Unwind with Every Sip

Experience the Pure, Refreshing Taste of Fireweed

Caffeine-Free Fine Tea Blends

Fireweed Tea is also known as Ivan Chai, Willowherb, Alaskan Herbal Tea, and Wild Rosebay.

Fireweed in bloom creates a  sight of striking beauty. The fields of its majestic purple flowers could be seen in summer in northern latitudes from Alaska to Nova Scotia and from Northern Europe to Siberia. It is a floral emblem of Yukon and it is considered the national flower of Greenland.

Fireweed has a rich history of use as both food and medicine. Its shoots and roots were a nutritious native spring food, containing significant amounts of Vitamin A, B3, and C, as well as being an excellent source of both calcium and magnesium.

Even more extensively fireweed was traditionally used as a medicine. The Haida people, the Cheyenne of Montana, the Woods Cree of Saskatchewan, the Dena’ina of Alaska, the Chukchi of Siberia, and peoples of North Europe all cherished fireweed as a powerful remedy for all sorts of gastrointestinal problems, internal parasites, colds, headaches, and insomnia, as calmative, and as a first and the only aid for cuts, bruises and wounds for fast healing.

The recent numerous scientific studies on fireweed medicinal properties have shown exciting results. The anti-inflammatory properties of fireweed have been clinically proven to be stronger than cortisone in relieving skin irritations and eczema. The glucuronic acid present in it has been proven to be therapeutic for arthritis and rheumatism. Its antiseptic properties and high mucilage presence makes it a gentle, yet effective remedy for relieving all sorts of gastrointestinal and stomach inflammations, and its high tannin content explains its mildly laxative effect. Several studies have found endothelin B in fireweed, which is an active compound that inhibits human prostate growth and possesses anti-viral and anti-tumor activity, and has antioxidant activity equal to vitamin C.

Elise Krohn, a passionate herbalist and a native plant specialist considers fireweed tea an excellent long-term restorative and balancing remedy. She wrote: “For me, fireweed represents the promise that beauty will return after bodily sickness or environmental destruction. When woodlands are damaged from fire or clear-cutting, it is fireweed that brings the first promise of recovery. It reminds us that nature has her healing cycle too, one initiated by this lush, fiery medicine springing up in abundance.”