now sold in dozens of brick-and-mortar outlets as well, including Whole Foods, and—according to the Runa website—almost 6000 additional locations across America.

Frederico lives with a hundred of his extended relatives at Sapo Rumi—literally “frog rock” in the local dialect—named for the hallowed petroglyphs upstream carved over 3000 years ago. The village sits along a narrowing vein of the Rio Negro, a tributary of the mighty Amazon. And it’s here—where the western fringes of the rainforest meet the moonscapes of the upper Andes—that the indigenous Kichwa call home.

The Kichwa’s pre-dawn gatherings are a chance for kith and kin to analyze their dreams from the night before, retell the tales of ancient tribal lore, and set plans in motion for the day ahead. They boil the leaves of the guayusadifferent endeavor. Unlike coffee, guayusa is deeply connected to the Kichwa people,” reminds MacCombie, who set up Runa Foundation with Gage to run in tandem with their newly founded commercial enterprise.

While MacCombie and Gage saw a potential for booming business the likes of açai and quinoa, they also wanted to lay down the groundwork for a mutually beneficial system that would prevent the future exploitation of the indigenous farmers.

The Runa Foundation thus became the arbiter of fair trade regulations as well (Runa LLC has been fair trade certified since 2011), acting as a halo organization to safeguard the rights and welfare of the new guayusa growers, who now number over 3000 in the valleys of Napo province.

In fact, the business of guayusa is currently one of the few