New Westminster is home to one of Canada’s first Indigenous craft soda companies.
Nadine Jopson, a Plains Cree Indigenous woman and a member of the Alexander Cree Nation, is the founder of Heartberry Soda. The craft soda, now being brewed in New West, includes flavours like strawberry with rhubarb, ginger with rosehips and hibiscus, and raspberry with fireweed.
“It's been really exciting,” she said. “Everybody we have told thinks it's a great idea. It’s really gotten lots of support, lots of interest. I think it's becoming a lot more accepted to be a female in business, and also Indigenous. A lot of people want us to succeed.”
Heartberry Soda’s launch party is on Sunday, June 2 from noon to 6 p.m. at 11-30 Capilano Way. It features music from DJ Kookum, food trucks selling traditional foods, and free samples of Heartberry Soda.
Jopson said the journey that led to the creation of Heartberry Soda began in 2020.
“I started getting involved in learning more about medicinal plants and I signed up for a hide-tanning course hide, where they use all traditional methods,” she explained. “That kind of led me on more of a journey of finding out more about my background.”
By reconnecting with traditional practices, Jopson said she was inspired to create plant-based sodas – a natural fit, as she’s one of the owners of Another Beer Co.
Jopson, along with some customers at Another Beer Co., have been interested in having some non-alcoholic beverage options at the brewery.
Because diabetes is “pretty prevalent in the Native community,” Jopson said it was important that they sodas have a low-sugar content.
“They’re low-calorie, low-sugar sodas with natural juices, incorporating indigenous plants into the flavours,” she said.
Strawberry, fireweed, birch bark and rose hips are among the ingredients being incorporated into Heartberry's.
Heartberry Soda, said Jopson, was a natural name for the business that makes sodas from natural juices.
“The Cree refer to strawberries – the literal translation is a heartberry,” she noted. “It seemed like a cute name.”
Heartberry Soda’s cans include Cree translations of the ingredients, as well as the syllabic.
“We kind of wanted it to be informational,” Jopson said. “There's a QR code on each can that will link you to the website, and that will kind of teach you further about each ingredient that we have incorporated.”
While the soda will be manufactured (and sold) in the same facility as Another Beer Co., Jopson said it’s a completely separate business. Heartberry Soda will be available for purchase at various Indigenous-owned businesses in B.C. as well as some festivals taking place this summer.
Jopson said craft soda companies are “quite big” in the United States and are starting to catch on in Eastern Canada.
