Asheville Tea Company finds permanent home after Helene flood damage

Asheville Tea Company has signed a lease for a permanent home at 164 Broadway, nearly 20 months after Hurricane Helene tore apart its original production site and forced the Asheville business into a patchwork recovery. The 4,400-square-foot space in the former Moog Music factory building will become the company’s primary production hub, with a small retail concept and room for pop-up events.

Founder and CEO Jessie Dean said the move will let the company bring production back under one roof again after months of operating from Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College’s Small Business Center in Candler and relying on multiple co-packers to keep tea moving to customers. The company lost all of its offices, equipment, inventory and supplies when floodwaters destroyed its original facility.

That original building, a nearly 6,000-square-foot structure along the Swannanoa River on Thompson Street, was lifted off its foundation and carried away when the river rose more than 24 feet. A viral video later captured the wreckage floating down the French Broad River, a stark image of how thoroughly the storm upended one of Asheville’s small manufacturers.

The new site marks more than a relocation. Asheville Tea Company, founded in 2016, said it has sourced more than 10,000 pounds of local herbs over nine years and built its brand around farm-to-teacup blends. Before Helene, all of its teas were manufactured in-house, keeping more of that work, and the related economic activity, in Asheville. The company also uses compostable, plant-based packaging.

Dean said community support and donations helped the business survive the aftermath of the storm, and the company has also partnered with the Canada-based tea business Sarjesa during the recovery period to keep production going. The move into 164 Broadway gives Asheville Tea Company a more durable base and a larger, more flexible footprint as it rebuilds.

The Broadway corridor has become part of Asheville’s recovery economy. The former Moog Music building also houses other Helene-affected businesses, including Resurrection Studios Collective, DayTrip bar and Atomic Furnishings, turning the site into a shared landing place for companies trying to return to normal. Asheville Tea Company plans to move in by fall and hold a grand reopening then, a milestone that would restore customer access, strengthen production and put another local employer back on firmer ground in Buncombe County.