Thunder Bay·Northern Nosh

Meet the couple blending wild rice and tea together in Thunder Bay

Tea Horse started out as a tea retailer, but is now focused on production of ManoominCha, a blend of wild rice and tea.

Tea Horse started out as a retailer, but is now focused on producing their own blends of tea

Denise Atkinson & Marc Bohemier own Tea Horse. (Supplied by Tea Horse)

What do tea and wild rice have in common?

For Denise Atkinson & Marc Bohemier, they come together in a series of products called "ManoominCha."

ManoominCha blends wild rice with tea leaves. (Supplied by Tea Horse)

The Thunder Bay couple are the owners of Tea Horse, a Thunder Bay-based company that started out as a typical tea retailer, but soon became dedicated to the production of their own proprietary wild rice and tea blend.

Atkinson describes the blend as a Canadian version of genmaicha, a traditional Japanese blend of green tea and brown rice.

For this week's edition of Northern Nosh, I spoke to Atkinson and Bohemier to learn more about how this unique product came to be. Tap on the player to hear our conversation.

For more information about Tea Horse, visit their website

Northern Nosh is a weekly feature on Up North, CBC Radio One's regional afternoon show for northern Ontario. If you know a food producer you think would make a great story, get in touch! 

Send an email to upnorth@cbc.ca, message us on Facebook or Twitter — or call 1-844-85NORTH.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jonathan Pinto is the host of Up North, CBC Radio One's regional afternoon show for Northern Ontario and is based in Sudbury. He was formerly a reporter/editor and an associate producer at CBC Windsor. Email jonathan.pinto@cbc.ca.