Asheville tea maker is “working hard to stay optimistic” after hurricane

Jessie Dean’s business, Asheville Tea Company in North Carolina, uses local ingredients to “to celebrate the rich flavors of our mountains.” But the building where her team blends and packages their teas was destroyed by Hurricane Helene in September.

After speaking with Dean in November, “Marketplace” host Amy Scott checked back in to hear how recovery has been going. Below is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Amy Scott: First of all, how are you doing?

Jessie Dean: Well, I’m doing OK. I think overall, there’s very much a situation of duality here, where we’ve had a lot of wins and a lot of progress, but also there is still a long road to travel. So I’m feeling good overall — definitely making progress and still dealing with quite a bit, as well.

Scott: The last time we spoke, you said you were hoping to start selling tea again in time for the holidays. Any updates on that front?

Dean: Yes. I mean, that’s some of the good news pieces and really exciting pieces is that we launched presales of our tea just before Thanksgiving, and we sold out of our holiday trio of teas, which is amazing. We’ve had a lot of support, and we still have presales up for many other tea blends that we’re able to produce that still feature ingredients from our local farmers. We expect to start shipping out to customers within about a week.

Scott: That’s great news. I mean, is it anything close to what you would have done this time of year before Helene, or is it a lot less?

Dean: It is a lot less than we would have usually done this time of year. So, you know that duality is there too. There’s a ton of support and kind messages and purchases of our products and things like that. At the same time, yeah, I mean, we’ve lost well over half of the revenue that we would have typically seen this time of year. And we’re definitely not the only ones in that position here either.

Scott: So you mentioned there have been a lot of challenges as well. What have been some of the obstacles to getting back up and running?

Dean: I mean, I think for us, it’s a lot. I think just the personal side of things is really difficult. On one hand, downtown Asheville is starting to see visitors again, and this is wonderful. We need that so much. And then at the same time, when we’re running around town ourselves, holiday shopping or running errands or going to work or whatever — you know, everyone does day to day — there’s still debris everywhere, in parts of town, as well. And I mean tremendous amounts of debris and mud, and so it’s personally challenging just to kind of still be living in that. And then I think for our business specifically too, it’s a lack of kind of broader-scale financial support. And it’s really getting kind of dire. I think for so many businesses here, we’re almost three months out from the storm, and we still haven’t received affordable loans to be able to recover our businesses. And folks are getting pretty worried.

Scott: How have you personally been able to support yourself during this time of trying to rebuild?

Dean: Well, our team and I all filed for disaster unemployment pretty quickly following the storm, because of the kind of obvious physical impact to our location with it completely being gone. It was pretty obvious that we all would need some help there. So, we have all been on disaster unemployment, but we’re definitely anxious to get our team back on board and start payroll up in the new year as soon as we can.

Scott: So I gotta say, Jessie, you do sound down or maybe worn out. I mean, how are you holding up?

Dean: Oh, thanks. I think it’s both. I think that that’s true. You know, I’ve been working so hard, and so has our team, just trying to get stabilized a little bit, as far as getting the business back off the ground, getting some tea made, understanding our payroll timeline and those kinds of things. And so, it’s been a lot of work. And I think I am a little exhausted, to be fair, but I do still feel really grateful too. I mean, I feel like I’m working hard to stay optimistic. And I do feel still really hopeful for the future of Asheville Tea Company and the future of Asheville and western North Carolina too.

Scott: Now, we’ve got to talk about some tea. I understand that the Christmas blend is sold out, so apologies to any listeners who want it, but tell me about it. What’s in it?

Dean: Well, that’s one of my favorite topics is the tea. So, we have three blends that are in that box, and it’s the spiced apple butter, which apple butter is like a spiced apple jam that’s produced here in western North Carolina. So, it’s based on that. And then the Snow Day, which is inspired by a hot chocolate, so it features locally roasted cacao. And then the Winter Wonderland is the third holiday blend that has actual Fraser fir in it, which is a native western North Carolina plant, so that one’s very cozy.