Oikogeneia Konte | Kotili

Our story

Our family, the Konte family, started out the way most families did in the villages of the Rhodope mountains: with tobacco. For years the slopes around Kotili were covered in tobacco fields, and that work set the rhythm of our seasons and our lives.

Two decades ago we made a decision that changed everything. We left tobacco behind and turned to aromatic and medicinal herbs, the very plants that were already growing all around us, in the forest and on the mountain slopes. Since then we have grown and gathered organic herbs, oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary, Greek mountain tea and many more, carrying forward the knowledge passed down through generations on this land.

The place

Kotili is a mountain village in the north of Xanthi, some forty kilometres from the town, set deep in the heart of the Rhodope range. Around it stretches one of the densest and wildest forests in Europe, with beech, oak and pine that close off the horizon and keep the place cool.

This is high country, with heavy snowbound winters and clean air, far from cities and intensive farming. It is the microclimate of the Rhodope, the moisture of the forest and the mountain soil, that gives our herbs their aroma and character. The plants grow slowly, at their own pace, and you can taste it in how concentrated their aromas are.

How we work

We grow at around 1000 metres altitude, with natural fertilisation and respect for the microclimate of the place. We never rush nature. Harvesting is done by hand, at the moment of flowering when each herb is at its best, because the moment of picking decides what the customer finally finds inside the package.

After harvest, the herbs are dried naturally, in shaded and ventilated spaces, slowly and without artificial means, so they keep their colour and aroma. We check every batch one by one and pack in a way that keeps the herbs alive until they reach your kitchen or your cup. All of it is done the organic way, without chemicals, just as we started on the first day we left tobacco behind.

At a glance

Producer: Konte Family
Brand: Kotili
Place: Kotili, Xanthi, Rhodope
Products: organic aromatic and medicinal herbs
Method: organic cultivation and gathering, hand harvesting, natural drying
Cultivation altitude: approx. 1000 m