The satisfaction of offering people a unique natural product

“I come from Rauna, but now I live in Cēsis, where I also work,” says Anete Anna Cūberga. For several years now, her passion has been collecting herbal teas and preparing them for the market.

“Everything started as a hobby. At that moment, I lived in a place that made me understand that you can get a lot from nature. Our house is surrounded by clean meadows – with red clover, yarrow, yarrow, rospodina,” says Anete and says that she grows mint for tea herself.

The work with herbal teas started with linden flowers. “There are also two linden alleys near the house where you can pick flowers, and their tea is one of the most popular. Then I realized that this occupation can be “on-the-go”, that I can also earn from it.”

In the beginning, Anete collected, dried and packed for sale only, as she says, “mono teas” or single plant teas. “Mint, linden, clover and yarrow teas without admixture. However, I realized that I want to experiment and try something new, to add to the assortment, because it is clear that people have an understanding of herbal teas,” says Anete. “Then I started making tea blends. One of the popular ones that people really love and will definitely need to make more of next season is the ‘Meadow Flower Tea’ blend. Its composition includes red clover, rowan, yarrow. Another very popular is “Breakfast tea”, it contains mint leaves, rose petals, cockstrap. At the top of the most purchased teas is “Vitamin tea”, which also contains rose hips and dried apples. Currently, we have successfully created seven tea blends and 13 different mono teas.”

For now, Anete markets her products without intermediaries, using direct communication with buyers on social networks, as well as participating in fairs. She doesn’t have her own company yet, but before she started working with teas, she participated in the competition “Laukiem beut!”, which supports young people to start a business, giving them the opportunity to gain business-related knowledge “It was very inspiring lessons. That’s how the idea of ​​tea production came about, although for now I’m a small home producer, if you can say so,” says Anete.

Anete is not alone when working with teas, but a reliable team is needed to get everything done. A great help is Anete’s mother Baiba, who participates in the collection of medicinal plants, and her friend Maksims. Without his support and creative approach to the development of the visual identity of the product, hardly anything would have succeeded.

“Currently, I am working quite actively to be able to offer more teas next season. This season, we have participated in many fairs, including in winter, and all the teas prepared in summer are almost sold out,” said Anete, adding that people’s great interest in her products gives her the excitement to work even harder and add to the assortment, creating new combinations of flavors. “We hope to create at least four new flavor blends this season,” says Anette.

When creating tea combinations, the medicinal properties of each plant are taken into account. “Each of our teas has a description on the package, what exactly is the use and health benefits of this mixture: what is useful for rospodin, St. John’s wort or yarrow. In the wet and wintry beginning of spring, people are very interested in yarrow, which is known to help against coughs and runny noses. Instead of medication, more and more people prefer to use herbal teas,” adds Anete.

Although picking teas is quite time-consuming, the work is worthwhile because you have to spend a lot of time in the fresh air, in nature. “Each plant must be harvested at the right moment – both in terms of growth and weather. It has happened that in the summer, during the most active phase of tea collection, you can’t see anything else, neither relaxation by the sea nor any events,” Anete shares her experience and adds that, basically, the collection of plants takes place throughout the summer – from May until the end of August.

Drying plants is also a specific and nuanced process. “When drying cornflowers, it is important not to lose the blue color. Also, care should be taken with the marigold and rose petals in order to preserve the characteristic aroma and color. It is important that the temperature is even, so that it is neither too high nor too low”, Anete shares her observations, admitting that the work is time-consuming and quite complicated, however, the satisfaction of being able to create a unique product and people appreciate it is irreplaceable .

Anete says that she herself has never tasted herbal teas that much. “The only thing that really tasted good was the mint tea. You could say that I also collect mints. There are not many varieties yet, but each one has its own taste: there is mint with an orange aroma, mint tea with a chocolate aroma, and others.

Anete’s other business and passion is growing seedlings. “This spring, I will offer seedlings of five types of peppers and several varieties of tomatoes, as well as seedlings of cucumbers, zucchini, cabbage and pumpkins. On social networks, people are already booking what they want,” says Anete and adds that the fishing season is currently active, which is a time-consuming and painstaking job.