Guiding Principles

Here are a few of the guiding principles that I use when developing or choosing all of the products and services that I offer:

1. Ethically Sourced Ingredients:

All of the ingredients that I use in any of my products must pass the following tests:

Grown Without Chemicals:  All ingredients are either certified organic, grown without chemicals or ethically wild-crafted.

Fair Trade: Wherever applicable, I choose ingredients are certified fair trade.  This includes all of the cacao products, as well as the exotic spices such as vanilla, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper.

Plant is not at Risk:  none of my products contain ingredients derived from species that are listed as endangered, threatened or at risk.

2. No Yucky Additives:

None of my products contain any artificial flavours, colours, fragrances, binders or preservatives.  I use herbs, fruit and essential oils to flavour and scent my products.  

In order to the completely transparent, Id like to point out that there are four products in my tea line that contain "organic natural flavour."  These include the Blackberry Caramel Pu-erh (organic caramel flavour), Cherry Cobbler (organic caramel flavour), Lavender Bliss (organic black currant flavour) and Radiance (organic peach flavour).  These are 100% certified organic and do not contain any artificial ingredients.

3. Environmentally Friendly Packaging:

Tea Packaging: My teas packages have a multi-layered construction which insures optimal freshness (tea needs to be protected from light, air and moisture).  The zip pouches are made from white paper with an omnigradable foil lining and are fully biodegradable.  Its light weight and flexibility insures lowest shipping  costs and requires less fuel for transport. The tins I use are made from steel with food-grade, BPA-free lining and an airtight lid and are fully recyclable.

Aromatherapy Packaging: all aromatherapy products are packaged in glass containers with with metal or BPA-free plastic fasteners.

Labels: printed on labels made from recycled paper.

4. Research-Based Ingredients:

I put a lot of thought, time and research into creating each and every one of my products.  While taste, scent and colour are all very important, each ingredient is selected only after I have researched its efficacy (supported by clinical research) as well as its safety.