We recently connected with Freya Radlein and have shared our conversation below.

Freya, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Snapdragon & Thistle’s mission is to share that tea isn’t just a beverage, it nourishes the soul.

Our goal is to enhance the tea drinking practice by sharing our love and knowledge of tea. While we sell loose leaf teas and herbal tisanes, we believe the experience is not just confined to the cup, it’s a sensory engagement that is grounding and a key to simple self-care and wellness.

Freya, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been powered by black tea. For any Anglophiles out there, tea truly is the center of the British universe. It comforts, it’s social, it hydrates, it relaxes, gives clarity, and is appropriate in pretty much any social or personal setting.
I moved from England nine years ago and laid down roots in Seattle. When I got married, it seemed only fitting that my representation in our guest favors should be customized teabags, and thus, the concept of Snapdragon & Thistle was born.

Snapdragon & Thistle is my online tea store where you can find a curated selection of teas and herbal tisanes, tea kits to start you off on your tea brewing journey, and a newly launched seasonal subscription box called Self Care with Tea.

After its inception, it was a natural progression for me to get to know this little tea plant, Camellia Sinensis if we were to be working together on a daily basis. That’s when my love affair with tea truly began.

I studied for the next eighteen months and became a certified tea specialist. It was important for me to be authentic in my ability to share my love of tea with people and to offer them the best drinking experience possible.

One of my intentions as a business owner has always been to use my company as a platform to raise awareness and/or support various organizations and communities.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I joined forces with my local artisanal market community called Bakers Against Racism, but my primary advocacy is for eating disorder awareness.

Every year the business donates a percentage of sales to WithAll.

WithAll is an organization that raises awareness for and supports eating disorder recovery. They work on preventative measures, to change and reeducate the way we’ve been taught to think and speak about food, body shape, and body size, and to make recovery accessible to everyone.

There is a personal connection for me, as I was one of those people whose lives they indirectly made a difference in.

I think one of the aspects that I’m most proud of is how my business model has turned a complete 180° from the wedding industry goals I originally had planned for Snapdragon & Thistle. I couldn’t be happier that I’m in a place of having a career where not only do I get to improve my own wellbeing, but I get to share that love and knowledge with others too.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

At the time of taking the fundamental steps with Snapdragon & Thistle, I was also spiraling downward in my personal life. Whilst I’d always had disordered eating, my relationship with food had deteriorated and I entered an intensive outpatient treatment program after being diagnosed with an eating disorder. The treatment program was grueling and spending four days a week there was mentally and physically exhausting. A couple of weeks in, I wondered whether I had made a grave mistake, beginning to lay down the foundations for a business at a time when everything felt very overwhelming. But never one to give up, I just slowed the process down, baby steps.

Monday evening was the allotted time for the goal setting, and whilst I set myself a food, exercise, and/or clothing challenge, it was also a super opportunity to hold myself accountable for completing another section of my business plan.

As the weeks went by, my business and recovery goals intertwined and the established roots of both grew considerably and strengthened.

My desire to create a tea business came from a place of passion but it was nurtured in a place of darkness, but, just like flowers, they can bloom in the most unexpected conditions and my business has flourished in tandem with my recovery, making it an even more cherished and meaningful venture.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

This is the place I am currently residing in. I began taking tea and meditation/journaling classes with my teacher in July 2020 and discovered a completely new depth of magic in tea. It offered me so much more than just a beverage, it was nourishing my soul.
The act of mindfully preparing and drinking tea engages all five senses and brings me back into my body, which is something that from a mental health perspective can be a legitimate issue for a lot of individuals.

I am someone who suffers from anxiety and connecting with my senses through aroma, flavor, texture, sounds, as well as a visual feast, has been an invaluable way to stay grounded.

Picking up the leaves and feeling how small or large, brittle or strong they are; holding them in the palm of one’s hand and lifting them up to one’s nose to deeply inhale; listening to the water as it’s poured into the cup, observing the leaves as they transform shape and size absorbing the liquid and then watching as the water slowly changes color.

Developing a tea practice has been the key to unlocking and accessing areas to promote my own recovery and self-growth journey, and earlier this year I enrolled in a trauma based teacher training program, specifically in tea tasting.

This has been a game-changer for me, not only personally but professionally. I’ve been able to achieve the goals of meditation through connection with a plant that I dearly love and now I plan to launch workshops to share how incorporating tea tasting into a self care routine is beneficial for one’s mental health and wellbeing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://snapdragonandthistle.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snapdragonandthistle/
• Other: https://www.subkit.com/snapdragonandthistle