Our Origin Story

The fluorescent boardroom lights buzzed overhead while we argued - again - about how to make tea cheaper.

Add artificial flavouring and sweeteners to mask the bland flavour. Use smaller tea particles.

“The focus group report is back - they don’t notice the difference.”

But I did.

As an executive at one of Canada’s largest coffee and tea brands, I watched something sacred turn synthetic, one quarter at a time. The so-called 'wellness' blends on shelves were months old - lifeless dust trapped in plastic sachets that leached microplastics and bleach into every 'healthy' cup.

That winter, sick with the flu and craving my mother’s herbal remedy from India, I desperately tried every box on the grocery store shelf. Not one helped.

Wrapped in a blanket, throat burning, eyes tearing up, I whispered - “Enough.”

So I quit answering my Zoom calls and started blending with my hands.

Turmeric stained my countertops gold.

Steam fogged the windows.
The entire house smelled like cardamom, chamomile, and stubborn hope.

Three years. 170 blends.

Red-eyed nights studying Ayurveda and traditional medicine until dawn.

When friends began begging for refills - calling our teas 'magic' - I knew we’d found it.

That’s how EQ State began: not to sell tea, but to restore its soul.