#LifeLokal: How Nature's Apothecary warms the hearts of Pinoys
It is known that Filipinos are generally coffee drinkers, but it can't be denied that there's been a growing interest in teas.
With a mission to uplift the local community and introduce loose leaf teas to Filipinos, couple JJ and Danica Fabre "took the risk" and started Nature's Apothecary.
JJ, who owned a video production company in the US, "felt a very strong tug in my heart" and returned to the Philippines after eight years. After a few failed business attempts, he finally found his groove back and began selling locally sourced and produced raw ingredients and superfoods like tablea, salabat, and honey.
But when his sister introduced him to the blue Butterfly Pea Flower, he had something better in mind.
"I researched and I saw its huge potential in the Philippines. Also, we could produce it ourselves and hire local farmers," JJ told PhilSTAR L!fe. "We wanted that our success would be inclusive of other people, especially those who are marginalized and underprivileged in our community," he shared.
Now, Nature's Apothecary has over 40 variations of signature loose leaf teas, tea blends, and traditional herbal teas in super Instagrammable packaging. They aim to "enrich the lives of Filipinos" through their products.
"We believe not only in tea's contribution to our own, and our customers’ health and well-being, but also in its potential to uplift the lives of the people we work with in our rural community," they wrote in their bio.
What's the story behind you the brand's name?
We wanted [our brand] to be good for us [and] good for other people. So 'Nature' is like locally-made, healthy, and natural products that are good for your health. 'Apothecary' because it's an old English [term] for pharmacy. Back in the old days, they blend herbs to make it medicine. So I think it's fitting now that we blend our own teas, [which] have many health benefits.
Since most Filipinos are more into coffee, what made you still want to push with selling loose leaf teas?
I just saw a potential and I want that Nature's Apothecary will be a pioneer in introducing looseleaf in the Philippines. I think we took the risk to go into loose-leaf tea maybe hoping that eventually it will pick up in the Philippines.
Our tagline is “Taking Filipinos into an exciting adventure of loose leaf tea.” So yung job namin is to spread awareness on loose leaf teas in the Philippines.
Your packaging is very fun. What’s the idea behind the designs?
I also have a background in graphic design and I think I'm a visual person. That's why I became a video guy. And before that, back in high school and college I love to draw. I like to just I just anything that's you know, visual.
And also, alam ko yung importance ng customer experience. So every touchpoint ng customer, you know, we should be remembered. Kasi malaki yung part ng brand recall sa business, sa marketing. So, as much as possible with every opportunity na encounter yung potential customers sa brand namin, we should grab the opportunity to be remembered.
I think a good way to do that is to engage your customers—anywhere, maybe in engaging your customers through comments, through Facebook messages through email, all the way to the packaging.
Where do you source your teas and how do you come up with new variants?
When we decided to go loose-leaf tea, it was a lot of research—what teas are great, what’s good for people in our demographics, our target market. Doon kami nag start and then we just made the list. And then we made sure your major categories are covered—green teas, black teas, a little bit of puer, and then flower teas.
We kept on adding products that you know, we feel like that has the potential to do better. So right now I think we have 40 plus teas.
Right now we plant and harvest blue Butterfly Pea, hibiscus, and mint and we're slowly adding more teas that we could grow and harvest here in the Philippines. Unfortunately yung mga black teas, green teas, teas na Camellia sinensis, we don't have a plant here in the Pilipinas.
How do you want to introduce loose leaf teas to the Filipinos?
Right now, more and more people are becoming aware of the health benefits of tea, but in general, people are becoming more health conscious. So tea can be their companion on that journey, along with other stuff like good eating habits, exercise, and all that.
I think it's a given that tea is healthy. But it also affords you the opportunity to just pause—that you need to appreciate the moment just [by] relaxing and just taking in the moment from the hustle and bustle of life.