Meet Poorvi of Herbs & Kettles

Friday, March 31, 2023

You've probably seen Herbs & Kettles around town! Co-founder Poorvi Chordia was recently named Community Farmers Market's beverage category winner at the annual Lady Locavores event and it's for a reason–she and her husband Abe source the best teas they can find, straight from India. They are tea sommeliers, boasting extensive knowledge of all things tea, and you can taste it in every sip. On top of sustainble sourcing and fair trade practices (in fact, they commit to paying partner tea gardens above fair trade prices), Herbs & Kettles gives back to wildlife conservation in India in collaboration with the Prameya Foundation–they started a Red Panda Conservation Initiative which includes raising awareness to prevent poaching, surveillance and habitat restoration. We asked Poorvi a few questions about how Herbs & Kettles was born, so read on to learn more, and order their teas here to be delivered with your next G&G order. 

Tell us about Herbs & Kettles! What all do you offer?

Herbs & Kettles is an Atlanta based small business founded by Abe and Poorvi who are tea sommeliers. We travel to different regions of India, to directly source the best single origin, single batch teas from small sustainable farms. We would like to bring an authentic experience of Indian tea culture to Atlanta and beyond. We hand select the best quality batches and import the teas directly to ensure a fresh cup every time. We source a wide variety of premium, whole leaf teas from around India. We also blend our own traditional and unique chai blends, artisanal blends, herbal teas and golden lattes, while always keeping in mind aromas, flavors and wellness.

When and how did Herbs & Kettles come to be?

We initially started at Piedmont Green Market and the Community Farmers Market as Noble Roots Living in 2021. Then, we rebranded to Herbs & Kettles in mid 2022 at which we introduced new teas and blends, new regional based packaging, and our website, in order to provide a wonderful experience to our Atlanta-based customers and beyond. Our family has been passionate about tea and wellness for a long time. The familiar tea experiences brought us together and provided some calm moments during the tumultuous period at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. We soon realized that we had special teas and experiences that we wanted to share with others in our community. Farmers markets were a safe way at the time to spread the tea love, socialize with others, and build stronger roots in the community.

How do you source your teas? Do you work with certain growers or look for any specific qualifications?

We source our teas from small sustainable farms across India. We ensure that the farmers we work with follow ethical practices, including giving their tea workers a fair pay and using best practices to conserve the natural ecosystem. We ensure that the farmers utilize natural methods of growing including organic practices or integrated pest management with a commitment towards high quality tea production. As we have close relationships with the farmers we also have an insiders knowledge regarding their best batches and then after personally trying tea from multiple farms we select the best loose leaf teas to showcase the wonderful quality and variety of tea that India has to offer. Our blends are created by us keeping into mind two principles- 1) every blend should have ingredients without artificial flavoring, in order to ensure that each is is a cupful of wellness and 2) that they consistently deliver great aromas and flavors.

In Darjeeling with small tea farmer Yanki and her son

What does it mean to you to be part of the local food community here in Atlanta?

The local food community in Atlanta is vibrant and diverse with people who are kind and very accepting. We are so fortunate to be a part of this community and become friends with chefs, mixologosts, foragers and farmers. It has been wonderful to converse with such talented and varied individuals while building strong bonds- which is always part of a great tea experience. By developing a great community we have been able to showcase our teas at some exciting events, including a collaboration with Chef Philip Meeker, in which we had a tasty event with tea infused bites and cocktails. We have always believed teas can be part of a healing and wellness routine, so we were fortunate to host a community discussion regarding Self Love that provided great discussions while enjoying some wonderful teas. We are currently collaborating with Tiffanie Barriere to create tea cocktails for an event that will take place on April 20th.

Describe your perfect moment drinking a great cup of tea. 

In India there is a culture for families and friends to gather around in the morning and at the end of the afternoon and chat over tea. It is called chai pe charcha which literally means conversations around tea. It is a time for families to connect and in the morning a good way to check in and see what everyone is up to that day and then later when everyone is home to discuss how their day was. It helps bond the family together. Being with family and friends and having conversations around tea makes our perfect moment.

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