Vibrant Roots employs wellness of bees, mushrooms and herbs

The fruity aromas wafting through Vibrant Root’s small kitchen workspace are the efforts of a small team working to make a big difference. The product they’re making is called jun tea, an invention originating in the Himalayan Mountains. 

Brooke Lynn Dodson, the owner and founder of Whitefish-based Vibrant Roots, has put nature at the foundation of her company by applying wellness traditions pertaining to bees, mushrooms, and herbs. Besides jun tea, the health-minded company also makes cold pressed juices, hot shot power elixirs, mushroom teas, ginger beer, and hand pressed nut milks.

“These are high quality products with high quality ingredients. Everything we make takes so much time and love and energy,” said Dodson. 

The company’s products are sold in over 100 locations across four states and 2% of profits go to charity — 1% to saving the bees and the other to a different local nonprofit each quarter. Rather than using traditional juicing methods, juice is unpasteurized and cold-pressed by 3,000 pounds of pressure in a hydraulic press in order to preserve the nutrients. 

Aptly called a “sister elixir” to kombucha, jun tea has a lighter and more delicate flavor profile and their website calls jun tea the “champagne” of kombucha. The base is brewed and fermented with organic ingredients, green tea, and local raw honey, and there are several flavors with which Dodson has experimented. 

“Sometimes I make flavors and they're wonderful and other times I have these ideas and I think I’m going to have this wonderful flavor, but it doesn’t turn out. Like I thought vanilla carrot cake sounded so delicious, but it was so bad,” Dodson said with a laugh. 

From lavender, thyme, citrus, jasmine, huckleberry, and cardamom, there are over 20 innovative jun tea flavors offered. 

The mushroom tea flavors include savory collagen broth, golden turmeric latte, and a cacao blend. 

“The lion's mane mushroom helps with focus and clarity. The reishi mushroom works as an adaptogen for speed control and levels your system out. The turmeric is for inflammation and the cacao uplifts your mood,” Dodson explained. “Without mushrooms and the mycelium network, none of the trees or plants would exist so our logo is a mushroom because it is the foundation to everything we do.” 

Vibrant Roots also offers workshops for women to get back to their ancestral roots with movement and meditation. After a recent trip to Thailand, Dodson has realized the importance of slowing down while enjoying food and drink and encourages others to do the same.

“During my trip, I really adapted a meditative practice of slowing down and being in the moment while drinking tea,” she said. “Our tea is beautifully and thoughtfully crafted and we should enjoy the process of tasting the flavors and allowing the nutrients to be absorbed.”

Dodson said that many customers have testified to the life-altering effects of her company’s products such as helping with indigestion and gut health, speeding up recoveries, and even assisting in cancer recovery. Dodson herself was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 24, which is what led to the creation of Vibrant Roots, and believes that the combination of jun tea, mushroom tea, and hot shots healed her. 

“We're getting back to our roots by using nature and eating real food. No additives and no chemicals. This is good raw, fresh, organic food,” said Dodson. “And in that same sense, we want people to nurture their minds to become more conscious individuals for the planet, the community, and everyone around you.” 

Vibrant Roots is sold at a variety of locations in the Flathead Valley. For more information, visit https://vibrantroots.com/

Reporter Summer Zalesky may be reached at szalesky@dailyinterlake.com.

    Bottles of jun-kombucha at Vibrant Roots in Whitefish on Tuesday, March 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Inside Vibrant Roots in Whitefish on Tuesday, March 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Bags of Collagen Mushroom Broth and Golden Mushroom Latte at Vibrant Roots Whitefish on Tuesday, March 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Bottles of Jun Tea at Vibrant Roots in Whitefish on Tuesday, March 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    A 17-ounce refillable bottle of jun-kombucha at Vibrant Roots in Whitefish on Tuesday, March 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Strawberry Rose flavored Pressed Nut Milk at Vibrant Roots in Whitefish on Tuesday, March 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider