Tea was once a terrifically popular tipple in Canada, but it fell out of favour during the coffee culture of the 1990s. However, it’s making a comeback thanks in part to local tea merchants such as Bryce Watts, an ethnobotanist and the owner of Voyageur Teas. Tea not only refreshes the palette, it can cleanse our mind and body too, he says.
While studying anthropology at UBC, Watts wanted to start a business that would combine his passions for people and plants. Inspired by his studies, he started researching remedies for ailments such as colds and flu, and began creating tea blends with medicinal properties.
Watts now has a stall at Squamish Farmers’ Market selling medicinal teas using B.C.-grown ingredients, all harvested by him. The ingredients include stinging nettles, berries, willow and salal leaves. Harvesting is enjoyable but not always without incident – he once fell in a river swollen from flooding while trying to harvest willow.
All the ingredients are then processed by hand before blending, he says. Watts explains he’s been experimenting recently by processing stinging nettles five different ways using traditional methods, each of which produced a tea that tasted unique. “The results were totally different,” he says.
At the moment, his stinging nettle tea is popular because it’s good for many things, he says, and it’s one people have generally heard about. “It’s a really good spring tonic and really high in iron… People use it as a pick-me-up.” It’s also really good for seasonal allergies, he says, and may be linked with helping arthritis.
Willow is also popular because it acts as a natural pain reliever, he says, and it tastes good too. He’s also working on blends he hopes will help promote sleep, aid relaxation and ease hot flashes.
But you don’t have to have an ailment to enjoy his tea, he explains. “I always tell people it’s not like taking pharma-ceuticals… It’s a herbal remedy so you can drink it even when you don’t have symptoms.” He’s also creating some iced rose and elderflower teas that are purely for pleasure.
Though Watts loves blending tea, his real passion is his non-profit organization, the Forager Foundation, he explains. “The foundation focuses on promoting traditional knowledge to people, getting them out into nature, and teaching them about medicinal, edible plants.”
Five per cent of his tea sales help fund foundation initiatives such as his garden project in Tanzania teaching the community about local plants and their uses. “A lot of times that knowledge isn’t passed on because there’s a new clinic where you can just get Advil… But sometimes it’s not that accessible for rural communities, so we have this program.”
Watts also runs local traditional knowledge tours, taking people out for the day to learn more about the medicinal, edible plants around them.
To learn more, visit Voyageur Teas at the Summer Farmers’ Market, held downtown every Saturday, or go to www.voyageurteas.ca or www.foragerfoundation.org.
