Ko Pukenui-o-Raho te maunga
Ko Waiotahe te awa
Ko Mataatua te waka
Ko Tūhoe, ko Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, ko Whakatōhea ngā iwi o ōku tīpuna
Ko Upokorere te hapū
Ko Maromahue te marae
Ko Annette Eggers tōku ahau
Where It All Began
My first memory of tea takes me back to when I was five years old, in my parents’ farm shed in the early 1970s. My parents owned a hop farm and employed around 20 people each harvest season. My job was to help Mum make the cups of tea.
The loose tea arrived in Choysa-branded wooden boxes with the lids nailed down. Those boxes were always reused. At one stage in my life I stored my tape collection in them, but mostly they became toolboxes for nuts and bolts on the farm.
It was always a thrill to crack the boxes open and inhale that first whiff of Earl Grey. I would scoop the tea into the huge teapots, and Mum would pour in hot water from the urns and let it steep. We’d line up all the different-shaped teacups on the formica tables and pour tea for the workers. I loved watching each person choose their cup. The tea had a sweet, aromatic scent, and to this day it carries a memory that has never left me.
Learning from the Ngahere
As I grew up, I spent much of my time hunting and fishing with whānau and friends, and with that came a real taste of nature. In the South Island, mānuka and kawakawa tea, was the most common for me. But when I visited whānau in Ōpōtiki, it was often a different plant from the whenua.
Back then I did not always know what the plants were, but I would drink them anyway. Sometimes cousins or elders would say, “Don’t touch that,” and I never thought to ask why. Eventually, I did start asking questions. That was when I began to understand who I was. It was also part of how I healed my mind. I came to understand the importance of Papatūānuku and why we must treat her with care.
I later worked in Auckland city for several years, and on weekends I would head into the Waitākere Ranges. I hiked every track there and would sit for hours examining the plants in that incredible subtropical rainforest. I carried identification books and my modern Jetboil so I could heat water and drink tea in the bush. I would sometimes take plant samples home and carefully compare them with my books, making sure I had identified them correctly, often amazed by what I had found. When the Waitākere Ranges closed, I was sad, but also grateful for everything I had learned there, and hopeful that the forest would have time to recover and flourish again.
A World of Tea
I have spent time in different countries, learning from new cultures and experiencing remarkable teas, especially in the Amazon, throughout South America, and in India. Visiting China’s tea estates remains firmly on my bucket list, a dream that Covid put on hold and life has not yet allowed me to fulfil. One day. I cannot wait to hear their stories and be inspired by the masters of tea making.
Coming Home
I have since returned to Te Waipounamu, where the ngahere is bold and beautiful, with new plants to identify and new understandings of how carefully we need to tread as we work to protect our taonga species. I study te reo Māori, which gives me a deeper understanding of my own culture, and of others too. I have finally found who I am. It was always there; it just took a very long time to find me.
I am not a practitioner or a rongoā expert. I am simply someone whose deep love for the ngahere, and respect for traditional plant knowledge, has led me on this journey. Tī Ani was born from curiosity, from time spent in the bush, from conversations with elders, and from a genuine belief in the power of these remarkable plants.
Life, as it does, has pulled me in many directions. Jono and I run another demanding business, and the economy has brought its challenges, so Tī Ani has had to wait longer than I had planned. In between, I travel regularly to Australia and further north to spend time with my mokopuna, and those trips remind me every time what truly matters. But the plants have always called me back. This is where my heart is.
Learn about the plants, and they will show you the way.
Tī Ani is my way of sharing that journey with you, one cup at a time.
Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. 🌿
What is a pepeha? A pepeha is a traditional Māori way of introducing yourself by connecting to your mountain, river, waka (canoe), iwi (tribe), hapū (sub-tribe), marae, and ultimately yourself. It grounds you in your whakapapa (genealogy) and your relationship to the land. The pepeha at the top of this page is mine, it tells you where I come from and who I am.
