Armenia, a country located in the South Caucasus region, is an ancient civilisation where East meets West. For thousands of years Armenia has been at the forefront of agriculture and viniculture, being home to the world’s oldest winery, discovered in the “Areni-1” cave in Vayots Dzor (dating back to c. 4100 BC), having domesticated wild almonds and being the first country to cultivate apricots (hence the Latin name “prunusarmeniaca”).
For over 7,000 years, the tradition of gathering and blending wild herbs has been an integral part of daily life for the Armenian people. The methods of collection, processing and brewing have been passed down from generation to generation. Historically, an herbal infusion would be brewed to share with family and friends at social gatherings.
The majority of our wildcrafted herbal infusions grow in the pristine alpine meadows of the Lori region, at an altitude of 1,200 – 2,100m above sea level.
70 acres of forest has been leased from the Forestry Department of Armenia and protected from environmental pollution originating in human activity for over 20 years.
Once a year residents of the village of Odzun, with an intimate knowledge of their immediate natural environment and supervised by ethnobotanist Dr. Armen Mehrabyan, gather together to collect and process herbs, in accordance with traditions originating from ancient manuscripts and sustainability standards. The harvest area is rotated each year to allow the herbs to grow back after natural multiplication by foragers.
All wild herbs are delicately and sustainably handpicked using traditional tools, taking into account the phases of the moon and sun, the time of flowering and plant specifications. Once undergoing quality control checks, selected plants are then carefully aerated and washed with rainwater to remove dust before being dried naturally.
The wild herbs undergo a drying and fermentation process in drying houses with 250 year-old special tiles. In short, all processing is done by hand and our teas are untouched by machinery throughout this entire process.
Our herbals teas are not only delicious and healthy, but represent thousands of years of history and traditions which are unassumingly supplied for your enjoyment.
This year the harvest was at the start of July.
