Wilder Land

Wilder Land is a Dutch herbal tea company founded in 2018 by Daan van Diepen and Matthijs Westerwoudt, and was formerly known as Ptthee. The founders discovered the possibilities of tea while looking for ways to stimulate Dutch biodiversity, having noted that the Netherlands ranks at the bottom of the European biodiversity ranking. The company was founded with the goal of stimulating Dutch biodiversity through the cultivation of herbal tea ingredients.^[1],[2]

Wilder Land observed that most herbal tea sold in Dutch supermarkets is imported from abroad, despite very little being grown domestically and despite growing Dutch demand for herbal tea. Tea was chosen because the herbs used can be sown in March and produce a first harvest within two to three months. Rather than relying on subsidies, the founders built a business model selling domestically grown herbs to fund ongoing biodiversity investment.^[1],[3],[4]

In 2018 Wilder Land received pilot funding from Wij.land, which was used for production testing including seeds and small machines, marketing tests such as Facebook ads, and access to Wij.land's network of farmers. The founders also received a loan from the Triodos Regenerative Money Centre to start the business.^[1],[4]

Wilder Land is based in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.^[5]

Wilder Land was co-founded by Daan van Diepen and Matthijs Westerwoudt. According to Triodos Bank, both studied psychology or business administration before founding the company. As of a February 2025 article, the company was five years old.^{[4],[6],[7],[8]}

Wilder Land is a social and regenerative enterprise whose founders aim to reverse the decline in biodiversity in the Netherlands by connecting an everyday product like herbal tea to a positive environmental effect. The stated mission is to transform the Netherlands into a wilder place where biodiversity flourishes. The company describes its ambition as becoming a "regenerative Unilever".^[6],[7]

The business model pays farmers fairly — above market rate — to cultivate unsprayed native crops that are then turned into products, with the farming designed to provide a new revenue stream for Dutch farmers while supporting nature restoration. Wilder Land works with both organic and conventional farmers, allowing any farmer to take the first step toward biodiversity regardless of certification status, and offers participating farmers an off-take guarantee for herbs grown in mixed strips as a low-threshold first step. The company collaborates with farmers to transform monoculture English ryegrass fields, called 'green deserts', into flowering strips of native herbs and flowers. Over the next decade the company plans to expand beyond edible products into skincare and non-edible native plants for the Dutch landscape.^[2],[9]

Wilder Land maintains a short and transparent supply chain in which herbs are processed shortly after harvest and the origin and cultivators of the herbs are known. Packages carry a QR code linking to a video and additional brand content, and the company collaborated with a creative agency to study popular tea brands and redesign its packaging and branding to differentiate from existing tea brands.^[1],[6]

From its harvest of native herbs, Wilder Land produces a range spanning herbal teas, botanical iced tea, kombucha, syrups, sparkling drinks, and beer made from local grains, nuts, and herbs, alongside a food line including granola, pasta, culinary miso, and bouillon. The beverage range of botanical iced tea, kombucha, syrups, and sparkling drinks is 0% alcohol; the company's 0.0 borrel box is described as 100% nature and 0% alcohol. Its lineup also includes alcoholic beverages such as Kir Locale (7.5% ABV), Black Currant Situation (14.9% ABV), Walnuts & Glory (14.9% ABV), and Petit Populier (14.9% ABV).^[2],[9],[10]

The tea lineup comprises blends including Sunny Boy Blend, Offline Blend, F***ing Fris Blend, (On)Groen Blend, Opkicker Blend, Back to Black Blend, Holy Smokey Blend, and Boswandeling Blend. The (On)Groen Blend is described as not a green tea, but one that strongly evokes the character of green tea. Wilder Land developed a black tea and a green tea made entirely from herbs grown in the Netherlands. Tea blends are composed by a tea sommelier, while cold beverages are developed together with local flavor makers.^[2],[11]

The kombucha and sparkling line includes Het is Altijd Lente, a chamomile kombucha; Holy Smokey Part II, a smoked herbal tea kombucha; Feast Beast, a sparkling tea with apple cider at 1.3% ABV; and Thé de L'été Rosé, a 0.0% sparkling tea made with sea purslane and blackcurrant. The Kouwe Klets sparkling range spans Sparkling & Berry (blackcurrant, rowan berry, blackthorn), Sparkling & Fruity (gooseberry, elderflower, bog myrtle), Sparkling & Woody (pine, poplar, oak bark), and Sparkling IJsthee, an (on)green sparkling iced tea.

The food line is made from wild, indigenous, and special grains and other species, positioned as locally sourced and culinarily biodiverse. It includes Pasta - Wild Sage, made from Dutch-grown ingredients and enriched with sage and plantain (weegbree); Pasta - Terra Selvaggia, also from Dutch-grown ingredients; a culinary miso made from fermented buckwheat and chickpeas; and Côte Bouillon, a Zeeland Salty Wild Herb Bouillon (Zeeuwse Zilte Wilde Kruidenbouillon).^[12]

Beyond finished products, Wilder Land offers a tea subscription service — available monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual, and pausable or cancellable monthly — that includes a 10% discount on tea and the rest of the assortment and free shipping from €35, with a 'Steeds wat anders' (Surprise) option delivering a different blend each shipment. Additional offerings include a Tasting Kit with all tea blends, a Tasting Kit Botanische Brouwsels featuring six Botanical Brews, curated tasting crates (proeverij kratten) of culinary biodiverse products, herb seed packets (zadenzakje) sourced from Cruydt Hoeck, and merchandise including a handbook on edible wild plants ('Eetbare Wilde Planten'), Atmos Magazine (Volume 09: Kinship), and Meander Magazine (Volume One: Returning to Place).^[13],[14]

Wilder Land builds its range around native herbs that grow in the Dutch (and Belgian) landscape, sown in strips on farmland rather than in monocultures, harvested unsprayed, and turned into tea, kombucha, sparkling drinks, syrups, beer and food products. Tea blends are composed by a tea sommelier, while cold beverages are developed together with local flavor makers, brewers, syrup-makers and bakers.^[2],[15]

Herbal tea blending. Tea herbs are cut, dried, and mixed into blends, and Wilder Land has developed both a black tea and a green tea made entirely from Netherlands-grown herbs. The (On)Groen Blend is built to evoke the character of green tea without being one, and the range spans blends including Sunny Boy, Offline, F***ing Fris, Opkicker, Back to Black, Holy Smokey, and Boswandeling.^[1],[11]

Kombucha fermentation. Wilder Land ferments herbal teas into kombucha. Het is Altijd Lente is a chamomile kombucha, and Holy Smokey Part II is a smoked herbal tea kombucha, pairing fermentation with smoking of the (on)kruidenthee base.

Sparkling tea and carbonation. The Kouwe Klets line and Thé de L'été Rosé are sparkling teas built on foraged and native components:

• Kouwe Klets Sparkling & Berry — blackcurrant (zwarte bes), rowan berry (lijsterbes), and blackthorn (sleedoorn)
• Kouwe Klets Sparkling & Fruity — gooseberry (kruisbes), elderflower (vlierbloesem), and bog myrtle (gagel)
• Kouwe Klets Sparkling & Woody — pine (den), poplar (populier), and oak bark (eikenbast)
• Kouwe Klets Sparkling IJsthee — an (on)green sparkling iced tea
• Thé de L'été Rosé — sea purslane (zeekraal) and blackcurrant, described as sultry and briny
• Feast Beast — a sparkling tea with apple cider at 1.3% ABV

Fermentation in the food line. The same fermentation approach extends beyond beverages: Wilder Land makes a culinary miso from fermented buckwheat and chickpeas.^[15]

Native & foraged botanicals. Wilder Land works exclusively with herbs that grow in the Dutch (and Belgian) landscape, harvested from flowering field margins and strips on partner farms:^[4],[16]

• Chamomile, nettle, plantain, dandelion, yarrow, and cornflower — core native tea herbs
• Sorrel, chicory, sage — additional native herbs used in blends and the food line
• Yarrow, chicory and sage — grown in strips on farmland, with half used for tea and half left for wildlife
• Yarrow and broad beans — grown by farmer Ivar van Dorst at farm Ekoto, where the yarrow attracts ladybugs that predate aphids on the beans
• Elderflower and bog myrtle (gagel) — grown in a tea hedge by a conventional dairy farmer; bog myrtle also used in Kouwe Klets Sparkling & Fruity
• Sea purslane (zeekraal) — the briny component of Thé de L'été Rosé
• Walnut leaves — sourced from planted walnut trees for an Off-black blend, with nuts later harvested for other products

Sourcing & processing standards. Wilder Land grows its herbal ingredients in the Netherlands to reduce transport kilometers, and works as much as possible with organic farmers, ensuring herbs come from plots that have not been sprayed. As of 2021, its own production was not yet sufficient to supply 100% Dutch herbs year-round, so a portion was purchased from Dutch suppliers or, when sourced abroad, from European countries such as France and Germany, some via Het Blauwe Huis and Jacob Hooy. The company aimed to become 100 percent Dutch-sourced within two years by selling more tea to fund additional sowing. Herbs are processed shortly after harvest at the social workplace Pantar in Amsterdam, where they are cut, dried, and mixed into blends.^[16]

Compostable packaging. Tea bag packaging is made from fully compostable material that can be disposed of in organic waste (GFT). Larger packaging is PLA (polylactic acid), made from sugarcane and corn starch, which is industrially compostable and has no fossil basis.^[16]

Wilder Land's production model is built on collaboration with tea sommeliers, brewers, syrup-makers and bakers to build markets for native products, and its cold beverages are developed together with local flavor makers. The company works with more than 40 farmers across the Netherlands under two payment models: one pays €0.15 per square metre per year to sow herbs for at least three years, and the other pays per kilo to farmers who grow dedicated lanes of a specific herb. As of February 2021 it had partnered with 27 farmers and was onboarding 10 more, cultivating between five and six hectares of herbs; earlier accounts cite more than 25 farmers.^[2],[9],[17]

Named farm collaborations include Ivar van Dorst of farm Ekoto, who grows herb strips of yarrow and broad beans as part of the tea program; a tea hedgerow (theehaag) planted together with farmer Joost van Schie incorporating herbs, bushes, and trees across different layers; and a conventional dairy farmer who planted a tea hedge featuring elderflower and bog myrtle (gagel) bushes.^[4]

In 2019, while still operating as Ptthee, Wilder Land won the ASN Bank World Award, which the company credits with helping it grow.^[17]