Greece’s Mediterranean climate produces herbs packed with more than just flavour, as Kuchar Swara explains
Apparently, not all herbs are created equal.
Greece’s mild winters and warm, sunny summers give Daphnis and Chloe’s herbs intensity difficult to find in ordinary varieties. Containing up to thirty times more essential oils than herbs found elsewhere in the world, they are sourced regionally and grown naturally on the islands of Greece in remote valleys or hills by local farmers and producers. The plants are also dried seasonally, working with the plants’ natural harvest cycle to gather them at their optimum.
Daphnis and Chloe have picked up on the superior taste Greek herbs offer and tapped into the collective enthusiasm for quality ingredients, with grocers and shops such as Formaggio Kitchen in Boston and NY, Melrose&Morgan and La Fromagerie in London being regular stockists.
And flavour isn’t the only thing to write home about. The company’s packaging is definitely one to have on show, designed by Apartamento co-founder Omar Sosa and illustrator Nathalie Du Pasquier. Speaking of their latest product, an herbal infusion tea containing rose hips, Greek mountain tea, thyme and peppermint, D&C founder Evangelia Koutsovoulou explains: “Last spring when we started talking about launching our first herbal infusion, I thought that it should be the blend that we had been preparing all winter long at the office. I called Omar – he’s the first person that I call when it comes to anything creative – and I told him the story and that I wanted to call this product The Office Blend. He loved the name and I explained I wanted a totally different packaging for this product, something with a pattern that makes you think of an office space. Omar proposed our painter friend, Nathalie Du Pasquier.”
“Design-wise, there’s so much of Omar and Natalie in this product” Evangelia goes on. For her part, she has directed her efforts into sourcing the best ingredients for the blend possible. “I had to buy the entire mountain tea crop this little farmer from Epirus produced in order to make sure that we’ll have a sufficient supply for the blend for the entire year… It grows in a natural plantation 1,000 meters above sea, and it’s just gorgeous. I thought, I picked what’s inside, and Aglaia’s recipe is just great, now let the design experts make a nice object that people will like to keep on their desks!”
