Traditional Medicinals

We all have our go to treatments when we’re feeling under the weather. This is one of mine. This company was born in the 70s and has continued to be a great support for wellness over the years. While we focus mainly on the tea and tisanes for this blog I would also like to point out that they have lozenges that are made with great ingredients. Please be sure to give them a try!

Website: https://www.traditionalmedicinals.com/

Location Headquarters: Sebastopol, CA, USA

Company Focus:

• Responsibly sourced, medicinal herbal teas

Most Popular Company Teas:

• Throat Coat®, Nighty Night®, Smooth Move®, Mother’s Milk®

Does the Company name have a meaning?

• In any great story, chance plays a vital role. In the late 60s, the stars aligned when herbalist Rosemary Gladstar met community activist and environmentalist Drake Sadler. Entrenched in the spirit of the age, and their pursuit of healthful alternatives to the mainstream — lifestyle, natural foods, and herbal remedies — they planted the seeds for their shared vision of a new kind of herbalism. In 1974, they founded Traditional Medicinals to build on Rosemary’s knowledge of traditional herbal remedies and share that with the world. Their vision was to share everyday traditional herbal knowledge by sourcing quality herbs and creating accessible products for people to turn to.  

Do you participate in any charities?

• We have 5 nonprofit partners that our employees selected to support the community where we work and live: The Botanical Bus, Sonoma County Community Action Partnership, Ceres Community Project, Landpaths, Redwood Empire Food Bank. We also partner with nonprofits in our sourcing communities where we fund community-led projects around health, access to water, economic diversification, and agricultural trainings. 

• In addition, through Shopping Gives on our website any purchase gives a percentage back to these nonprofit partners: 
  • WomenServe®– a US nonprofit unlocking the potential of women and girls in Western Rajasthan, India by increasing access to water, education, health, hygiene, and economic empowerment. 
  • Botanical Bus- a bilingual mobile herb clinic in Sonoma County empowering holistic health by-and-for Latinx and Indigenous people. 
  • Conservation International- empowering society to responsibly and sustainably care for nature, our global biodiversity, and for the well-being of humanity.  

What is your and/or your co-workers’ favorite tea? 

• With a selection of over 60 teas, there are lots of team favorites! Given that most of our teas are formulated with a health benefit in mind, everyone’s tea cabinet is unique and tailored to their personal wellness needs.
• One morning classic to get things flowing and wake up our liver in the morning is our Roasted Dandelion Root tea. Dark, robust and slightly bitter, its taste is reminiscent of coffee, and makes for a perfect morning ritual, especially with added creamer and sweetener of choice! For that afternoon slump, many of us may reach for one of our herbal green tea blends to deliver a gently caffeinated lift. At the end of the day, Chamomile and Lavender or Cup of Calm® make for wonderful relaxers to wind down, topped off with a cup of Nighty Night tea 20 minutes before bed to ease into sleep.

What are your thoughts on transparency in the tea industry? 

• The most important aspect of our business is relationships, which is also the best way to have true transparency into your supply web. We look for suppliers who can either sustainably collect or cultivate herbs that meet the quality standards we need. This can often take years of development. By fostering long-term relationships and paying a fair wage (through programs like Fair Trade, FairWild®, and the efforts of the Traditional Medicinals Foundation), we incentivize our farmers and collectors to create high-quality products. These relationships have been so successful that we’ve been working with some of our suppliers for more than 30 years.
• The botanical herb trade is complex and there is a finite amount of herbs available at the medicinal and quality level we need to meet the standards for our medicinal tea blends. In addition to our standards for quality, we also procure 97% certified organic herbs and, when possible, we source fair trade-certified herbs. We are looking to grow the percentage of fair herbs to 80% by 2030 and we are currently in the process of becoming Fair for Life Certified. Social and environmental certifications like organic, fair, and B-Corp®, help to not only ensure we are meeting the standards to care for people, plants, and the planet, but also provide the opportunity for transparency and accountability and is the best way for our company to continue to challenge ourselves to do better. It’s also the way we can help push the industry forward as we share this knowledge with our consumers, so they can demand for more from the industry. Together with our organic farmers, wild collectors, and our conscious consumers, we are making a difference in the world.  

What role does tea play in our lives? 

• High-quality herbal teas are one of the simplest and most accessible ways to care for oneself. Humans and plants have evolved together, and the apothecary of the plant world offers a wide range of solutions to some of our most common health needs. From immune support to digestion, relaxation, heart health, and beyond, herbs are there for us, and with a little hot water, we can tap into ancient traditions and unlock these benefits one comforting mugful at a time.

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TeaTiff Picks: Throat Coat & Mother’s Milk. Before we talk about my choices I want to first say thank you to the staff over at Traditional Medicinals for sending over samples. That was really touching for me to receive. This is my go to company when I’m not feeling good. Throat Coat is great in taste but also is soothing. I am not currently breastfeeding but Mother’s Milk was something that I found to help increase my supply. Every woman is so different in this area and it can be nerve wracking when your milk isn’t doing what it seems like everyone else’s is. I found this tisane to be calming.