number that must accompany the shipment at the port of entry.10eCFR. 21 CFR Part 1 Subpart I – Requirements To Submit Prior Notice of Imported Food Miss this step and your shipment can be held or refused at the border.