It’s chai time, and I’m about to make some of my favorite tea.

Would you like some?

With half of my family from North India, I’m fairly accustomed to the ritual of drinking chai. Not the frothy, ultra-sweet, flavored-milk drink you get from national coffee chains. I mean real chai, made from raw ingredients, and crafted to suit the individual’s preference. And it never fails to surprise me how varied people’s tastes can be.

There is a cause for celebration amongst the crew here at Mountain Rose Herbs — it’s finally still light out at the end of our work days! Though spring is still a ways away, one of our favorite activities this time of year is to invoke the season of new growth with a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. We have a brand new Matcha Set in our online shop that has made these ceremonies so much more enjoyable!

Growing up in the Midwest in the 1980s, my family was the rarity – eating organic salads made with real (not iceberg) lettuce every evening. My trendsetting mom’s insistence on organic leafy greens at the dinner table instilled in me a lifelong love of veggies.

Though it is still mostly cold and dark here in the Willamette Valley, we often close our eyes at this time of year and dream of our bountiful summer gardens. And our dreams got much bigger this year, as we have added several new varieties of seeds.

Check out this gorgeous Gold/Red Cast Iron Teapot that just arrived in our online shop!

This stunning teapot makes an excellent gift for that hard-to-shop-for tea lover. Visually stunning, this cast iron teapot is dark red with golden highlights that create burnt amber undertones.

It has been a cold winter here in the Willamette Valley, and one of our favorite rituals during these dark days is a candlelit, rejuvenating bath. Our friends at Wild Carrot Herbals have been making these scented botanical bath salts, and we are grateful that their handiwork is helping to soothe our weary bodies!

Mountain Rose Herbs is excited to sponsor a variety of incredible events all across the country again this year. While we can't attend them all, we are honored to be involved in someway. From the Oregon Truffle Festival (yum!) in our hometown of Eugene, Oregon, to the New England Women's Herbal Conference, we’re proud to embrace herbalism, organic farming, sustainable forestry, and delicious eats! Hope to see you there.

We have two wonderful new products for all the new mamas out there from our friends at Wild Carrot Herbals in Eastern Oregon: a soothing Botanical Baby Powder and the inimitable Calendula Nipple Whip.

In my household, with all of our food sensitivities, it can be hard to satisfy sweet tooth cravings. Vegan baked goods can often seem dry and bland, and my son has lamented a couple of times that all of the fun things have dairy. Tackling fun recipes within the framework of these limitations can seem overwhelming, especially for those of us who aren't professional vegan chefs! In the spirit of my own sweet tooth and with the hope to devise a truly yummy baked vegan treat, my partner and I experimented with this recipe using Mountain Rose Herbs ingredients until we found success.

A “Farm To Table” Tea Meeting

In November, we had the great honor of hosting a delegation of tea marketers and producers from Eugene’s Sister City of Kakegawa, Japan. The group carefully prepared and served Fukamushicha (deep steamed green tea) for members of the Mountain Rose Herbs team.

We are pleased to announce a fantastic addition to our line of certified organic hydrosols, the inimitable Frankincense Hydrosol.

Our Frankincense Hydrosol is produced through steam distillation in the United States from organic Boswellia carteri resin that is harvested in Somaliland. This hydrosol is useful in meditation and energy work as well as skin care and fragrance blends. Frankincense Hydrosol has a fresh scent that is resinous and sweet with woody undertones.