Kids love tea, explains owner Andrew Snavely. They’re one reason Dobrá Tea is expanding with a Black Mountain location.
“We have a lot of kids that are regulars, and there’s a lot of children in Black Mountain,” he says. “I want to do a lot more with children out there, really bringing the families together.”
The new shop will open at 120 Broadway St. in the Black Mountain Yoga building. That business will relocate. While the building is only half the size of Dobrá‘s Asheville shop, the outdoor space surrounding it will provide plenty of room for outdoor seating, and a tea garden, where Snavely will host educational events for kids and families.
The Asheville and Black Mountain shops will be similar in their commitment to fine tea, gluten-free baked goods, local pottery and shoes-optional floor seating, although the décor will differ. “The interior of Asheville is definitely more Moroccan,” he says. “This one will be a little bit more Asian-influenced.”
Snavely lives in Black Mountain, so he’s looking forward to serving tea a bit closer to home. He will run the shop with his girlfriend, Lindsay Thomas. ““We love the town; we love the community,” he says. “We really want to bring the culture of tea and the world experience to this town, this little mountain village where we live.”
The Black Mountain shop will be Dobrá‘s sixth location. The businesses are affiliated, but they don’t have a common owner. Snavely calls the setup a “conscious franchise model.” They order tea together, but the individual owners decide the details of their own shops. Snavely owned the Dobrá in Burlington, Vt., but he sold it when he moved to Asheville. Dobrá also has stores in Madison, Wis., Portland, Maine, and Pittsburgh, Pa.
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