How Kristini’s Teas Came to Be

I fell in love with tea at the age of nine. I remember my Mom calling me into the living room one night, “Kristini (my childhood nickname), come watch a movie with us.” The long dresses, the dancing, the tension, the long curly-haired man stepping out of a pond with his white button down shirt clinging to his chiseled chest. You guessed it: the movie that night was Pride and Prejudice, starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. I was captivated by the intimate dialogue, and how sitting down for a cup of tea fostered a lot of these conversations.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, I witnessed within myself and others the desperate need to protect ourselves from this mysterious virus in any way we could. A voice inside whispered, “Make your own tea!” 

I walked a few blocks down the street to Cambridge Naturals and bought little bags of herbs from their bulk herb wall. While working from home, I researched which herbs had antiviral properties and studied the herbal tea boxes I had that said things like “throat coat” and “tension tamer.” I developed blends with herbs that could relieve anxiety and insomnia; fever and cough; headache and heartache. I tested these blends for myself, and then I asked friends if they’d like to try. I distinctly remember one of my friends calling me and blurting out, “You NEED to sell these teas.” So I called up my designer friend Scott Murry to see if he could create my logo.