Q&A: TeBella Tea Company

As South Tampa-Hyde Park Patch readers voted on their favorite businesses in , a few quickly rose to the top. One of those that has really shined is TeBella Tea Company.

Patch caught up with TeBella's owners ahead of the semifinals in our customer service contest, which will resume at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 28.

Name of business:

Name of owners: Hunter & Abigail StClair

In business since: 2010

How long have you lived in the area? We moved to South Tampa last July from Clearwater to be closer to the business and we love it here! We have an 18 month old son and we are thrilled to be raising him in South Tampa.

What do you love about living and working in our town? South Tampa is a wonderful community full of warm, friendly people and unique, independently owned businesses.  We have absolutely fallen in love with Davis Islands. We love it for its small town charm and for the support the Islanders and South Tampa locals have shown us.  The people of South Tampa are eager to support their local businesses and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve them!

What do you wish everyone who came into your shop knew about you? That you don’t have to know a lot about loose tea to shop with us.  Whether you have been drinking loose tea for years or this is your very first experience with it, we are great at helping you find the perfect tea to suit your tastes.  We love educating people about tea and getting them excited about making it at home. 

Tell us a quick story about a time you provided awesome customer service:  We are so fortunate that so much of our business is repeat business.  It allows us to call our customers by their first names and to get to know their tea tastes in a way that we can often start steeping before they even get to the counter.  New customers are always amazed by how our regulars feel so much at home at TeBella and we are really proud of that.