Estonian town Christmas tree: recycled for G&T

KURESSAARE, Estonia - Dec. 31, 2018 - PRLog -- The Estonian town of Kuressaare, capital of Saaremaa island, will fully recycle its 55-feet tall Christmas tree this year. After the spruce tree has served its 2-month duty in the town's central square, its needles and branches will be used for local Lahhentagge tonic water.

"For the first time the journey for Kuressaare's Christmas tree will continue beyond the holidays, as it becomes part of a local product and reaches many more people this way," said Madis Kallas, Mayor of Kuressaare.

"The product has a unique and far-reaching story, telling us about a spruce tree grown on a green island, about Christmas magic in the central square of the town, and about a wish to give the tree a new circle of life," he said.

The Christmas tree tradition runs deep in Estonia, which was the first place in the world to put up a public Christmas tree back in 1441.

Saaremaa-based beverages company, Lahhentagge, is one of only a few local tonic makers in the Nordic country. Its first tonic, Spruce and Cardamom, was launched in June 2018. The spruce in the 2019 production will be from Kuressaare's Christmas tree.

"We had been thinking about the dried Christmas trees for quite a while when I had the Eureka moment: the town's Christmas tree is big enough and stays outside in the cold, so it does not dry. We are lucky enough to live in a place where they leap at ideas that might seem totally crazy at first," said Lahhentagge founder, Maarit Pöör.

"Taking into account the minerals and the vitamins that you can find in a spruce tree, and the number of spruce trees that are cut every Christmas, this is a massive opportunity," she added.

Kuressaare Christmas Tree video story