Fledgling business suits Emma to a tea
Nelson woman Emma Heke has grown her tea business from the ground up in her own garden.
Heke grows, dries and blends herbs at her Washington Valley home and sells them at markets in the Nelson region under the brand Heke Homemade Herbals.
Heke started growing herbs for her own use about two years ago because she wanted to utilise her large steep terraced backyard.
‘‘Friends and family would come around for a cup of tea and I would always make them a fresh herbal tea from the garden,’’ she said.
‘‘I started drying my own and making my own blends and then giving them as gifts for birthdays and Christmas.’’
The teas were a hit and Heke said she wanted to see if there was interest in her teas outside her circle.
She harvested half of her herbs and started a Facebook page, listing the different tea blends she had for sale at $5 a bag.
‘‘I sold out within a couple of days. I thought: ’wow, that’s just incredible’.
‘‘Three weeks later I harvested the rest of my herbs and did it again. And the same thing happened. I knew there was an interest out there.’’
She said she took on further study into herbal medicine once the business had taken off, adding to her existing knowledge on the benefits of herbs.
Heke said she sells on average 150 to 250 bags a week, which allows her to focus all of her time and energy on the business.
She said she harvested about 2500 camomile heads every second day last year.
Heke said now that her business was growing steadily she turned to woofers to help her out.
‘‘We just waved off our fourth set of woofers, I’ve had these incredible young people from Germany and America during the past five weeks helping. And that has been incredible.’’
Heke said she had decided for the coming year the business would stay as it was.
‘‘It’s a really comfortable place that works for me and my family.
‘‘But I am developing signature teas for cafes around the country and I’m also branching out into meat, fish and vegetable herbal seasonings.’’