Herbal Alchemy is the life’s work of Chicago-based artist, Joshua Magee.

His craft bridges the soulful spaces between food, emotion, and ritual.

Every flavor begins with a feeling: a spark of awe, a flash of longing, the warmth of gathering. From those anchor points, syrups are created like poems; layered with nostalgia, intention, and artistry. Herbal Alchemy invites you into a world where the past becomes present again, not through imitation, but interpretation.

Herbal Alchemy began behind a coffee counter.

For years, I worked in cafés where I learned that drinks are rarely just drinks. They are moments of care. A pause in someone’s day. Sometimes the only human interaction a person might have.

During the pandemic, I found myself as one of the few baristas still working during the height of the shutdown. I began making syrups not to impress, but to comfort and invite. To give people something warm, familiar, and quietly beautiful. Something that reminded them they were seen.

Over time, those syrups became artifacts of memory.

Flavor has a unique ability to bring us back to ourselves. A smell, a taste, a warmth on the tongue can unlock stories we did not know we were carrying. Herbal Alchemy was born from that realization.

This brand is my way of honoring the connection between flavor, memory, and care. Each syrup is crafted slowly, with intention, using whole botanicals and balanced sweetness. Not to overwhelm, but to support the ritual of making a drink and the meaning we attach to it.

Herbal Alchemy is guided by Aisling, Keeper of Memories, a mythic figure who holds the emotional landscape behind each flavor. Through her, the syrups become more than ingredients. They become reminders. Invitations. Small acts of presence.

These syrups are for mornings that need gentleness. For grief that asks to be witnessed. For joy that wants to linger. For the quiet rituals that shape who we are and who we are becoming.

This is what it means to sip what the soul remembers.