Teatanha Brews Health and Happiness

Rachel Martin's love affair with tea began at age six when she tried black Lipton tea with milk and sugar at a friend’s house.

"I thought it was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted,” said Martin, who grew up in a family of coffee drinkers but never enjoyed coffee herself.  

Martin, now "41 but feeling 29," is the owner of Darien-based tea company Teatanha. Launched in June at a kickoff party at Elements Yoga, Teatanha is currently an online business, but local customers receive perks, including free, same-day delivery and the option to have one-on-one tea consultations with Martin in the comfort of their home. The name "Teatanha" is derived from the Sanskirt words tea and tanha, which translate as "thirst for life."

“I have no doubt in my mind that the passion that I feel about the tea, the business and the community around me will equate to something that’s really powerful and great in the coming years,” Martin said.

Teatanha comes from a supplier in Massachusetts who sources tea from Egypt, India, Japan, China and Africa; and the loose leaf teas are currently available in seven flavors: white, black, two green and three herbal teas. Martin is working on adding a new black tea to the line, but she says that Teatanha's promise to offer only pure and potent tea streamlines the offering.

“It’s cumbersome enough to figure out what to do; these are great teas to start off with.”

Currently a marketing director for a Fortune 300 company, Martin spends about 25 to 30 hours a week after-hours on Teatanha. She said she had always wanted to own her own business, but never could have predicted what would motivate her to go through with it.

In 2006, Martin's stepmother was diagnosed with breast cancer, which made her think about her own health issues. She decided to get a baseline mammogram and found out that she too had the early stages of the disease. 

“I went in very cavalierly, and my whole world was turned upside down,” she said.

She went through radiation therapy five days a week for seven weeks, an experience that Martin says rekindled her entrepreneurial spirit.

"It really put me into hyper-drive," she said. "What do I want to do with my life? What do I want to accomplish and how do I want to live because my life is so valuable now?”

It was then that Martin started to look at tea as a catalyst for a healthy lifestyle. 

“It took me a long time to get there and it wasn’t an easy transition,” she said. “I see Teatanha tea as being that catalyst to helping people get there.”

Along with eating well, and practicing yoga, Martin starts each day with a cup of Earl Grey or Green Revolution, has another cup around 1 p.m., and winds down with a cup of herbal tea at night.

“It’s an easy starting point, rather than getting on the treadmill at six in the morning; finding your place in the world, getting this calm peace, and centering and figuring out how your day is going to progress.”

Originally, Martin wanted to have a store but reconsidered when she realized the financial impact it would have on her family. That may change. Martin can wax poetic about tea and hopes to pass this knowledge on to others.

“Ultimately I would love to be an older person having my own storefront, walking in on a day-to-day basis and being able to come to the community and sell the tea.”

For now, Martin said she is content with her online business and has found it to be extremely rewarding.

“I thought that I knew how to do everything, but even the elements of building a gift basket took me six days to get it right," she said. "When I don’t know how to do something, it’s not a barricade for me to stop—it’s exciting, and when I’m done doing it, I feel very accomplished.”

In recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Martin will donate ten percent of all Teatanha sales during the month of October to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.