Porto’s Rabbi Daniel Litvak has been busy in recent months. When not tending to his flock of 500 congregants at the historic Kadourie Synagogue, he has been in demand to certify as kosher a growing number of local food products. The Argentina-born rabbi recently granted a “K” certificate to a locally produced award-winning brand of gourmet herbal teas, known in Portuguese as “Infusões Com História” (Infusions With History), which are set to be introduced to Israel in October by a trade mission from Portugal, corona-willing.
The brainchild of Miguel Moreira and his business partner Valdemar Sousa, the two produce teas from the wildflowers, herbs and plants of the Douro Valley and the nearby Rota do Românico (Romanesque Route), the historic heartland in the northwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula where Portugal had its genesis some 900 years ago after two centuries of knights crusading against the Moors.
For Moreira, 40, a physics teacher in the city of Lousada with a passion for hiking in the region´s granite mountains, Infusions with History combines his love for Portugal`s rich culture, history and flora with a savvy sense of business. Good flavor should translate into good business, he reasons. Amongst the brands he has created is one named in honor of Aristides de Sousa Mendes.
In 2019, those teas won four prizes at the third edition of the International Tea of the World Competition organized by AVPA (Agence pour la Valorisation des Produits Agricoles) in Paris.
“It`s aromatherapy here every day,” says Moreira of their organic plantation of more than 100 herbs, spices and flowers located more than 1,000 meters up in the remote Monte Mouro mountains.
Winnie van Dijk, Infusões Com História´s Holland-born director of export sales, explains: “There is no other tea (company) that connects history and geography with this aroma.”
And Rabbi Litvak points out that besides being used for tea and cooking, Infusões Com História`s products are also suitable for Havdalah basamim.