Matcha is all the rage these days—and for good reason! It's delicious of course, and it's also famous for its healthful properties. Matcha tea contains catechins, a type of phenolic compound that has abundant antioxidant activity. One of the catechins found in matcha, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), has been found to be an especially powerful antioxidant. The preferred office beverage around Mountain Rose Herbs as of late has been a coconut milk matcha latte with a touch of honey. Matcha shouldn’t be restricted to just tasty drinks, though, as it has quite the culinary versatility as well. 

For skin that requires a little extra nourishment and moisture, green tea skin care formulations can offer gentle, yet stimulating, hydration support. This skin serum recipe infuses the benefits of green tea leaves into organic olive oil and brings in the goodness of select essential oils for a pampering and beautifully scented blend.

The summer grilling season is here! Although there are many of us to who love to grill year-round, there is nothing like cooking outside on a beautiful, warm summer evening surrounded by loved ones. Try out this spicy barbecue sauce recipe we’ve created with all sorts of good-for-you herbs and spices. As always, feel free to customize to suit your tastes!

So you decided to get a tattoo—now what? Back in the day, care for a fresh tattoo was minimal at best. Many tattooists recommended air drying (i.e., using nothing), or they gave their clients a petroleum-based product to rub on the new ink. Thankfully, the Stone Age times of tattooing have passed, and with tattoos now being socially accepted and even embraced in many cultures, people are looking for updated tips and organic aftercare products for body art care. These days, there’s much more knowledge being shared about how to properly look out for your ink—and its canvas!

We travel to our farm partners' fields across the world to maintain close relationships with our growers and learn from one another.

The older I get, the more I realize that what my Dad really wants for Father’s Day is for me to show my love in ways that prove how much I know him as an individual and how much I want him to be happy and whole. The gifts that he most appreciates are also usually homemade, practical, and showcase the skills and knowledge I have acquired through the years.

Facial toners have come a long way since the 1990s, when the most common commercial varieties (often marketed to teenagers) used high concentrations of alcohol to help remove oil from the skin. Purported to reduce acne, they were purposely drying and too astringent for most skin types. Today’s facial toners with natural ingredients, on the other hand, provide benefits that can help to maintain the normal pH and hydration of our skin, both of which are essential to maintaining the moisture and elasticity that gives our complexions a smooth, healthy appearance. 

While any time of the year is an excellent time to enjoy matcha, I do find that the resurgence of spring tends to particularly inspire my interest in this vibrant green tea. It’s only fitting—matcha perfectly embodies the spirit of the season, both in its appearance and its origins.

Ayurveda is probably the oldest continuing health system on the planet. With a tradition going back thousands of years, Ayurveda offers a framework for understanding the body and how to best support its quest for balance. In the Ayurvedic tradition of health care, mind, body, and spirit are inextricably entwined.

Having grown up in a culturally diverse area of the country, I was incredibly lucky to be exposed to many different beliefs, forms of art, and my favorite cultural expression—food! I spent many of my formative years with friends whose family origins spanned the globe. One of my closest friends during these years was Middle Eastern, and having spent so much time and so many meals with his family, I developed a real taste for their cuisine. Lucky for me, they enjoyed my help preparing meals and even made me an honorary Armenian for my ability to roll “choreg” with the best of them. I learned many of the traditional spice blends that were used, but when I was first introduced to za’atar, I immediately fell in love, and it remains my favorite seasonings to this day.

Our farm liaisons travel to the Southwest US to visit the family that's been channeling the region's heat into their top-quality organic chili powders for nearly a century!