About Us
Hongo Tea Co — Our Story
Born From the
Forest Floor
A backyard garden. A mushroom on a log. A cup of tea. This is how Hongo began.
It Started in a Backyard in Loxahatchee
It was 2020. The world had gone quiet. Like many families, Tim and Sandra Watts turned to their yard — planting herbs, growing food, reconnecting with the earth.
Sandra spent much of that time in the garden, among the herbs and plants they were growing.
Then one day, she spotted something growing on a log in their yard — a Reishi mushroom. She did her research, made a tea, and added some of the fresh herbs growing just steps away to help balance the naturally bitter taste.
Tim started drinking it too. They kept researching, kept experimenting with new mushrooms and herb pairings, and soon their shelves were full of mushrooms.
Tim Watts, Co-Founder
"She found a Reishi growing on a log in our backyard. She made a tea. She added herbs from our garden. That cup was the moment everything changed."
Hear the story
From One Tea to a Full Line of Mushroom Products
What started as a simple backyard tea became a daily ritual — and then a mission. Tim and Sandra began exploring the full world of mushrooms, studying each species, its history, and its flavor.
They realized that most products on the market were cutting corners. Mycelium grown on grain instead of actual mushroom fruiting bodies. Fillers and starches. Synthetic additives. Mushroom "blends" with barely any mushroom in them.
So they decided to do it right. Only whole fruiting body mushrooms. No mycelium on grain. No fillers. No added sugar. No artificial anything. Every tea brewed the way tea is meant to be brewed — slowly, carefully, intentionally.
Today, Tim and Sandra still drink Hongo every day. Hongo Tea Co is not a supplement company that stumbled into mushrooms. It is a mushroom company, built by people who believe in this from the ground up.
Our Principles Are
Non-Negotiable
Whole Fruiting Bodies Only
Every mushroom in every Hongo product comes from the actual fruiting body — caps and stems — never mycelium grown on grain. No starch fillers. Ever.
Nothing Artificial
No added sugar. No artificial sweeteners. No preservatives. No synthetic flavors. We use whole-leaf dried herbs, whole-leaf Stevia, and 100% pure fruit juices. That's it.
Brewed With Intention
Our teas are brewed for about 45 minutes — long enough to break down the tough mushroom cell walls and fully extract the mushroom into the tea. Real brewing. Real craft. Not a powder dissolved in water.
A Real Amount of Mushroom
3,000mg of whole fruiting body mushrooms per 12oz can. The industry average is 500mg. We didn't build this company to make products with barely any mushroom in them.
Transparency Always
We tell you exactly what's in every product, exactly how much, and exactly why. No proprietary blends hiding behind vague labels.
We Live This
Tim and Sandra drink Hongo every single day. These aren't just products we sell — they're what we reach for ourselves.
Meet the Founders
By trade, Tim is an entrepreneur — he owns and operates Century 21 WC Realty and Sunvest Mortgage Group in South Florida. He had no background in food, beverage, or supplements when Hongo began. Everything he knows about mushrooms, brewing, formulation, labeling, and bringing a product to market was learned from the ground up — driven entirely by a belief in what that first backyard tea could become. He drinks Hongo teas as his primary daily beverage.
Sandra is 58 years old and the reason Hongo Tea Co exists. A devoted mother of three who also helps Tim run their real estate and mortgage businesses, Sandra had no background in herbalism or the supplement industry. When she found a Reishi mushroom growing on a log in their Loxahatchee backyard, she simply did her research, trusted her instincts, and made a tea, blending in fresh herbs from her garden. That first cup changed everything. Like Tim, she has had to learn this industry entirely from scratch — and that outsider perspective is exactly what drives Hongo's no-compromise approach to quality.
Clean. Honest. Real.
We started Hongo Tea Co because we couldn't find products we trusted — so we made them ourselves. Everything we create is held to the same standard as the first tea Sandra brewed in 2020. Today every Hongo tea is handcrafted in small batches in a commercial kitchen in Florida.
Whole ingredients. Honest labels. Real doses. And a taste that actually makes you want to drink it every day.
Welcome to Hongo Tea Co. Hongo is Spanish for mushroom — and this is everything we believe mushrooms can be.
Whole Fruiting Bodies
No Added Sugar
3,000mg Per Can
Real Brewing
Nothing Artificial
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Hongo Tea Co products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Individual experiences may vary.