An avid local tea drinker who experimented with tea made from mango, guava and avocado leaves has settled on moringa and started selling dried moringa tea.

Maria Margret Keil, who describes herself as a proud tea lover from Moto’otua, gave details of her experiments and how she settled on moringa in an interview with the Samoa Observer.

She said she settled on moringa after multiple trials using guava, mango and avocado leaves and moved to packaging her product under the label of “Mamas Organic Products”.

“The reason I started testing and making these moringa dried leaves is because I myself enjoy a good cup of tea and I thought why not?” Ms Keil said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

“I tested many dried leaves for my tea such as mango, guava and sasalapa leaves. 

“The reason why I had started with moringa was because of its numerous benefits with cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease etc.”

And in order to set the benchmark in terms of quality, she took her moringa tea product to the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa (S.R.O.S.) at Vailima, and they were able to certify her product and its health benefits.

Ms Keil said it was important for her to undergo that process with the S.R.O.S. to ensure her product ticked the box. 

Her family and friends as well as church members were the first ones to sample her product, however, she later realised as its popularity grew that she can expand production in order to sell to the public. 

And customer testimonials on the effects of her product have already been received with Ms Keil saying it was having an impact and “made them [customers] feel good.”

“My family used to drink moringa way before I was born, although they prefer to have the fresh leaves freshly picked from the tree and thrown into their tea cups, I preferred to sun dry and roast them for the crispy mild aftertaste,” she said.

“This process isn’t a timely process. It takes ten minutes to roast and the sun drying is only until the leaves are completely dry.

“I started making them for distribution and purchasing because there are so many benefits of the plant itself.”

According to Ms Keil in Indonesia the moringa tea is called the “miracle juice” due to its various health properties, and it is added as an ingredient to soup, smoothies, salads and even beverages. 

The Mamas Organic Products can be purchased from a number of retail outlets in Apia.