About Us
Jamaica Bush Tea shop is a blog about Jamaican bush teas and their use as traditional herbal remedies.
The website serves as an online resource dedicated to exploring the benefits and uses of Jamaican herbal teas, particularly in those that have been used as medicine for generations.
Jamaica Bush Tea shop started as a project to investigate the real stories behind Jamaica’s bush teas and to learn what the experts say about them.
Meet Joy Walker
The founder, Joy Walker, was inspired by her upbringing in Jamaica, and her grandmother’s use of local herbs to treat various ailments.
“I am a Certified Medical Assistant who recently started blogging as a hobby. I have always tried to lead a healthy lifestyle. However, the pandemic and ensuing health issues made me take a step back to reassess my health goals.”
“I was raised in Jamaica, an island with an abundance of herbs and spices. Many of them are used to make herbal teas.”
“To me they were just weeds growing on the property. But my Gan Gan saw them as medicine. She used “bush teas” to treat all types of ailments.”
“She drank them to cure the common cold and improve her energy, as a body detox, to help her sleep and to bathe our scrapes and bruises.”
The site also reflects on personal stories, like family tea-drinking traditions, and aims to connect readers with authentic Jamaican herbs.
Our Bush Tea Tradition
“During the COVID lockdown I had fond memories of growing up in Jamaica.”
“Thursday nights the whole family attended a meeting. When we got home my siblings and I would make a pot of bush tea and sit around the table drink tea and talk about anything and everything. That was until my mother shooed us to bed.’
“When COVID started, that tradition seemed to just fall into place. Our Thursday night tea drinking resumed on Zoom. We connected from three different countries and several different locations in those countries. Our children and their families even joined in.’
The memories of the teas we drank on those Thursday nights a long time ago made me want to know more about them I was amazed at what I uncovered in my research.
And so the idea for Jamaica Bush Tea Shop was born.