Cornerstone Tea
Tea, Crochet
Cornerstone Tea began as a family affair nearly a decade ago, and after brief success, life altering events and moving to WNC caused it to lay dormant for about seven years. Stephanie picked it back up in 2018 and laid the long-sparking ember of three generations of entrepreneurial spirit in its hearth. The tea flames have been roaring ever since!
As she grew the business, it became more and more apparent God had been preparing her for this role for the better part of her life: apprenticeships on herb farms and organic CSA farms, her body’s sudden aversion to coffee creating space for a tea palette to grow, and her pursuit of a business degree all coalesced into a skillset that drives innovation, creativity, and joy in her tea business. Living in one of the most agriculturally and herbally rich places in the US doesn’t hurt, either!
Stephanie has had thousands of different teas over the course of her passion’s pursuit, and leverages that experience in three distinct ways to make Cornerstone Tea the BEST tea you will ever have: creative and unique blends, looseleaf tea as the standard, and a fiendish and relentless reliance on freshness, quality, and small batch ingredients. Simply put, you will be hard pressed to find a tea brand better than Cornerstone!
Over the course of the business’s life, Stephanie has added giftable items borne from her own thoughtful meditations on meaningful gifts, as well as from her handcraft hobbies of knitting, crocheting, and spinning yarn. The “Tea Flights” have been one such reflection, consisting of a hand crocheted mug cozy, five tea samples, and a steeper, and have become a benchmark item at her shows and booths all over NC.
Stephanie approaches teaching people about tea with unerring grace and humor: she knows not everyone is as widely drank as she! With patience and undeniable pleasure, she will ask what your favorite flavors and teas are and find blends in her lineup that fit the bill. She’s rarely wrong! In lieu of her presence, the category cards in her booth help direct you to the archetypical tea flavors.
Stephanie wants nothing more than to convert the militant coffee drinker into new tastes, entice the plain-breakfast-tea drinker to bolder cups, and introduce the new-to-tea person to their next favorite drink. Nothing makes her prouder than when a, “I don’t like tea, though!” person gives her half a chance to convince them otherwise, and walks out of her booth with something they can’t wait to get home and try.
Above all, though, Stephanie’s passion for tea is eclipsed by her passion for the Lord Jesus. He has been friend and father, the lover of her soul, faithful and true, merciful and gracious to her all the days of her life. She is always ready to talk about Him, pray with customers, and even introduce those who don’t know Him to Him, the source of everlasting life, joy, and peace! Purveying amazing tea and giving exceptional customer service is an extension of the grace and love she herself has in Christ!