Memories and mint tea a recipe for success

As a child, Sherry Fuhrmann cherished the flavor of her mother’s mint tea at family picnics.

In fact, Fuhrmann and her mother, Ruth Dieter, had planned to open a business selling the tea. Dieter, though, lost a battle to cancer in 1999.

But Fuhrmann never let go of the dream, and in 2013 she opened Pure Wild Tea LLC in Upper Tulpehocken Township. She wanted her children to remember and have ties to their grandmother.

As Fuhrmann introduced her apple tea samples at community events, she soon learned that it had a deeply nostalgic taste not only to her but also to many others who sipped the drink.

“People have cried in front of me because I take them back to a memory which they haven’t had in so long – something to help them relive that feeling,” she said.

While what Fuhrmann produces is called tea, it has nothing to do with tea besides being steeped similarly, which is why it borrows the name.

Fuhrmann said she’s also heard it referred to as field tea, creek tea, ditch tea and meadow tea.

Most people assume the tea is flavored according to its specific name. She now has apple, chocolate, strawberry and lemon balm mint teas.

But these flavors are merely the names of the varieties of mint plants which Fuhrmann grows and brews, naturally free of caffeine.

The chocolate mint she raises does smell a bit like chocolate, but pinpointing who named apple mint and why is not as easy.