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TeBella Tea Co. continues expansion by opening in St. Petersburg's Station House

 
Abigail St. Clair, owner of TeBella Tea Co., shown at her new location at the Station House in St. Petersburg, began with a store on Davis Islands in 2010. 
Abigail St. Clair, owner of TeBella Tea Co., shown at her new location at the Station House in St. Petersburg, began with a store on Davis Islands in 2010. 
Published Feb. 8, 2016

It's pretty easy to drink local in the Tampa Bay area these days.

There are dozens of craft breweries for beer drinkers. We've even got micro-distilleries and some wineries.

Between Kahwa Coffee, Buddy Brew Coffee and a slew of other local coffee shops, you can get organic beans brewed just for you on both sides of the bay.

But when it comes to local tea, there's pretty much only TeBella Tea Co.

Owner and founder Abigail St. Clair opened a small store on Davis Islands in 2010. Since then, she has opened a tea counter inside the Oxford Exchange in Tampa.

You can find TeBella's tea for sale in restaurants and cafes across Tampa Bay, from the Columbia to Locale Market to the Hyppo ice pops shop on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg.

But St. Clair's latest venture is at Station House, at 260 1st Ave S. in St. Petersburg, a shared co-working space and special event venue on First Avenue S in downtown St. Petersburg. TeBella Tea opened its first tea counter there with Kahwa Coffee in December.

The cafe is on the main floor of the Station House building. It's open to the public but also serves the Station House tenants and any events that are held in the building.

Next she'll operate a tea bar inside the Cafe at Mise en Place, which is scheduled to open inside Tampa International Airport's Airside F next year.

St. Clair gave a Tampa Bay Times reporter a tour of the new space in St. Petersburg on Friday and talked about her business.

Out of all the places you could have opened in St. Pete, why did you choose the Station House?

When the Station House approached me, it just made sense. We knew we wanted to expand into St. Pete, but only for the right location. We have such great synergy with Kahwa Coffee. They serve our tea in all their cafes, so it just seemed like the perfect combination. This is such a beautiful building, and we're really happy with how everything turned out. We opened quietly in December and are thrilled with our business so far. The tenants in the Station House keep us busy, but we'll be trying to draw more people from the street soon.

Why tea?

In the U.S., tea is the fifth most popular drink for Americans. I mean, we're behind beer and even Coca-Cola. But awareness is growing and more people are trying it. I think that's what's been so special about being a part of the Oxford Exchange. People see us inside and order tea just to see what it's all about. And they're always pleasantly surprised. I think people think of tea like the old watered down Lipton bags their grandma used to drink, and it's just not that way anymore. We've noticed that we get a lot of online orders in areas where our tea is sold in restaurants, like the Columbia in St. Augustine and Orlando. People try our tea there, then look us up to order it at home. That's what we're hoping to get out of our presence at the airport with Mise en Place.

So what will be different at the St. Pete location?

We have a cupcake happy hour every Friday, where we partner with Swah-rey, a cupcake shop in St. Pete, and pair flights of cupcakes with our tea. On Wednesdays we do Donut Wednesdays and sell doughnuts from the Hole Donuts, a bakery on St. Pete Beach.

It seems like TeBella is connected to so many other local small businesses in a lot of ways. Was that on purpose?

I like to support other local businesses when I can, and love to find synergy with another company where we can help each other out. I love the local movement in St. Pete and really hope to be more a part of it now that we're here. I was dying to be a part of Localtopia (an annual market for crafts and companies that was founded in St. Petersburg). Maybe next year. And hopefully we can start selling tea at the Saturday market soon.

What's next for TeBella?

I don't want it to get too big too quickly. I do see us opening new shops in new markets. We're looking in Wesley Chapel and in Carrollwood, but the timing has to be right. People ask me why I don't franchise. I just don't think I could do that. I love what I do and am so happy to be so involved with the day-to-day of the company.

Contact Justine Griffin at jgriffin@tampabay.com. Follow @SunBizGriffin.