We are a family owned and operated distributor of high quality organic herbs, spices, and related accessories. Our products range from consumer ready items - to bulk for dispensaries - to industrial quantity herbs, spices, and ingredients.
Our customers consist of manufacturers, bakeries, health food stores, herbal practitioners, and naturopaths.
Twenty years ago, people did not want organic.
10 years ago it was only for the conscientious forerunners of our society.
... Now, things have changed.
Organically grown herbs and spices are grown sustainably, and are absent of harmful chemicals and GMOs. Organic is the way of the future, but only if people take action today.
Hi! We are Organic Connections, and this is our incredible story.
Our beginnings were small... for as long as I could remember, my parents had a huge organic garden that fed us throughout the year with the help of a few preserving techniques like canning and drying. Life was good, Dad drove a truck for a living and Mom stayed home with me and my sister. I was less than 5 at the time.
Sometime before 1987, Dad got hurt and couldn't drive for a living anymore. Being lucky enough to live in Canada, the Government paid for Dad to go back to school to retrain. In the meantime to help supplement their income, my folks started hauling organic fruits and vegetables to health oriented markets and stores in nearby Toronto. In the beginning, things were slow and steady, but demand swiftly outstripped the supply of good quality fresh farm produce. It seemed as if we were on the cusp of something huge that people were crying out for. From the back of our brown, third-hand pickup we saw the beginnings of our incredible organic industry.
Even though we could hardly keep up, we pushed on, and the fledgling business grew. We managed to negotiate a distributorship with a like-minded American distributor that was heavily into bulk herbs, Frontier Natural Products Co-Op. That was our first line of products. Later, we would shake the hands of Daniel Gagnon, the founder of Herbs Etc. and Mariam Massaro of Wise Ways Herbals (Unfortunately we no longer carry Wise Ways products). Other product lines would come and go, but these companies have always been near and dear to us, since they are of such outstanding quality and usefulness.
Our little business grew, and it wasn't long before one of our supplying farms decided (tragically) to give up on organics. Mom and Dad decided to leave the produce trucking business behind and concentrate on what would be called "organic herbs, spices, and related articles."
As things progressed, we realized there was a hole in the industry, there were no good quality herbs readily available to the end user. We decided to do something about it. Dad bought a secondhand teabagging machine and we started putting our great organic herbs into teabags and labelling them as Celebration Herbals (est. 1997).
Today, Celebration Herbals remains our brand and it is distributed around the world. We make lots of products, organic whenever possible, all with an eye for quality and value.
Also, Organic Connections distributes all of Celebration Herbals, Frontier Co-operative herbs, and other brands to health food stores and herbal practitioners across North America. One of our growing specialties is the supply of large volume organic ingredients and herbs to bakeries, neutraceuticals, and food manufacturers.
We are an organic processor, and certified Kosher. We are inspected regularly by the third party agencies Pro-Cert Organic Systems (Formerly OCPP) and KSA.
Our customers have remained the same throughout the years. Some of our best and oldest customers remind us now and then of the time they helped us unload vegetables in the heat of a Toronto summer. We've got a lot of new additions to the family, and are striving to grow our business with good ethics and a friendly, family oriented mentality.
We hope to serve you today, tomorrow, and for years to come.
Our consumer ready offerings are extensive. Here are a few of the lines we support and stock.
For an expanded list, contact us and ask for a catalog.
Wild Canadian Tea (previously known as Algonquin Tea Company) is passionate about connecting people to the magical spirit and power of the earth's plants. All natural and wild, the way tea is meant to be. It is the official home of The Algonquin Collection, Pine Tea and Wild @Heart.
The Algonquin Collection and Pine Tea consist of herbs and plants that are natural to the Algonquin bioregion. They are ethically wild harvested, hand picked and certified organic by Pro-Cert.
Wild@Heart are gourmet black, green and chai teas blended with our organic wildcrafted Canadian herbs.
Coast Mountain Essential Oils is a line of handcrafted essential oils inspired from a lifetime spent in the forests of British Columbia. The boughs and needles are sustainably wild harvested from Conifer trees throughout British Columbia which are then steam-distilled to create pure, monoterpene-rich essential oils for aromatherapeutic and many other uses.
COMING SOON - Coast Mountain is putting finishing touches on a beauty and skincare line. These will be available in early October.
Turmeric Teas Drawing on the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda, this tea company is inspired by the rhythmic flow of nature and the extraordinary root that has been a fixture in Indian cooking for millennia. Turmeric is an adaptogen with many benefits which makes it a great base ingredient for this line of Loose Leaf Tea & Latte Blends.
