It’s true that the terroir of a place—the environmental conditions, especially soil and climate—influences grapes grown for winemaking, as well as any food or drink ingredient. The taste of a place is often what helps us understand that destination more deeply, beyond the top things to do or buy, when we visit. It’s also often what compels us to buy food and drink items when we’re traveling, so we can evoke the place after we’re returned home.
The staff at Juniper Ridge has spent extensive time in the western United States, perfecting scent profiles of landscapes. From its origins with small batch wild-harvested products to today’s family-owned company of 13 people, the company’s focus is to share the restorative fragrances of the plants and trees in this region through its products. That product list includes body oil, body wash, essential oil, incense, perfume and cologne, candles and room spray, and teas.
It’s the Juniper Ridge Botanical Teas that I’ve grown fond of, and I often bring a small stash of them along on my travels, because hotel room tea choices often lean heavily toward the tried-and-true English Breakfast and Earl Grey. While those are perfectly fine choices, my preferences are more in line with herbal teas, or tisanes. Juniper Ridge’s line includes four botanical teas that are naturally caffeine-free: Douglas Fir + Rosehips, Douglas Fir Spring Tip, White Sage + Wild Mint, and Yerba Santa.
Harvested from California’s northern coast, the Douglas Fir + Rosehips tea has a sweet fragrance and a spark of tanginess. The Douglas Fir Spring Tip tea is harvested in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, and tastes of bright evergreen, citrus zest, and honeysuckle. The White Sage + Wild Mint tea is earthy and herbaceous and is made with 100-percent cultivated white sage from a farm in Mexico (10 percent of the sales of this tea are donated to Indigenous and First Nations groups). The Yerba Santa tea is sweetly subtle and tastes a little of honey.
All the botanical teas are excellent to drink warm or over ice. Tea boxes are made from Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) material and are printed with environmentally friendly inks.
On an annual basis, Juniper Ridge gives back to organizations that protect our ecosystems, fight for climate justice, and advocate for a more intersectional and social justice-oriented framework of human/nature relationships through the company’s Western Wilderness Defense Fund. Over the last two decades, their total donations have amounted to a quarter-million dollars.
Juniper Ridge botanical teas list for $15 for a box of 20 unbleached tea bags. Flavors available are: Douglas Fir + Rosehips, Douglas Fir Spring Tip, White Sage + Wild Mint, and Yerba Santa.