HOW IT BEGAN

Plants were part of Frøya’s life long before Tonic & Root. She grew up foraging with her grandmother and later began drying herbs and experimenting with teas and tonics at home.

During the years Frøya and Karl spent working at sea, putting the kettle on became a small but important ritual. However busy the day, tea created a natural pause: a few minutes in the crew mess before returning to work.

That experience stayed with them. Ritual, as they see it, is not an elaborate routine or another thing to get right. It is a familiar act that marks a moment, creates a change of pace and offers a way to come back to yourself.

The first blends

During a period of ill health, Frøya began looking more closely at the plants she was drinking. Unable to find teas containing the combinations she wanted, she bought the ingredients individually and began making her own blends. She hand-filled tea bags to take into hospital before surgery. That was when she suggested to Karl that they turn the idea into a business.

Their first six blends later came with them on an Atlantic yacht delivery, where they drank, tested and refined them along the way. Back in Godalming, those early experiments gradually became Rise, Recharge and Rest.

Made for the moment

They wanted to create drinks that felt useful and satisfying, without making everyday life another self-improvement project. Most herbal tea seemed to lead with either what was in it or what it promised to do. Frøya and Karl wanted to start somewhere else: with the moment someone would reach for it.

Rise, Recharge and Rest are made around three familiar moments: the start of the day, a pause within it and the evening wind-down. The ritual comes first; beneath it is a considered blend of plants.

WHAT GOES INTO A BLEND

  • TASTE MATTERS

    The first requirement is simple: it has to be enjoyable to drink. Each blend is developed for balance, character and a cup worth returning to.

  • EACH PLANT EARNS ITS PLACE

    Every ingredient is chosen for what it contributes to the finished blend and how it works alongside the others. Traditional plant knowledge and historical use are part of that thinking, alongside flavour, balance and the role each plant plays in the cup.

  • MADE IN GODALMING

    Rise, Recharge and Rest are blended, labelled and packed in small batches by Frøya and Karl in Godalming, Surrey. They remain closely involved from the loose plants to the finished tin.

A HOUSE OF MODERN RITUALS

The blends are only the beginning. Tonic & Root also explores the small rituals that give shape to ordinary life through music, food, plants, the seasons and time spent together.

The Rituals Library is a growing collection of ideas for those moments. Nothing prescribed and nothing to perfect; just things to browse, borrow from and make your own.

Explore the Rituals

MEET FRØYA AND KARL

Before Tonic & Root, Frøya and Karl spent years working aboard luxury superyachts around the world. The experience shaped their appreciation for thoughtful hospitality, practical details and the small rituals that make people feel looked after.

Today, they are building Tonic & Root together in Godalming. Frøya leads the development of the blends and the creative direction of the House, while Karl works across production and wholesale. Both remain closely involved, from the loose plants to the finished tin, and still return to sea from time to time.

FEATURED IN GUILDFORD MAGAZINE

Guildford Magazine spoke to Frøya and Karl about their years working at sea, how Tonic & Root began and the story behind Rise, Recharge and Rest.

Read the article

TRY ALL THREE

Three 10g pouches of Rise, Recharge and Rest, plus nine epty tea bags. A simple way to find the blend, and the moment, you'll want to return to.

£15

DISCOVER THE SET