Daphne Ewing-Chow (Forbes) focuses on a new Jamaican export product, ZON Teasan, which contains the patented McGhie Jamaican Cinnamon Ginger. She explains, “Jamaica is making a bold entry into the ultra-luxury beverage market with ZON Teasan, an exclusive herbal infusion. Made from McGhie JCG, a patented botanical discovered locally, extensive research highlights its distinct flavor profile and potential health benefits, including antioxidant properties and anecdotal improvements for digestive and prostate health.”
By the time you reach the storied Flat Bridge, a noticeable shift takes place. Leaving conventional Jamaica, you begin to enter its soul.
The road narrows between limestone cliffs draped in dense tropical foliage; the sediment-rich waters of the Rio Cobre swim below. [. . .] Somewhere beyond those winding roads, in cultivated plots deep in Jamaica’s interior, grows a plant that may become one of the Caribbean’s most intriguing luxury food exports.
Not coffee. Not rum. Herbal tea.
This tisane, or ‘teasan’ as its creators call it, is an herbal infusion made from the patented Jamaican botanical known as the McGhie JCG, a member of the Zingiberaceae family that includes ginger, turmeric, and cardamom.
The drink produced from it, arriving in sleek tins blanketed in the black, green, and gold of Jamaica’s flag, ZON Teasan, is labeled with the specific botanical variety and Jamaican origin and priced closer to elite-aged Chinese Pu-erh than your average wellness blend.
At US$1,330 for a 45-gram canister, the Jamaican herbal tea enters a market where rarity itself has become a currency. Consumers already pay thousands of dollars for elite aged Chinese Pu-erh teas, while Silver Tips Imperial, made from unopened buds hand-picked during a brief harvest window on estates in India and Sri Lanka, can fetch as much as US$10,000 per kilogram. Still, a four-figure herbal tea from Jamaica raises eyebrows.
For decades, the upper tiers of the global tea market have belonged almost entirely to Asia. China built centuries of mythology around mountain-grown oolongs and imperial harvests. Japan refined tea into ritual, discipline, and luxury craftsmanship. Britain commercialized tea culture globally, layering it with aristocratic tradition and ceremony.
Jamaica, meanwhile, built its premium reputation elsewhere. Coffee. Rum. Sugar. Scotch bonnet pepper. Jerk sauce. Music.
ZON Teasan changes the frame slightly because it doesn’t try to imitate traditional tea culture. Instead, it leans fully into Jamaica itself. [. . .]
Even as that research continues, the discovery has already produced one lasting commercial outcome. In 2016, McGhie Jamaican Cinnamon Ginger (McGhie JCG) became the first Jamaican-owned plant in more than half a century to receive a U.S. plant patent, later securing protection in Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and across Europe. [. . .]
For full article, see https://www.forbes.com/sites/daphneewingchow/2026/07/09/could-this-patented-jamaican-botanical-be-luxury-teas-next-icon/
[Photo above by Daryl Lawrence (@dxarcher) for Zon Teasan: ZON Teasan is produced from a patented botanical discovered in Jamaica’s interior, an unlikely setting for what its creators hope will become a premium entrant in the global luxury herbal tea market.]
Daphne Ewing-Chow (Forbes) focuses on a new Jamaican export product, ZON Teasan, which contains the patented McGhie Jamaican Cinnamon Ginger. She explains, “Jamaica is making a bold entry into the ultra-luxury beverage market with ZON Teasan, an exclusive herbal infusion. Made from McGhie JCG, a patented botanical discovered locally, extensive research highlights its distinct flavor
