According to proprietor Sarah Richards, a tea apothecary is different from your average tea shop in several ways. For one, its focus is on non-caffeinated medicinal blends each concocted according to the ancient art of Ayurvedic healing and western herbal science using locally sourced herbs whenever possible. “Our teas are made using fresh, organic herbs uniquely blended by hand onsite for each customer,” she said. “Once you’ve had a real cup of herbal tea blended specifically for you, I promise you - you’ll never go back to drinking a grocery store bought herbal tea made from dead herb dust and processed by a machine somewhere in China.”
Richards worked as a high school teacher until taking a sabbatical to open her herbal tea apothecary. She gave herself one year to make it work. Much to her surprise, the apothecary has proved incredibly successful, winning awards and critical praise while growing in business every year since opening. Customers credit Richards engaging personality and knowledge of herbs and Ayurvedic healing, an ancient wellness philosophy from India that categorizes people into three unique doshas, maintaining that all disease emanates from an imbalance of each individual’s respective dosha. “Western medicine doesn’t see people as unique. It’s focus is on the medicinal, curative aspect of the herb – not the person who will ultimately metabolize it. What I do is different. I create my teas to address the imbalances in our diet and constitutions. My teas are blended so the herbs work synergistically, complementing one another and creating a rich, complex flavor that you just don’t get from a tea you buy in a grocery store or is blended with no overriding philosophy.”
The site, which launched this month at http://www.homegrownherbandtea.com, makes available over 40 of Richards most popular tea blends, including an Ayurvedic line as well as wellness blends (including everything from migraine and sleep teas to pregnancy teas), house specialties, and an array of select blacks and green teas. Each blend is sold either in six ounce loose leaf bags beginning at $20 or as hand stuffed tea sacks, sold at $16. The tea arrives in beautiful cotton satchels similar to how ancient apothecaries used to fill prescriptions. In its first week of being launched, the site had over 1,000 hits and has already made sales in four different countries.
“I never thought I would go on the Internet,” Richards said. “I believe very much in the personal approach to healing and relating with people. But I am finding our shop is striking a chord with people who have been looking for this very thing and in some ways, it is no different than if you had come to my tea shop. I’m still fixing your tea and answering your questions!”
For additional information on Homegrown Herb and Tea go to http://www.homegrownherbandtea.com.
