Nectar of the Gods

The ancient Olympians would have killed for the juices, fruit concentrates, syrups and mixers being made by a Petone company.

Words Lyn Barnes  Photographs Nicola Edmonds

MANY PEOPLE in the food and beverage industries have lived other lives before their forays into these worlds. Tami Louisson is no exception. The owner of Nectar Juices in Petone has previously been a jeweller, an artist and a singer.

Tami’s story starts in Israel in a town with citrus groves and a juice factory, where her family owned the first cordial factory, Fizz. She always enjoyed cooking and smelling things, particularly fruits and spices, as well as dabbling with new products, so it’s almost as if she has come full circle. Under the new brand Shott, she and business partner Richard Plimmer are making a range of drinks including a lemon, ginger and honey syrup based on her Jewish grandmother’s recipe. “She was a terrible cook but every weekend we had this drink with German sausages.”

After 25 years of making windows – her specialities were stained-glass and sandblasted work – Tami decided it was time for a change. It was her husband, journalist Simon Louisson, who three years ago suggested they buy the Nectar business with its fleet of cars and six staff. Now Tami jokes: “He bought me a new life.” Nectar Juices produce a range of flavours such as feijoa, apple and tomato using New Zealand produce together with pineapple which is made from crushed imported fruit. Their bread-and-butter work is making fruit concentrates for cafés to use in smoothies or for ice cream manufacturers. But Tami has bigger visions for the business.

The first change she made was to cut down the amount of sugar in the concentrates and aim for a healthier range. Then, because there are several other juice companies in New Zealand, she decided to diversify. She sought out a business partner and found Richard whom she describes as a “brilliant food technician with imagination”. Both of them buzz when they start cooking up a new brew. Together they started Shott and introduced a niche range of café beverage flavours. Consumers are enjoying the lemon, ginger and honey drink, hot or cold. The freshly crushed ginger root is suspended throughout the bottle, a technique they’ve perfected by having a head custom-made for their bottle filler. “It’s slower than usual,” says Richard, “but it’s worth it. We could have made a product that was 80 percent as good and faster, but it wouldn’t have the same quality. Our policy is to see how much fruit we can get into our juices.”

The pair is also producing a chai latte. Tami and Richard boil whole spices for their tincture. “It tastes just like it did when I was a hippy in India; it’s not as sweet [as many chai lattes] and is made with real spices, not artificial flavours,” explains Tami. They also make vanilla, hazelnut and caramel syrups that are popular in coffee. Sales have been phenomenal for their first six months, especially since they began selling in Wellington’s foodie hub, Moore Wilson. They are now looking at replicating their glass bottles in plastic so they can go into supermarkets. And the ideas continue to flow. New products under way include passionfruit syrup, melon syrup and a margarita mix based on New Zealand limes. They buy their fruit directly from growers where possible and are now sourcing clover honey direct from bee-keepers.

Tami’s senses are finely tuned. She puts that down to never having drunk alcohol. “I can get a hangover just from the fumes,” she jokes. She’s never smoked either and doesn’t drink coffee so her tastebuds are unadulterated. “In fact, I’ve got no vices; I’m not even a shopper. I’ve always been the sober driver and I’m cheap to keep!” She attributes that to her upbringing in Israel after the 1948 war. “We lived very simply,” she explains. Both her parents were scientists and although the family did not live in a traditional kibbutz they shared their living and ate with others. “But instead of working the land, they shared the laboratory,” says Tami. “In many ways we were very privileged as we had a garden and swimming pool.”

Now Tami feels very much a Kiwi; she’s lived half her life here and has three children. She and Simon, a New Zealander, met in Israel and were planning to visit for only three months in 1980 but ended up settling in the capital. She had majored as a jeweller at art school but hadn’t brought her jewellery equipment with her, so took on an apprenticeship in glass working. Nowadays, rather than popping over the hill to her art studio from the 1860s Pilot’s Cottage at the entrance to Wellington Harbour in Seatoun where she lives, Tami drives the 20 minutes to Petone. She often works for ten hours five days a week but still finds time to practise with her barber-shop group once a week. Her next challenge is learning to play the guitar.

In her office at home is one of Geoff Thompson’s artworks but her goal is to own a Bill Hammond painting. It’s what drives her to work hard. She also loves to take a trip back to Israel each year to visit family and close friends, some of whom served the compulsory two years in the Israeli army with her. “I like the heat but I don’t like the politics; the occupation ruined the Israel I grew up in.” She admits she’s not a devout Jew. She loves the Israeli songs and the family celebrates the Jewish festivals but she doesn’t go to the synagogue. She much prefers Mediterranean food and life in a country with freedom of choice.

WHAT I’M DRINKING

As a non-alcohol drinker I have to make an extra effort to find new beverages. I enjoy drinking bitter products. The San Pellegrino Pompelmo (grapefruit) is just right with its combination of sweet and bitter and the fizz is a bonus.

On a hot day I do enjoy a Hardy Boys ginger beer, manufactured in Wellington. It is a real live ginger beer, so fragile it cannot be transported too far. The balance of the flavour is great and it is the closest I get to a “real” drink.

I love Mediterranean food and a great drink to accompany it is a Turkish apple tea by Lezzo. It comes in powder form and has a good balance of sweet and sour. I like it hot with a bit of mint or cold with ice and a slice of lemon.

Another favourite is mango lassi, made by combining natural yoghurt with mango pulp: one third mango pulp and two thirds plain unsweetened yoghurt.

I drink a lot of basic gumboot tea but I do love exploring all the delicate flavours the tea world offers. I was happy to find a Pickwick Sabra Cactus tea (Dutch company). Sabra is the fruit of a cactus we often eat in Israel.