By Scott Smith

You may be disappointed to hear that I still enjoy my cup of coffee 1st thing in the morning. It is the only cup that I indulge in for the day. After that, I am mostly drinking herbal tea, hot, cold or otherwise. I will often go out and harvest some fresh herbs straight from the garden. I am spoilt for choice as we grow all the natives we use in our products right here on the whenua and quite a few of the non-natives as well.

‘Fresh is best’ has always been my motto, from the earliest days of ŌKU when we used to run our stall at the Tauranga Farmer’s Market and customers would tell me they had kawakawa growing on their section. I would always encourage them to go and harvest the leaf and brew it up fresh. There is just so much more potency in the fresh leaf, the mauri (life force) of the plant is still very much intact. So if you do have access to fresh herbs and you know what plant you are harvesting then experiment away, you may be surprised at just how amazing they taste and often quite different from the dried version. If I don’t make up a fresh leaf brew, while I do still enjoy drinking all of our ŌKU teas, the one that I regularly drink is our Circulate/Hōrapa Tea, and I will tell you why.

While people will drink coffee for the benefit of gaining a caffeine hit to supply them with some energy, what it doesn’t offer is anything to support the brain or encourage the clarity of thought that I often find is what people are actually trying to achieve.

The Circulate/Hōrapa tea is proudly caffeine-free (side note: the only ŌKU tea that contains caffeine is our Energise Tea coming from the Sencha Green & Yerba Maté) and contains the herbs that naturally support healthy circulation throughout the body but especially cerebral circulation (that’s blood to the brain). Herbs like Ginkgo & Gotu Kola are renowned for their properties to help support memory recall & clarity of thought. Many of the other herbs in this blend have wonderful supportive actions like the humble but incredibly undervalued rosemary, such a valuable antioxidant but also acts as a circulatory stimulant. The incredible hawthorn, my single favourite heart herb that I have used myself for many years but also used extensively in my clinical practice adds the prized tonic properties of the berry for the heart and circulatory system. The base is made up of our very own NZ native warming and synergistic qualities of the versatile NZ Pepper Trees Kawakawa & Horopito adding their warmth to the blend. Taste-wise it is a surprisingly mild blend that is very easy to drink, just perfect if I can say so myself. I love this award-winning blend and I hope you will come to love and discover its benefits too.