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Not because I ate them. Not because I breathed the oxygen they provided. But because they healed my broken heart and gave me the will to live again.
Allow me to explain. My name is Kita Centella. I’m an Herbalist and the Founder of Loose Leaf Tea Market.
I used drugs for the first time when I was just 13 years old. By the time I was 16, I was an alcoholic. Suffice it to say, my entry into adulthood was tumultuous. Since I had no idea how to manage my moods and behave like a responsible adult, I got into a lot of trouble. By the time I was 25, I was battling multiple addictions and in prison for the second time. I had lost everything. My self-respect. My freedom. Custody of my children. And my will to live.
Somewhere along the way, I met a Native American healer with a passion for the healing power of plants. She started to teach me how to respect my body. She taught me how to manage my emotions. She taught me how to respect other people. And a magical transformation began in my body, soul, and spirit.
Over the next five years, my healer mentored me, helped me mend my broken heart, and restored my will to live. That was when I made a public commitment to dedicate the rest of my life to learning about the healing power of plants and sharing my knowledge with the world.
When I was 28, I was released from prison and given the opportunity to rebuild my life. On a mission to live responsibly, I got married, had two children, and sought out opportunities to honor the commitment I had made to my healers and myself. In 1998, I graduated from an herbal program at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) while working part-time at a local herbal store. My passion for the healing power of plants was growing on a daily basis.
Over the next four years, I honed my expertise in medicinal herbs and in 2002, I accepted the opportunity to purchase the herbal store I worked for. While I was excited by its potential, I knew the public had a lot of misconceptions about herbal stores; they were viewed as primitive at best, witchcraft at worst. I knew our handcrafted, organic wellness teas could help so many people with the challenges they faced on a daily basis--everything from sleeplessness and gut issues to anxiety management, weight loss and everything in between. I simply had to educate consumers enough to get them to try the teas. I knew once they did, the results would speak for themselves.
I began teaching a course in herbal healing in an effort to change public perception. Recognizing more work needed to be done to reach a larger percentage of the population, I decided to rebrand the company and give it a sleek, clean look. I also dedicated countless hours to creating new herbal teas that were both therapeutic and tasty. Loose Leaf Tea Market was born.
Today, we serve wellness-minded customers who love loose leaf tea, appreciate the power of a nutritious diet, and the use of natural remedies to stay healthy and prevent disease.
We also provide boutique retailers across the nation with wholesale unique, limited-edition teas that make their stores stand out while continually attracting cool customers. (Did I mention our celebrity in-store customers include Actress/Singer Bette Midler, Comedian Sandra Bernhardt, Actress Uma Thurman, and many more?)
We lovingly handcraft over 30 loose leaf tea blends (and counting!) Using 95% certified organic ingredients at our tea store in Phoenix, we are committed to being good stewards of the Earth and all of its resources as demonstrated by our eco-friendly packaging. And since we only produce small batches, our teas are always exceptionally fresh and filled with the vitamins, antioxidants, flavors, and aromas that make people feel better on a daily basis.
Need to minimize stress? Manage your moods? Detox? Manage your blood sugar? We’ve got teas for all of that. And so much more.
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For more than two decades we’ve been optimizing our tea blends for thousands of customers visiting our tea store in Phoenix. Now, we’re determined to make Loose Leaf Tea Market a national company that’s known coast to coast for unique, healing loose leaf teas.
The way I see it, if tea can restore my will to live, heal me from alcohol and drug addictions, and give me the opportunity to start a new life helping others heal their broken hearts, its healing properties are limitless. That’s why I’m on a mission to make our handcrafted organic teas easily accessible to every person who wants to become a better version of themselves.
Tea gave me my life back. Let’s see what it can do for yours.
Loose Leaf Tea Market’s mission is to handcraft all-natural, artisanal loose leaf teas that taste great, promote a healthy lifestyle, and allow us to support women in need throughout their healing journey.