As customers walk into Artemis Tea, they’re greeted by a variety of botanical tea blends with hints of citrus, cinnamon and sage.
Andrea Lawse, a passionate clinical herbalist, founded the herbal tea shop in the Blackstone district in 2016. The shop focuses on the relationship between people and plants. Lawse says Artemis offers remarkable taste, quality and function with its special tea blends.
The company offers a variety of tea blends on their online store, and at their location off 38th and Farnam streets.
Lawse moved to Omaha in 1998 to attend Creighton University, specializing in critical plant studies. She studied clinical herbalism while working on her doctorate. This path led her to create Artemis Tea & Botanical.
“I begin from either a symbol, concept, or healing attribute I wish to focus on and craft a blend that brings those to life,” Lawse says. “This requires a deep knowledge of the energetics and healing properties of the different plants as well as an extensive encyclopedia of smells and scents in my head.”
Artemis builds relationships with small, local regional growers, which helps create biodiverse agriculture across the Midwest. Lawse says her goal is minimalism through adding high-quality, medicinal-grade botanicals into the tea.
“Our blends are full-bodied, have exceptional resilience and flexibility in the cup, and are designed to be approachable to a wide audience of tea drinkers,” Lawse says.
Artemis offers a wide variety of tea flavors. The main ingredients used throughout the fall and winter seasons are herbs that provide warmth, balance and immunity. Lawse says Redium, flavored with mint and lavender, is the ideal tea to help with fevers and sore throats.
“Chai spices are particularly helpful this time of year, also black teas, dark oolongs, forest berries, roots such as burdock, ashwagandha, Solomon’s seal, mushrooms like reishi, turkey tail and chaga,” Lawse says.
Artemis offers several seasonal specialty drinks such as cardigan and Norway vanilla.
“I love the endless creativity that’s possible in this industry,” Lawse says.
Each product has a special reason to help the body in impactful ways. Currently, the special tea blends most popular are huntress, oracle and saga.
“Huntress has a special place in my heart as the flagship tea company and as a personal medicine that awakened something inside of me,” Lawse says. “It gave me vision and helped me take the steps necessary to both begin and grow Artemis.” ◆
