Meet the Founder
The Founder
Tanner Graburn
Tanner Graburn is a wellness practitioner and devoted tea enthusiast rooted in the natural community of Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. With a deep commitment to plant-based health and holistic living, Tanner has spent years studying herbal traditions, functional nutrition, and the profound ways plants support the human body.
His mornings have always begun with tea. For years, however, he searched for something that offered genuine, sustained energy without the anxiety, jitteriness, or mid-morning crash common to coffee and conventional caffeinated teas. As someone who prioritises gut health and mindful daily practice, he needed something that worked in harmony with his body — not against it.
That search led him, over eight years ago, to a remarkable leaf growing deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon. A leaf called Guayusa.
"The first cup I had, I felt it immediately — smooth, clean energy, totally present and focused. No racing heart, no crash two hours later. Just clarity. I knew I had to share this with Canada." — Tanner Graburn, Founder of Upina
The Discovery
Eight Years with the Night Watchman's Plant
Guayusa — known to the Indigenous Kichwa people of Ecuador as the "night watchman's plant" — has been brewed before dawn for over 2,000 years. When Tanner first encountered it through connections in the herbal and botanical community, he was immediately struck by how different it felt from anything he had tried before.
Unlike coffee, which often left him with a racing mind and tight chest, Guayusa offered something rarer: calm alertness. The energy was real and sustained — ideal for focused mornings and an active day — but without the jittery edge. And because Guayusa is exceptionally low in tannins, it settled gently in the stomach, even when taken first thing in the morning. For someone who prioritises gut health, this was nothing short of a revelation.
Over the years that followed, Tanner immersed himself in the world of Guayusa — learning about its history, its chemistry, its culture, and the farmers who grew it. He travelled, researched, and tasted dozens of sources. Eventually, he found what he was looking for: a direct partnership with Indigenous Kichwa farming communities in Ecuador producing the finest loose-leaf Guayusa available.
Upina was born from that search.
Why Upina
More Than a Tea. A Mission.
The Finest Loose Leaf
Upina sources only whole loose-leaf Guayusa — never broken, never powdered. Every bag delivers the full integrity of the leaf, exactly as it was harvested from the Amazon.
True Fairtrade
We partner directly with over 250 Indigenous Kichwa farming families in Ecuador — paying fair prices that support their livelihoods, preserve their traditions, and protect the rainforest they call home.
Community First
Every bag purchased is a direct investment in the people and ecosystems that make Guayusa possible. We believe good business and good ethics are inseparable.
Certified Organic
Grown without pesticides or synthetic inputs, in the shade of the living rainforest. Certified Organic and Fairtrade — because what goes into your body matters as much as how it's grown.
From Salt Spring Island to Your Cup
Experience the Plant That Started It All
Upina — derived from Wayusa Upina, the Kichwa phrase meaning "to drink guayusa" — exists because Tanner believed Canada deserved access to the world's finest plant medicine, sourced with full integrity.