A new tea and art lounge is opening in downtown Bend in March. “The concept is to create a comfy, cozy, calm, safe place for people to come and create,” explains Sarah Swoffer who owns Teal with her husband on NW Bond Street next to Deschutes Brewery.
Swoffer expects to open the second week of March. At center stage will be 60+ varieties of tea which are all from local companies including Metolius Artisan Tea, Inspired Leaf and Tumalo Lavender. “The reason I chose tea, aside from loving it personally, is that tea invites us to slow down, whereas coffee, invites us to ‘let’s go!’ which is great. There’s nothing wrong with that, but we wanted that space that just kind of invites you to come down and sip and try the tea,” Swoffer says.
She’ll also have steamers, beer, wine, ciders and Humm Kombucha. The owners of Humm have a 5-year lease on the space and are Swoffer’s landlords. She says in addition to offering Humm’s full array of kombucha flavors, the company will create a flavor of the month which will be on tap at Teal. Swoffer will also sell pastries, toast and jam, cake by the slice as well as small snack and charcuterie plates.
The space used to house a tasting room for Crater Lake Spirits and still has the bar and tiled walls. Swoffer has added rugs, an eclectic collection of wooden tables and a giant floor to ceiling chalkboard. During February’s First Friday she invited the community to stop by and help paint large floral murals on the walls.
Once Teal opens, visitors can bring their own art supplies, order some tea and hang out in a creative space or, for a nominal fee of around $3 to $5, they can buy, what Swoffer calls, artistic bites such as blank wooden bookmarks or ornaments to decorate with art supplies on a shelf at the back of the lounge.
Swoffer has an art background while her husband, Zach, has business and hospitality experience from working at Brasada Ranch and Rivers Edge Golf Course. Swoffer started offering art classes in her backyard during the pandemic and grew that into her business, Let’s Paint. Eight artists, including herself, will offer a variety of art classes at Teal such as painting, drawing and pottery. Some classes will be held in a private room in the back with smaller classes in the lounge next to the giant chalkboard. There will be classes for all levels and ages. The schedule and registration will be available on the Teal website.
Teal’s overall mission is to become the living room of Bend.
“Our hope is, it’s tea forward. We want the tea lounge. But then we also have that opportunity for things for them to just kind of dabble with on a very small, non-intimidating level. But if they want to come in and not create any art at all, that’s also OK.”
Teal Tea & Art Lounge
Anticipated opening second week of March
Mon-Fri 7am-8pm, Sat 9am-8pm, Sun 9am-Close
1024 NW Bond St., Bend
Bendteal.com
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