about-our-teas

Naturally Made Guayusa Teas provide a truly healthy ready to drink beverages in a full line of flavors that are naturally sweetened without sugar. We naturally brew dried Guayusa Tree leaves thensweeten them with natural organic Agave Nectar. Naturally Made has developed a ready to drink tea beverage that provides Health Benefits superior to green, black, and white teas on any shelf today without adding sugar.

How do we make our teas?

Growing

The native South American Amazonian farmers carefully cultivate a diverse mix of food crops, herbs, hardwood trees, fruit trees, spices, medicinal plants and the Guayusa Trees. The farming process that takes place in harmony with the Amazon Rainforest and the diversity of their gardens reflects this attitude toward the natural world.

Guayusa is planted from cuttings under the shade of other trees amongst the shrubs and grow up to 30 meters in height. This process involves taking part of a branch from an existing tree and placing it in rich soil. Guayusa Tree is always shade grown, meaning it needs the shade of other trees to fully develop its rich leaves. It is thus perfectly designed to be grown in robust and diverse agro forestry systems among many other species. The farmers spread the hardwood trees, food crops, cacao, coffee, and other local plants in order to maintain the ecological integrity of the rainforest.

 

 

Harvesting

Every day indigenous families in the South American Amazon harvest fresh Guayusa Tree Leaves from under the rainforest canopy. The families harvest the dark green mature leaves in contrast to the fresh leaves and buds harvested for green and black tea. The women of the family usually lead the harvest and fill their traditional woven baskets full of leaves in the early morning hours.

 

 

Processing

We purchase fresh leaves from each family farm, and then the leaves are dried and milled in a processing facility in the small villages of the Amazon. The leaves are first withered (pre-dried) on long troughs in order to allow the flavor to set in and to reduce the moisture content of the leaf. After the pre-drying process, the leaves enter industrial batch dryers to fully dry out. Before we ship them back to the U.S.s the leaves milled, sifted, and packaged.

 

 

 

 

Bottling

Naturally Made brews hot Guayusa Tree Leaves into Tea and then sweeten with Agave which are extremely subtle with more flavorful personalities of green and black teas. These are great low-calorie beverages; and if we live longer as a result of drinking them, so much the better.