Building a Nordic tea culture: Plūkt

In a Latvian home, coffee is rarely the only drink on offer. Guests are often presented with jars of dried flowers, stems, and leaves — carefully gathered and ready to be brewed into fragrant herbal infusions. Of course, today one can also buy a vast array of pre-picked and packaged herbal tea blends for different purposes and occasions, from encouraging sleep to enhancing the pirts experience. While many producers stay rooted in tradition and cater to a knowledgeable local market, one bold company has set itself apart with inventive products like fireweed matcha and cold brew tea. With its striking design and imaginative approach, Plūkt has not only won fans far beyond Latvia’s borders but also launched what it calls a Nordic tea culture.

“We knew from the start that we wanted to be different,” says Plūkt co-founder and CEO Māra Lieplapa. Powered by Māra and her mother Līga, the company instantly set its sights on the premium tea shelves. Combining Līga’s scientific knowledge of plants and biology with Māra’s business education and ambition, they launched a brand with a story that resonates with international audiences, fostering export — one of Plūkt’s key goals from day one. In fact, it took a few years for local traders to open up to the product idea because of the exclusive price tag.

At the heart of the company’s success is curiosity and a keen eye for observation. In 2018, Māra and her mother were in China where Māra was scouting for ideas for a technology startup. There, they attended several cultural events, including tea ceremonies and markets, and returned to Latvia with the idea of establishing a tea company and a veritable Latvian or Nordic tea culture. Since then, the Lieplapas have attended many trade shows, exhibitions, and ceremonies to watch, learn, and gather ideas and inspiration. Wherever they go, they browse the tea shelves, focusing on packaging and placement.

Tackling real-world challenges with herbal tea innovation

This openmindedness and willingness to learn is also what drives Plūkt’s product ideas. Their latest innovation —fireweed matcha — was born when they learned of the potential for a global matcha crisis in light of the drink’s popularity. Having spoken to several café owners in Latvia, they found out that some generate 70% of their turnover from matcha lattes and desserts yet the matcha supply is limited and its price has increased threefold. So, Plūkt set about developing an alternative, and the product hit the shelves just four months later. “We needed to act in that moment, when the problem was real and the solution within reach,” Māra explains.

Another of Plūkt’s creative concoctions — cold brew tea — is targeted at combating seasonality in the global north, helping the company generate income in the summer months when tea consumption naturally drops. Although the company exports to countries as far as Australia and South Africa, where the seasons are different, so far the export amounts aren’t big enough to compensate for the lesser demand in the north in summer.

Embracing the powers of design, storytelling, and community

Plūkt is proud that its teas are often presented as gifts, including by the president of Latvia. Māra touts their investments in design and storytelling as major reasons for such recognition. These features and aspects such as the compostable bags the tea is served in have helped reach an educated audience that realizes that an investment in Plūkt herbal tea is also an investment into biodiversity and the health of Latvia’s meadows.

By sharing the story far and wide and actively engaging with global tea drinkers and merchants, Plūkt has also succeeded in building a community. In the last two years, the company has even welcomed around 400 tea masters from Japan and South Korea to its production site in Prauliena, Madona region. Being far from the capital is not a disadvantage for Plūkt. While Māra divides her time between Prauliena and Riga, the location of their headquarters in a rural area only strengthens their story and position.

Let’s raise a steaming mug of herbal tea to Latvia’s creative entrepreneurs!