Wading in cool waters of the Lourens River with Phoebe the other morning, I had a Zen moment that piqued my curiousity… a beautiful little box of tea perched on a stone, and a nymph crouched nearby, camera in hand.
I had interrupted a photo shoot for Dandelion Handcrafted Tea, it transpired, by Christelle Leuvennink of Local Truth, which I was informed is a “creative company dedicated to capturing the essential and sentimental moments of your life, as well as promoting and collaborating with local businesses and events”.
Since 2017, Hilke Erasmus, from Somerset West, has been developing her dandelion tea blends, processing most of the fruit and mixing the final ingredients by hand, creating unique, healthy, high-end teas.
She says that every effort is made to choose organic ingredients, and being mindful of their impact on the environment, which influences their choice of packaging and where they source their ingredients from.
Hilke creates delicious, additive-free, all natural loose leaf tea and herbal blends, naturally flavoured with dried fruit, flowers, herbs and spices.
I realised that I was familiar with her tea selection, which I’d encountered at Real Food, an organic grocer, when she’d hosted a Spring Tea Party a couple of years ago (I’m a great tea lover, with tea pots for every occasion and flavour, which is important as tea pots retain the flavour of the brew, and I don’t want to cross-polllinate my Ceylon tea with my herb tea…).
“Dandelion Handcrafted teas wish is that every cup of tea would create a space for the tea lover to be mindful and connect to nature, self and others,” she says.
Hilke’s tea philosophy is as follows:
Connect to nature: Mother Nature offers us a basket of tea ingredients filled with pure goodness. Be grateful for this gift and mindful of the positive impact you can have on each other.
Connect to self: A cup of tea is a sensory journey: seeing, smelling, tasting and sensing the lingering aroma after every sip. Whether you need a pick me up, comfort and peace, time to reflect or support in your health, a me-time cup is a beautiful gift to yourself.
Connect to others: Sharing a pot of tea sets the stage for meaningful conversations and celebrating life in all it brings. So go on: invite, share, connect.
For more information, visit www.dandeliontea.co.za