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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Shop Essence Live.
00:04I am Noni Donovan, your host, and this is a program we've been doing since 2020 to bring
00:10you new Black-owned businesses to shop with us here at Essence in partnership with the
00:16New Voices family.
00:17We've been gone for a little minute.
00:20We're working on some really, really great things over here at Essence, but I have been
00:25hearing from our Black-owned businesses that they really, really, really want this platform
00:30to come back.
00:31And I'm really, really excited about what we're bringing you guys today, because we're
00:34bringing you not one, not two, but three Black-owned businesses.
00:38We know it's the holiday season and you guys are buying, buying, buying really thoughtful
00:42gifts.
00:43Even if you're watching this after the holidays, you don't got to wait to say, I appreciate
00:49you.
00:50I love you.
00:51Oh, I love myself, because these products are really, really great for us as well.
00:56So I am going to bring them in first up.
00:59We have Amber Jackson from Blackleaf.
01:03Amber, welcome to the show.
01:06Thank you for having me.
01:07Oh my goodness.
01:09First of all, I am so, so excited.
01:11I am all about tea.
01:13Tea to me, there's something about it that really, really symbolizes like, girl, take
01:18a second.
01:19Slow down.
01:20Whoa.
01:21You can't rush through tea.
01:22Right?
01:23It's like ultimate taking time to yourself.
01:26So there's something symbolic in that.
01:28I'd love to hear about how you got into this space.
01:31What's the story?
01:32Yeah.
01:33So again, thank you for having me.
01:34My name is Amber Jackson.
01:35I own Blackleaf, also known as the Blackleaf Tea and Culture Shop.
01:39And so I am born and raised Southside Chicago.
01:42I moved to Rhode Island for my job at Brown University in 2017.
01:48And as you can imagine, Rhode Island is not the most diverse place in the world.
01:52Absolutely beautiful place, but I did really struggle to find community here, especially
01:58because I was an undergrad in Tennessee, went to grad school in Alabama, I went to HBCU
02:02for grad school.
02:03So I'm used to seeing me and having community.
02:07And so having been really frustrated with my job and desperately needing to find community
02:13for myself, I decided to go back to my roots of the kitchen, where academically my backgrounds
02:19in food science and product development, I'm a flavor designer by trade.
02:24And I really use this as an avenue for creativity, where I don't draw, I don't paint, I don't
02:30sing, but I am a creative where being able to create a sense of a memory or a feeling
02:35through a sip or a smell or taste is such a powerful sense.
02:40And so I use that in the work that I do in developing my product, but also using the
02:44communal traditions of tea and herbs to create community also.
02:48I love that.
02:49I've always been fascinated by food science.
02:52Like sometimes you put recipes together and you're like, who thought of this?
02:55Who would ever think of this?
02:57Even the flavor that I'm reviewing today, I was like, I never thought of putting those
03:01together and I can't wait to taste it.
03:04I love that.
03:05And I love the thought of creativity can show up in so many different ways, especially for
03:10the people at home that are watching, you don't have to be a musician or a painter or
03:14things like that.
03:15Creativity can show up in so many ways and to your point, smell and taste is the thing
03:19that can immediately change your mood.
03:22Yes.
03:23That's so powerful.
03:24So powerful.
03:25Okay.
03:26I want to get into the taste test, right?
03:30So you're probably going to go through more flavors, but for today, what I have to start
03:35us off, can you talk about how you came up with this particular, this is a chai and chocolate.
03:43First of all, I love chai.
03:44Awesome.
03:45Okay.
03:46I love chocolate.
03:48So I might be in sensory overload when I taste this, but yeah, can you talk about how you
03:54came up with this as I make myself a cup of tea?
03:58So chai chow came a little after I started my business where I started with 14 blends,
04:03now that's 15.
04:04And I wanted to do something to honor my home of Chicago.
04:07And so when I think of home, it's like where Chicago is such a big city, but Chicago is
04:11black, very black.
04:14And so I wanted to do something that felt like home to me.
04:17So it's a black pepper, chocolate chai, where I love chai.
04:21And I also understand that the Indian traditions of chai.
04:24And I wanted to do something that was kind of my tweak on it, which is why I do all my
04:27tea blends.
04:28A lot of them have just familiar feels and smells and ingredients, but it's my version
04:31of them.
04:33So there's cardamom, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, there's roasted cacao nibs, so it's actually
04:38chocolate in there also.
04:41And I do a ground black pepper also, it's just like a warming, a little bit of spice
04:45too, but not spicy, super aromatic, and just overall completely delicious, but it's also
04:50a hint of chocolate, so I don't use additional flavoring, it's just the cacao nibs.
04:54So it's not a chocolate bar in your mouth, but a really beautiful complement of that
04:57chocolate.
04:58And speaking of cacao, can you talk about the benefit of doing a loose tea as opposed
05:03to like the pre-bagging, do you get more of the flavor out that way, or?
05:08Yeah, so it's better quality because you're using typically a larger piece of herb, or
05:13the whole piece of herb, the whole piece of the leaf, or the whole leaf, excuse me.
05:17So it's better quality.
05:20Oftentimes with this, it's a better quality, you also get more steep side of it also.
05:27So you can steep this loose tea two to three times, I'll take you all the time, get your
05:30money's worth.
05:31If you steep it for about three times, take it out, put it back in with fresh hot water,
05:35you can steep it again, so get your money's worth.
05:37Where if you look like a conventional bagged teas, you cut it open, it looks like dust.
05:43That is very true.
05:44Where this, you're actually getting like the full particles, so the flavor is so much more
05:48robust.
05:49I feel very fancy.
05:54With this, I love, and then you also have this Bailey, what, Bailey Beattie?
06:00Bailey Beattie Apiaries, yes.
06:02So like I said, I'm in Rhode Island, and Bailey Beattie Apiary is a local black beekeeper
06:07in Rhode Island.
06:08Very cool.
06:09By Calvin Alexander, he's actually from Trinidad, but he lives in Rhode Island, and worked Rhode
06:13Island.
06:14Shout out to Calvin.
06:15Yes, and so he is a registered, like a national, with the National Registry of Beekeepers,
06:22he is registered.
06:23He keeps his own bees in the back of his home and other places around Rhode Island also.
06:28He's very passionate about the education of beekeeping also.
06:31So you learn about the different seasonalities, how he marks the queen bee.
06:35I got to visit before, so I had my whole bee suit on, and I got to go in the hive with
06:40him, but it was a great experience, but he's very passionate about what he does.
06:43I love that.
06:44So was it really important for you to partner with other local businesses there, and how
06:52did you kind of make that decision?
06:53Because I'm sure it might've been easier to just like go to a wholesale market and get
06:58some honey from them.
06:59Like, why was that important to you?
07:01I like to work with people that love what they do.
07:05I like, even for me, I'm aware that when I put something out, it's a reflection of myself
07:10and my passion and my love.
07:12And so for them, it's the exact same thing.
07:14And so I chose to work with Bailey Beattie Apiaries because, one, he's a black man living
07:19in Rhode Island.
07:20Right, right.
07:21But also, he's someone that's genuinely passionate about it, but also we talk to Calvin, he tells
07:27stories about his upbringing in Trinidad on the island and how he goes into the storytelling
07:33education of his product as well.
07:35So it's for me, working with people that love what they do.
07:38Let me tell you something.
07:41Let me tell you something, okay?
07:46This right here, I don't know what it is, there's something about it that as soon as
07:51I sipped it, and you put all the love and the detail that you put into all of these
07:56pieces that went into it, it takes you on a journey a little bit.
08:03I taste the hint of the chai and taste the hint of the cacao beans, and the smell is
08:10just so...
08:12It's almost like just a spot in a cup a little bit.
08:15I don't know how to explain it, but it just put me at ease, and it tastes so good.
08:21That's a big piece of what I do also, is understanding the extreme gatekeeping around the wellness
08:23industry, where being able to take care of yourself and have this moment of self-care
08:28should not cost a billion dollars.
08:30And a lot of people don't know what a cumin snail black tea is or a Lapsang Souchong tea
08:34is, but you know, Kim and Bill-
08:35Wait, I'm sorry.
08:36Hold on, hold on, hold on.
08:37Wait a minute.
08:38You can't just say stuff like that.
08:39I know what you just...
08:41Say that one more time.
08:42Lapsang Souchong is a Chinese smoked black tea.
08:45I actually use it in my tea blend called Tennessee Whiskey, and it's a smoked black
08:49tea with apricot and vanilla, and it does taste like whiskey.
08:52And so there's different things you can do, so I do blends only because, again, this is
08:56my creative avenue.
08:57So for me, just having a just green, just black, it's boring to me.
09:01It's beautiful, but it's boring.
09:03But having accessible and familiar, having names like Chi-Town, Home, Money, Glow, this
09:12is a brand that feels attainable and accessible, but it's still within the wellness industry.
09:17Even the pricing, it's $12 a bag, so you're getting between 75 cents per serving typically.
09:23But it's really important to me where it's like you have this sense of wellness that's
09:28accessible, that's attainable, but also feels like it's for you, doesn't feel as pretentious
09:34as loose leaf tea can most times feel.
09:37Right.
09:38So you mentioned a couple of the other flavor profiles that you have, the names.
09:43Can you just go down the list?
09:44So as people go to your website, which tab can we put up the website?
09:47So they know all that you have available, and I can't wait to order and try.
09:50Yeah.
09:51So as of now, I've designed 15 tea blends in the five and a half years I've been in
09:57business.
09:58Wow.
09:59But there's some fruity, floral, spicy, smoky.
10:01Only five of the 15 have caffeine, so there's a lot of herbal options also.
10:05It's one thing I also learned during the pandemic.
10:07A lot of people became allergic to caffeine, so I'm going to stick with that.
10:12Yes.
10:13I also have two coffee alternatives.
10:14So they look, taste, smell like coffee, but completely caffeine-free, and I do not use
10:17mushroom either.
10:19But these are blends that I designed to be as a culinary experience and not just a remedy.
10:25So they can be used iced, hot, latte, cocktail, mocktail.
10:29I've had people use them in ice creams, cakes, different syrups.
10:33So there's so much you can do with this, where like, yes, traditionally, especially in black
10:36culture, African culture, it's a remedy.
10:39But like I mentioned before, having that feeling, that sense, that taste, that smell,
10:44it creates a feeling within you, and that is a culinary experience also.
10:49I love it.
10:50First of all, this is such a thoughtful thing to do for yourself if you're at home watching
10:56and just having a whole...
10:57I have a whole box of different variety of tea that I have depending on the day.
11:01Maybe some days I want more energy, some days I just want to relax and calm down and unwind.
11:05So it's just a really, really great way to start your day and treat yourself.
11:10And end your day as well.
11:11And then just a thoughtful gift for somebody.
11:14If you're thinking of, what do I get for this person that seems like they have everything?
11:17This is a really, really thoughtful thing.
11:20They're going to think of you every single time they have this moment.
11:24Think of you.
11:25Come on.
11:26That's really, really great.
11:27And I'm glad you mentioned the thing about mushrooms, because I'm allergic to mushrooms.
11:29I probably should have asked that first.
11:33So I'm glad.
11:34No mushrooms.
11:35Okay, good.
11:36So this show is in partnership with the New Voices family, and you're a member of the
11:40New Voices family.
11:41Can you tell the viewers a little bit about what has been some major benefits of being
11:45a part of that community?
11:46Yeah.
11:47So I'm currently a participant in the Madam C.J. Walker Institute Pace Blue Camp.
11:52And this has been such a transformative experience already, and we're only halfway through it.
11:57This is my first time having coaches and not just mentors.
12:01And having an actual community around me, where again, like in New England, ain't too
12:05many of us, but to have this community virtually and having people that are fully invested
12:10in us, and not just our business growing, but us as individuals, and really forming
12:15a community.
12:16I think that's something I've missed a lot being here in New England, compared to being
12:19at home in Chicago or down south.
12:21But really making you think critically about what your business is, where it's going, where
12:27you are going.
12:28And also, as you grow that and have more clarity in what your long-term goals are,
12:34making sure that your business benefits you throughout the entire process, and making
12:38sure that we know that they're there for us.
12:41Art and Maria have been fantastic.
12:44Marie, everyone's just been just fantastic to work with, and I'm truly blessed to be
12:48in this program.
12:49I love, love, love that.
12:51Yeah.
12:52So you guys at home, if you're thinking like, how do I get to where some of these businesses
12:56are on Shop Essence Live, go to newvoicesfamily.com and check it out.
13:01It's free to join.
13:02A ton of benefits.
13:04Amber, thank you so much for joining us, and thank you so much for bringing the Black Leaf
13:09into my life.
13:10Thank you so much.
13:11Hey, you're a part of my every day now.
13:14So thank you.
13:15I appreciate that.
13:17Thank you so much.
13:19Bye.
13:20Bye.
13:21Bye.
13:22Bye.
13:23Bye.
13:24Bye.
13:25Bye.