TeaHaus: Our Beginning
After a "short backpacking trip" through Europe that turned into a 14-year residency in Germany and Sweden, Lisa McDonald returned to the U.S. with her husband, Marc Hewko (an Ann Arborite she met in Germany), to start a family.
After a few months, though, she began to miss the high-quality loose tea available in any European village she visited, so she decided to open a tea store of her own. After much research and tea sommelier training, Lisa chose to work with German tea companies, known to have the strictest quality control in the world.
When her children, Tim and Andrew, were 2 years old and 5 days (yes, days!) old, TeaHaus opened for business.
After several years, TeaHaus expanded, opening the ever-popular Tea Room/Café. In 2017, sister business Eat More Tea debuted, with tea-based culinary spice blends and other tea-based products. In December 2017, TeaHaus celebrated ten years.
TeaHaus Today
In 2022, after extensive renovations, TeaHaus reopened as a Tea Bar and Lounge—with a focus on fostering reconnection and recapturing the "third space." Rather than wifi, abundant books, games, and puzzles, along with various seating options, encourage conversation and interaction. (Read more about the third space at TeaHaus.)
In addition, TeaHaus-exclusive tea cocktails, zero-proof tea cocktails, tea mimosas, tea-infused beer on tap, and more are now available during all business hours. Plenty of delicious European-inspired Haus-made pastries, savories, and snacks are sure to tempt you as well!
The Eat More Tea location (around the corner from TeaHaus) today offers an elegant Event Space that is available for public and private gatherings.
Lisa also is fully committed to helping our community in whatever way possible. The day the pandemic closed Michigan in 2020, she pivoted to making free meals—and continues to do so. She was one of the local female business owners featured in The Portrait Project by eCommerce, which highlights contributions to the community during the pandemic; read more here.
Tea For Dummies
In 2022, Lisa and Jill were asked to write Tea for Dummies, which is now available at TeaHaus or at your favorite bookseller's. Ideal for anyone curious about tea, this book explores tea types, brewing, caffeine, health claims, traditions, the tea industry, using tea in the kitchen, tea cocktails, and more!
Learn more about the book through our interviews and articles by: Click on Detroit, All Things Considered by WEMU, MLive, and the Ann Arbor Observer.
Interviews, Awards, and More
Read the February 2024 interview with Destination Ann Arbor's Great Minds Think a Lot series.
Listen to Lisa's January 2018 interview with Food Bloggers Association and interview for EMU's Hidden in Plain Sight series to learn what it means to be a tea sommelier and to find out more about TeaHaus and Eat More Tea.
Also, read these articles by MLive, November 2021, and Click on Detroit, December 2018.
Eat More Tea won the "New Product Innovation Showcase Award" at the 2018 World Tea Expo, and "Best Tea Culinary/Craft Application" at the World Tea Virtual Expo 2020! Read Lisa's essay included in the 2021 World Tea Conference + Expo white paper that addresses the role that tea can play in the bar and restaurant communities.
Our Mission
Our mission at TeaHaus is to provide experience and education along with the highest-quality tea available on the market.
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For more information/questions about TeaHaus, or if you are an establishment interested in wholesale, please contact us at: Lisa@TeaHaus.com
Please note: As a small independent business, we value every customer so we do our best to make your TeaHaus experience enjoyable! We fulfill all online orders as quickly as possible, but please be aware that our shipping and arrival times are estimated in real time by the USPS. We have no control over actual shipping time and therefore cannot guarantee delivery dates.