When I was a child, my grandfather once looked at me as I climbed out of bed and said with a smile,
“Have you ever seen a dream walking?”
He was talking about me.
I have never forgotten those words, or how they made me feel. Seen. Loved. Full of possibility.
Many years later, I find myself thinking of those words again as I bring a dream of my own into the world. When you walk into Rising Tea & Alchemy, you are stepping into a dream I carried quietly in my heart for almost ten years.
For a long time, I talked myself out of it.
What do I know about opening a business?
Do I know enough about tea?
What if no one comes?
What if I fail?
There were so many reasons not to follow this dream.
But the heart has a way of speaking softly and persistently. And mine kept whispering, this is your path.
Tea has always been part of my life.
When I was growing up, tea meant sitting with my mother, my grandparents, my aunt, and family friends around the kitchen table. If someone had a hard day, a cup was poured and we sat together. Tea was never just a drink, it was an invitation.
An invitation to slow down.
To talk.
To listen.
To be present with one another.
Later in life, as a health and life coach, I discovered something important: the most powerful gift I could offer someone wasn’t just advice, it was presence. The simple act of sitting with someone, truly listening, and sharing space together.
Technology has made it easier than ever to connect, but something essential is often missing. Presence through a screen is not the same as presence shared across a table.
And that is the heart of Rising.
Rising Tea & Alchemy was created as a place where people can gather again, where tea becomes the doorway to community, conversation, learning, and connection. A place where you can share your day, your laughter, your tears, your ideas, and your dreams.
Come in for a quiet cup of tea.
Make a new friend.
Join a workshop.
Share something you love with the community.
This space was created with love, and it exists for all of us to share.
In many ways, Rising is simply an extension of that kitchen table from my childhood, where a cup of tea meant you were welcome, you were cared for, and you never had to sit alone.
Welcome, we can’t wait to meet you!
Our Story
Margaret Donovan is the Founder and Chief Alchemist of Rising: Tea & Alchemy, a tea house and community space rooted in wellness, connection, and transformation. She is an ICF Certified Life and Health Coach with a lifelong passion for helping people become the healthiest and most fully expressed versions of themselves.
Margaret’s path into wellness began early and was shaped by personal experiences that revealed the power of hope, healing, and whole-person care. Over the years, she has built a career centered on supporting others through growth, change, and meaningful transformation.
Her love of tea began with her mother and deepened into a lasting appreciation for tea as ritual, comfort, beauty, and connection. In creating Rising, Margaret has brought together her passion for wellness, her reverence for tea, and her belief in the importance of community. Inspired by her own journey of finding belonging in Charlotte, she envisioned Rising as more than a tea shop, it is a welcoming space for reflection, gathering, conversation, and renewal.
Through Rising: Tea & Alchemy, Margaret hopes to create a sanctuary where people can slow down, connect more deeply with themselves and others, and experience the quiet transformation that can happen over a shared cup of tea.