The Table
139 S. Church Street
Asheboro, NC 27203 336-736-8628
thetablefarmbakery.com
Vida pour Tea
412 State Street
Greensboro, NC 27405 336-676-4552
vidapourtea.com
A partnership made in small-business heaven, Dustie Gregson and Sarah Chapman were destined to work together and bring happiness to their little corner of the world through comforting cups of tea and delectable fare. In 2013, Dustie opened The Table to provide a welcoming common place in the heart of Asheboro where people of all ages and backgrounds could gather, connect, and stay a while with a scrumptious pastry in hand. The restaurant owner didn’t have any experience in the food industry but grew up watching her mother prepare delicious meals for company and extend a helping hand when needed. You could say that hospitality is in her DNA.
A few of Dustie’s customers, who frequently enjoyed a plethora of baked goods and a variety of tasty entrées at The Table, told her for years, “You have to meet this tea girl in Greensboro.” Dustie, not originally being a “tea person,” didn’t know about Sarah’s business but decided to take people’s advice and travel to Greensboro, North Carolina, to finally meet the woman that her patrons had been raving about. It didn’t take long for Dustie to realize that Vida pour Tea, Sarah’s tea company, was the missing piece of the puzzle at The Table.
Growing up playing ice hockey in New York and retreating to Asian restaurants post games for a warm meal and hot tea, Sarah has had a longtime love for the ritual of teatime. Her affinity for tea only increased when she studied abroad in Thailand for college and fell in love with the beverage even more, for both its taste and its medicinal properties, after becoming ill while overseas. Upon Sarah’s return to the United States, she decided that she wanted to bring the healthy, organic, and fair-trade teas that she had experienced in Asia back with her to America and introduce others to the splendor of the natural elixir. The Vida pour Tea owner started trying her hand at blending teas and experimenting with flavor profiles and ingredients over time, and the rest is history. What started with an inventory of seven original teas eventually grew to an assortment of more than 100, including bespoke blends for businesses such as The Table. “My passion project is creating medicinal teas,” explains Sarah. “They have been around forever, and people have passed them down in every culture. I want to encourage people to do it in their own little town or city—bringing back things that have been lost.”
For five years now, Dustie and Sarah have formed a partnership to produce enticing teas to present to the people of Asheboro and beyond and to wholeheartedly support one another’s ventures. Sarah thoroughly appreciates Dustie’s clear vision for each tea that she dreams of crafting, for it makes her job much simpler. Typically, Dustie will dream of the name of a potential tea, such as “Petals,” for example, and bring it to Sarah’s attention. Then Sarah will explore what a floral-forward tea should taste like by playing with physical flowers— perhaps, lavender, rose, and calendula, taste-testing and fine-tuning the concoction, and finally landing on the perfect balance of flavors for the blend. The Table’s tea collection boasts seven custom blends, featuring staples like Earl Grey and seasonal varieties, such as Winter Blend Tea—flavored by cinnamon, orange peel, cardamom, and ginger root—and a new refreshing blackberry tea combined with fresh basil from a local farm. The most popular choices are Morning Flight Tea, a fruity organic green tea mixed with apricot and mango, and Afternoon Tea, a delicate white tea base with ginger, pear, jasmine flowers, safflower petals, and blue cornflower petals. The delicious teas can be savored with a visit to The Table, of course, and additionally can be purchased online.
This dynamic duo is a creative force to be reckoned with, and there are no signs of their stopping anytime soon, as they are just getting started. “This partnership brings lady power to Asheboro,” Sarah chuckles. Lady power, healthy caffeination, and a delightful reason to pause with a cup of tea in hand at the town’s favorite hotspot are all reasons that set teatime at The Table apart from the rest. “If I can promote someone else, it’s my joy,” states Dustie. “I love that I’m sending people to Vida pour Tea, and it goes both ways. Instead of seeing it as a competition, or whatever, I think it opens doors for both of us. I think if you hold things tightly to yourself, then you miss a lot of opportunities.”
The Table is open Tuesday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., but could change seasonally.
