Ogden’s Atlas Tea Company seeks to raise mental health awareness
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- Atlas Tea Company on Washington Boulevard in Ogden, photographed Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024.
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- Members of the Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce and Atlas Tea Company ownership participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024.
OGDEN — A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Monday morning for Atlas Tea Company, one of the few dedicated teahouses you’ll find in the Ogden area.
The fledgling operation is now serving up unique specialty and loose-leaf teas, as well as accompaniments, from its downtown location at 2341 Washington Blvd.
However, the business aspect of the venture is almost secondary to a greater mission, according to owner Amber Zaugg.
“I think business owners are like, ‘No, you’re here to thrive, to make money.’ But, really, my heart and my children’s hearts — what matters to me is the messaging that’s absolutely at the core of Atlas,” Zaugg told the Standard-Examiner. “We have a delivery system that is a business. But the core of Atlas is just let’s be well together and exist together.”
Through her business and planned community engagement efforts, Zaugg aims to raise awareness of mental health issues and those who are struggling with them. In 2020, her former husband — also the father of her children — took his own life. Zaugg has worked as an area mental health professional for several years.
“Atlas is about potential. We don’t want to get stuck anywhere,” she said. “I think that’s what mental health interventions all need to be about. Like, let’s get unstuck. Let’s move forward. You have a lot of potential within you. Let’s just unleash it, just let it set sail and not get stuck.”
As Zaugg envisions it, the teahouse will serve as the funding mechanism for efforts to help people in the community reach their own potential. She also hopes to host healing-centric events at the shop.
To that end, actually getting the business up and running has been a hands-on, family affair, according to Zaugg.
“I developed the whole menu; everything that was served (at the grand opening event), I made, personally, in the kitchen,” Zaugg said. “I have help, for sure, from other fabulous employees. But my son, Chandler, will be washing dishes. (My daughter) Emma has done all the design work, and then she has always been with me in the kitchen.”
While the menu is varied in nature, Zaugg is especially proud of her Gingerbread Rooibos — a caffeine-free blend of masala chai and fresh ginger steeped in milk with African rooibos.
She also noted that things like excess sugar and artificial dyes will be avoided in creating Atlas’ myriad offerings.
“Organic is a value for me,” Zaugg said. “Health is a value for me just as the business owner and concept designer.”
In the end, though — more than anything — it’s Zaugg’s hope that she and her family can help those who are struggling to realize that they, too, deserve to exist.
“We deserve to exist together and to experience existence together,” she said.
For more information about Atlas Tea Company or to order online, go to https://atlasteacompany.com/.
