Our History
Aromatics was founded in 1990 by David Amoth and a group of growers in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. The original business plan was to sell mint essential oil to toothpaste and chewing gum manufacturers. However, it did not take long for David to realize that the business opportunity was not in selling mint oil, but rather in selling dried mint leaf to the international herbal tea industry. During the early 1990’s, the largest German brand of herbal tea purchased everything we could produce. By 1996, Aromatics still had only one large German customer and sold only one ingredient, peppermint leaf. As David Amoth approached retirement he hired his son, Kurt Amoth, as Marketing Manager. David gave Kurt two tasks, first, find more customers to buy Aromatics’ peppermint leaf and second, identify other crops to grow and supply to those customers.
During the late 1990’s, David and Kurt visited many potential U.S. herbal tea customers. They successful expanded their business to selling peppermint and spearmint leaf to new domestic and international customers. Aromatics also expanded its product line to supply other herbal tea and nutritional supplement raw materials, including St. John’s Wort, Echinacea, Lemon Balm, Valerian root, and Catnip.
Today, Kurt and his wife Lara run Aromatics full time, and have a wonderful and dedicated team of employees who take great pride in producing the highest quality mint leaf found anywhere around the globe.