(upbeat music) (gentle music) (upbeat music) - I definitely feel like having my teas around, it's like having a group of friends around.

(Scout chuckling) (upbeat music) (gentle music) My name is Scout Urling, and I'm the owner of Flying Bird Botanicals.

We're a small tea company that makes organic herbal teas and exotic teas from all over the world.

(gentle music) We're located in Bellingham, Washington, which is all the way up at the top of Washington State in Whatcom County.

And it's a beautiful place where there's lots of things to do, and also, a lot of farmers that grow a lot of the herbs that we use in our teas.

(gentle music) When I was 18, I moved up here to go to college.

I did pre-med.

While I was at Western, I apprenticed with a woman who owns a local herb shop, and I learned about teas and how different herbs affect the body.

And it was really fun to, you know, integrate that with all the chemistry and biochem that I was learning.

(gentle music) My husband and I decided to travel down to Guatemala, and then back up through Mexico.

While I was in Guatemala, I ended up meeting these women who were reclaiming using herbs.

The name of the group translates roughly to women of the moon, and quickly became friends with them.

And I was super fortunate to learn about the herbs that they use that are native to Guatemala, and then also, to share with them all the knowledge that I had about the European herbs that had come over with the colonizers, so that they could learn how to take advantage of those herbs too.

It was a lot of collaboration and co-creation.

(gentle music) For us with Flying Bird, it is all about creating community.

And so, that community originally started in Whatcom County, and it was about our customers and it was about the farmers in Whatcom County.

Our Peace of Mind tea was actually 100% grown in Whatcom County.

At one point, it was 100% grown in my yard.

(upbeat music) As we grew, that sort of expanded out into local farmers.

I would either go there and harvest it myself, or they would harvest it for me and bring it to the farmers' market, and I would take it home and hang it to dry.

(upbeat music) When we were a lot smaller, especially, you know, my kids were with me all the time and they were really young.

And so, I would get them to harvest with me or like, you know, make it fun for them.

I remember that picture of Maple, she's helping me harvest Hypericum or St. John's wort.

When you pick it, it makes your hands red.

And so, she has like red all over her face from picking the flowers and putting them in the jar.

(upbeat music) It's kind of difficult to make it as an herbalist.

I feel really lucky that we were able to create something that resonates with so many people.

One time, somebody said to me, "Do you ever think about at any given moment how many people are drinking your tea?"

And I hadn't at that point, and it just like, I'll forever think about that.

It's so cool to think about all the people who are finding relief or just enjoyment.

(upbeat music) That is definitely up there with what I love the most.

(upbeat music) Today, I am gonna do a little demo on how to make matcha.

What I think is the most important tool in making matcha anywhere is having a sieve.

What it does is it gets rid of all of the clumps.

(paper bag rustling) The matcha is scooped out of whatever container with a little bamboo scooper like this.

And the amount that you use is honestly really up to you.

Obviously, the more you use, the stronger the flavor, and the less you use, the thinner the matcha.

But most people, when they're making a small like eight ounce cup, are gonna use probably two scoops.

Each scoop is about a half a teaspoon.

You can use your scooper to just glide back and forth on the matcha.

And we're just pushing the matcha through the sieve to get rid of all the bumps.

This is what that looks like.

I have my temperature heated up on my water temperature set, and it just boiled and it's at 179 now.

Really, anywhere between 165 and 195 is an okay temperature.

So I'm just gonna pour it over the top.

And then I'm gonna use my whisk.

You can get different results depending on how you whisk the matcha.

Most people say it's all in your wrist till you create the desired amount of froth.

If you don't like froth, after you've made all of your bubbles, you can take your matcha whisk and kinda glide it over the top and sort of reduce the amount of bubbles in it.

And then once you're done with that, you just take your cup.

And pour your matcha into your cup.

And then sip and enjoy.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] "Made There" was made possible in part with the support of Visit Bellingham Whatcom County.