b'Treeteas Brewing Co. It was everything you wanted as a chef, all that Paul Owl of Serpent River First Nation is the creator of Treeteas Brewing, locatedemotion and evoking all that, so I was like, Ive in Ottawa and Cutler and online at www.treeteas.ca. Owl developed hisgot a business here.business approximately six years ago after creating a Cedar Wildberry Chai drink Paul Owlthat was a hit at a local powwow.We sold out instantly, Owl says, noting that people told him stories about cedar tea and how much their children liked cedar tea at the powwow. It was everything you wanted as a chef, all that emotion and evoking all that, so I was like, Ive got a business here.Owl says he then made and bottled more Cedar Wildberry Chai with some of his friends and sold the drink on the powwow trail and in communities.By the time the first summer was over, wed sold almost 1,000 cases, Owl says. Going in the winter months was tough because [the drink] was in a glass jar and hard to fit on shelves, so we did a lot of workshops and round dancesand powwows.The following summer, Owl featured a local singer on the label to promote their music, and has since partnered with other Indigenous artists to feature their artwork on his labels as well.Owl launched a new line of Ziibiins Nibi Cedar Wildberry Chai and Cedar Wild Mint canned drinks in collabora-tion with Mdahk Farms on June 21, 2022. The partnership required changing the recipe to use a syrup that works in the canning process.It still had the components of the original drink, Owl says. Its been a crazy ride ever sinceIve been driving from Thunder Bay to London to Ottawa to Maniwaki and all the places in between and delivering these. Ive been doing interviews, speaking and telling my story. Its been pretty awesome.Owl adds that he is currently devel-oping a heated storage facility for his drinks and a sugar-free drink for an export deal to Israel.Our original drinks that were doing right now only contain between six to eight grams of sugar each, but they also wanted us to produce a sugar-free alternative, Owl says. I ssue2 2022/23C hIefs ofo ntarIoA dvocAte magazIne l 41'