The beginning
Origin
Mabï (pronounced “Maw-bee) Tea’s story began over 200 years ago. Called Mauby, Mavi, or Mabi in some Latin American and Caribbean countries, it is an indigenous drink derived from the bark of the Mauby tree. It was consumed as a refreshing and cooling beverage against the hot tropical sun by slaves and people of limited means. The drink made a resurgence In the early 1900s when street merchants known as Mauby Women began selling it in Barbados. Over the years it gained in popularity when its health benefits became recognized.
Fast forward to the late 1990’s, Dr. Marie Roberte Laurent, a Naturopathic doctor, identified a better way to health and wellness using natural, native medicine. She decided to take her mother’s teachings and create natural products. She started her own tea and oil company called Belzeb.
Today, Mabï Artisanal Tea uses the tea blends procured by Dr. Marie Roberte Laurent along with mauby bark and fruits to create its signature cold brew herbal teas.
The Mabï Artisanal Tea company is built on the cornerstones of Purpose, People, product.
The future
Purpose
Fast forward to the late 1990’s, Dr. Marie Roberte Laurent, a Naturopathic doctor, identified a better way to health and wellness using natural, native medicine. She decided to take her mother’s teachings and create natural products. She started her own tea and oil company called Belzeb.
Today, Mabï Artisanal Tea uses the tea blends procured by Dr. Marie Roberte Laurent along with mauby bark and fruits to create its signature cold brew herbal teas.
The Mabï Artisanal Tea company is built on the cornerstones of Purpose, People, product.
As a company, we also strive to be servant leaders. Being a black-owned business, we understand the importance of creating economic opportunities, and empowering our local communities. An example is our partnership with a women-led cooperative from the mountains of Haiti. Revenue collected by the co-op helps local women farmers earn an honest living wage, purchase farming equipment, attend to their family’s financial, educational and healthcare needs and plan for a better future for their community.
"We have a passion for serving people and building communities"
Our value
People
People, and wellness are at the center of who we are what we do. There are no strangers in the Caribbean, just people you have not yet said hello to. The sea, sun and sand, create the perfect blend to turn any day with friends into an easygoing one where stress just melts away. A place where eating and drinking brings people together as an experience, not just for sustenance, but also enjoyment and indulgence. Sad to say that over the past decades Many friends and family members have fallen victim to environmental illnesses due to the current modern lifestyle.
We now move at breakneck pace. Any food or beverage will do, because we are always on the go. High levels of stress, high blood pressure and diabetes have become common.
Mabï Artisanal Tea was created to reclaim a balance in the body. We partnered with Dr. Marie Roberte Laurent to procure our exclusive tea blends because our beliefs align; the pursuit of healthier and longer lives using naturopathic ways. Ones that would start healing the body with what we eat and drink.
Our beverages are low in sugar but are full of healthy benefits, and packed with the taste of the Caribbean. If you know anything about us Caribbean folks, everything we eat must taste good and be flavorful. If not, we will politely reject it!
We want every can or bottle, every sip, to send positive vibes, decrease stress and increase naturopathic benefits throughout the body.
The outcome
Product
"We want our products to be a celebration of the senses and good health"
As we said, the Caribbean is not just known for its sun and warm climate, but also for its slow paced life. That unhurried, mellow pace is deliberate, and helps with living a less stressed, more energized lifestyle.
Mabï Artisanal Tea has taken this approach, passed down from generation to generation, to produce a wellness, ready to drink cold brew herbal tea rich in functional properties. The raw ingredients are grown and harvested from the Caribbean mountains in Haiti. The subtropical climate, elevations reaching 4500 feet, and temperatures ranging from 64 F to 70 F, create breezy, lazy days, ideal conditions for a fertile soil to grow herbs and botanicals rich in nutrients and flavor. Once those are cleaned and dried, they are drafted in small batches, cold brewed with filtered water to ensure that the ingredients preserve all their nutrients, keep their properties and allow us to extract their full bodied flavors.
We blend our brew with purees of fruit , and the mauby tree bark, also exported from Haiti and surrounding Caribbean islands. There is no refining and processing, no synthesizing and chemical enhancements added to our beverages.
It still carries the spirit of our cultural heritage; raw, natural, unprocessed.