The Alchemy of Avalon storefront on Miles Street in Greenfield, prepares us for a very new business. Suzanne O’Gara is the entrepreneur, welcoming all those who are interested in tea. She makes many types and flavors of tea, and O’Gara can help visitors to the shop choose a tea to help heal, as well as familiar kinds of tea to delight.

I met Suzanne about a year ago. She told me that she had attended the Southwest Institute of the Healing Arts in Tempe, Arizona. She earned her certification, qualifying her (among other things) to blend teas to help people with health problems choose therapeutical teas that  will provide healing.  I enjoyed looking at  all her products when I first met her at the Farmer’s Market last summer and was eager to visit her new shop.

She told me “Tea is a little like like wine. In my 20’s when I was living in New York, and singing professionally, I became familiar with wine and it’s fragrances.” She said that those wines led her to trying out teas to soothe her throat after singing.

There are all kinds of tea at the Alchemy of Avalon Shop. Some are for sitting  with while reading a good book. I do this. Some teas are medicinal and provide health benefits. Others, like perfume oils are for soothing and delight.

She is a fascinating woman to talk to, and learn about some  of the familiar plants that  go into her teas. Artemesia vulgaris, commonly known as Mugwort, which grows right down the hill  from her shop in the Energy Park, has several surprising uses. Her tea can be used for dream recall, as for other needs or wishes.

She will also give good advice about which herbs to grow, how to dry them and which to use, depending on your need. I cannot  count the number of plants she uses and the ways that she prepares them.

Visits to Suzanne O’Gara’s website http://www.alchemyofavalontea.com will give you a full list of tea and tinctures. Suzanne welcomes you to  visit and find the teas that are just what you need.