Many may struggle to find a moment in their life that changed the course of their future. Many may not have even had such an experience, but I have. The time for me was when I was 14 years old but I didn't realize at the time how much that moment would change my life.

 

My parents had divorced and my mom was busy with 2 jobs to support our family. She typically worked late during the week— and for some unknown reason— asked me if I could start dinner so that it would be ready when she got home from work one day.   It didn't seem like a big deal to me, so I gave it a try.  Little did I know, that was the start of my journey with cooking and the culinary arts.

 

When I started it was just simple stuff. My mom's recipes for beef stroganoff and meatloaf. Then in my 20s, it dawned on me that cooking was a great way to woo the ladies. Now I was getting inspired.  I must have been doing something right because my sister-in-law wanted me to make a white chocolate cheesecake with french buttercream icing and raspberry sauce for her wedding reception. I know, a mouthful right? As I continued to learn, mostly from experimentation, that recipes are a good start but they often left me wanting for more in the end. I learned that to make my creations more memorable (and healthy) I needed to develop a balance of flavors, textures, sweetness, and tartness. Each new recipe I tried fed my inspiration to learn more. 

 

So in 2017, it wasn't a surprise to me that when my health was struggling— and I was drinking sometimes 5 sodas a day— that I would turn to the kitchen to solve my problem and find my way back to a more healthy lifestyle. 

 

I had recently read a book about plant-based diets and healthy eating. This is when the idea to create a more healthy drink was born. I wanted to create something that my son Riley and I could both enjoy, but would inspire us to lead a more healthy lifestyle. I wanted something with flavor that we could enjoy, but without all the sugar, preservatives, and chemicals in sodas and other teas. Hibiscus tea caught my eye as I was reading. It has excellent health benefits— including high levels of antioxidants—so I decided to give it a try. After about 2 years and lots of experimenting, I found what Riley and I think is the perfect blend: full-bodied flavor, not too tart, and just sweet enough. We've had a number of people try it, including two chefs.  One chef said he thinks it's the perfect blend of flavor and that the sweetness and the citrus flavor of the lemon make it complete.

 

We decided to call our brand Pumpkin Boy Tea for two reasons.  First, it’s a catchy name. Who could forget it? But more importantly, I gravitated towards the name because my son was born on Halloween and he is my inspiration for getting and staying healthy. We already have 2 other flavors in the experimentation phase and plan to work on other craft tea blends in the near future. We hope you follow along on this exiting journey to provide clean drinks and disrupt the way people drink tea.

 

Until next time,

- Eric Willingham

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