Chapel Hill's nearest oasis: Honeysuckle Tea House

Like most things worth doing, Chapel Hill’s Honeysuckle Tea House is a place you’re going to have to seek out. 

A 20-minute drive from UNC's campus, this earthy haven sits in a field frequented by deer and wrapped up by trees. The architecture of this open-air shop hints at a traditional Japanese teahouse design, but with a distinctly North Carolina flair. 

A series of glass jars line the wall behind the counter, filled with smooth loose teas like Peach Pick-Me-Up, Dragon Well and, my personal favorite, the refreshing Mint Melange. 

North Carolina may be the lush land, but that doesn’t mean it can’t have an oasis, and Honeysuckle Tea House is certainly that.

People go to this tea house to get back to their roots.

“We all come from the Earth,” said Rachel Zingone, staff herbalist at Honeysuckle Tea House. “We are infinitely linked with all living, breathing creatures on our planet.” 

Honeysuckle Tea House also functions as an apothecary, and Zingone creates herbal alternatives for common medicines. The apothecary offers cramp, anxiety and inflammation remedies, similar to products sold at Weaver Street Market.

Honeysuckle Tea House began after the recession when the tie-wearing, corporate-working Tim Toben said he decided that his life would be better spent watching the geese fly over his garden early in the morning. 

In a world that is increasingly dependent on large corporations, Toben now works to develop a sustainable, local farming economy. Essentially, he is encouraging other local farms to pop up in the area and for local consumers to support them.

The tea house also produces a wide variety of fruits and herbs to provide its customers with a large array of dietary options. While they grow many plants native to North Carolina, they also grow a variety of plants from China and other countries.

Seventy-two different herbs — including mint, ginger and dandelion — grow on the property and create Honeysuckle Tea House’s distinct teas.

Toben said he wants to widen the plant options for Chapel Hill locals, and he believes there is a demand for options like this given the popular herbal remedies sold in stores like Whole Foods. 

“We realized that we needed to open up a little farm stand, but not the typical farm stand that sold corn and tomatoes,” he said. “But a farm stand that instead sold herbal teas and herbal sodas and foods that included some diversity of plant material that could benefit the human body.”

Although not all of the products sold at Honeysuckle are grown on the property, the business seeks to become more self-sufficient. Honeysuckle Tea House employees will begin to regularly harvest tea leaves on the property in two years when their Camellia sinensis plants, the tea-producing plants, fully mature. 

Only open to the public from March to November, Honeysuckle intends to use this winter to begin producing honey mead, an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey. 

Until Honeysuckle Tea House closes for the season, Toben will be harvesting herbs and listening to barn owls while employees serve up delectable tea to oasis-needing customers. 

@ThatIsSoGinger

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