Both spent long periods at sea, where schedules could be pretty relentless. Frøya remembers that, however busy things got, there was usually still time for a tea break.
“It didn’t really matter how much was going on, or how rough the seas were, putting the kettle on and having five minutes in the crew mess was always allowed,” says Frøya. “I remember the engineers doing it before starting a big job. You’d have a cup of tea, then crack on.”
Years later, while establishing a life on land and preparing for surgery, Frøya started paying more attention to rest and nutrition, and became curious about the plants used in herbal teas.
It also brought back memories of growing up foraging with her grandmother.
“We’d come home with mushrooms, rosehips and blueberries and she always seemed to know what was growing around us and what people had traditionally used them for. I hadn’t really thought about those conversations for years.”
Frøya started experimenting with different herbs at home, mixing them at the dining-room table and hand-filling tea bags, including some to take into hospital with her.
At first there were six different blends, which Frøya and Karl took with them on a yacht delivery across the Atlantic. Over time, they narrowed these down to three blends for three moments in the day.
Those experiments eventually became Tonic & Root, which Frøya and Karl now run from their home in Godalming.
Turning those early experiments into a business has involved developing the recipes, sourcing ingredients, food safety and packaging. The blends are now made and packed in small batches in Godalming, and the business recently received a Food Hygiene Rating of 5.
