The Art of Gathering: Meet Jennifer Stowe of Three Sisters Tearoom

CAMBELLSVILLE, Tenn. — In a quiet corner of rural Tennessee, Jennifer Stowe and her daughters aren’t crafting objects, but moments. Their family homestead is home to the Three Sisters Tearoom, a haven where the art of gathering is the main attraction.

The tearoom's roots are in Stowe's own family, years before it ever had a name. "When my first two children were toddlers, Sunday early dinners turned into tea times," she said. "I tried out many different types of recipes for scones, clotted cream, pastries and tiny sandwiches. It was a creative outlet for me, delicious for my husband and something out of the ordinary for the children."

As the family grew, their simple teatime blossomed into a traveling mission of hospitality. Stowe and her three daughters began delivering scones and lemon curd to community workers as a gesture of thanks. They also invited friends and family over for tea, which they served in the family's 30-foot Airstream.

When a fire destroyed their barn, the Stowes chose to create a new beginning from the ashes. On their farm, they built a small cottage, originally intended for visiting family, which found a dual purpose. They opened Three Sisters Tearoom in 2015. Today, that intimate space hosts reservation-required events from Ladies Literary Teas and Wee Teas for children to private parties.

Stowe’s passion for tea is foundational to the experience. As a contributing writer for Teatime magazine with formal training in tea cupping and etiquette, her expertise shapes everything from the seasonal menus with garden-grown ingredients to the quiet setting where hospitality becomes a form of art.

Discover more about Stowe and Three Sisters Teamroom in her interview.

Tell us what you do.
Tea is my medium. I create original, healthy and delicious organic tea menus full of homemade chefs' d'oeuvres using ingredients grown on our farm, garnished with fresh flowers and herbs picked just before serving. The process starts by laying the tea table. Selecting the linens, china, flowers, seed pods, cones and lichen creates the palette on which the process begins.

Colors and textures of such items set the tone and mood of the afternoon tea gathering. Bright yellow, orange, and red flowers and fiesta ware paired with crisp, white linens fire up a midsummer tea unbleached, loosely woven cream linens on raw wood tables paired with pottery in earthy hues cry woodland autumn tea. Every table setting is different, and each menu grows and morphs seamlessly with the bounty of seasonal garden produce and natures inspiration. The set tea table is a work of art laid before our guests upon which to feast body and soul.

How did you come to this work, and when did it shift from something you did for fun into a business?
As I had more children and eventually three daughters, we started baking together and bringing tea, scones and lemon curd to civic and emergency workers in our town, to say thanks. Next, we invited friends and neighbors over for tea and scones inside our 30-foot Airstream trailer, then, following a tragic barn fire, we rebuilt. The rebuild included a small 12 x 36 cottage perched on a hill in the wood line of our farm. It was there Three Sisters Tearoom bloomed into a business. That was June 2015, and eleven years later, we continue to serve tea to our community one day each week. The tearoom has brought opportunity to our door, and we've become national tea speakers, authors of several books and writers in residence at Teatime magazine.

How does your work connect to a community, tradition or set of values you care about?
The desire to serve fresh, nourishing foods, like rich soups and homemade breads, to friends and strangers runs deep in my veins. Pair that desire with an abundance of fresh, organically grown fruits and vegetables in my garden, and the table is set for a community gathering place where human beings can linger over the time-honored tradition of afternoon tea.

Although the tea table is beautifully laid, there is nothing pretentious or intimidating about these tea times. Rather, guests steep in the bonniness and enjoy a time set apart for nothing but feasting and face-to-face fellowship. The creative process doesn't stop with decor and food. An ever-evolving lineup of new tea offerings are always brewing in my mind.

We love to have children in the tearoom and host Wee Teas for the tiniest tea drinkers, Etiquette Teas for young and old, Tea in Fine Art workshops, Tea in Classic Literature tableau, Tea Around the World seminars and much more!

What are you working on now?
Currently, the favorite creative project is a line of note cards for tea-drinking letter-writers. Say it with Tea is an origami-like card fold that creates a space for a handwritten message, and a small pocket for a tea bag. We are testing these cards now with our tea community. In addition to that, a tearoom cookbook and a coffee-table book of essays and photographs entitled, "Tea is Home" are both in progress.

Lastly, we have built a row of off-grid dorms connected to the barn, next to the Highland cows, where wayfarers can stay for a WI-FI-and-cell-phone free overnight, or writers can come for a weekend workshop, or tea lovers enjoy an overnight tea immersion, or art lovers can paint en plein air and many other possibilities.

What do you wish more people understood about running a creative business?
If one can keep a creative business on the small side, in the family, working slowly, pursuing excellence along the way, great joy and satisfaction await.

What advice would you give someone starting out?
Start small and build. Turning a creative passion into a business can rob one of that first love. Unless you have to have a large income from your creative business, pacing and preserving your passion is most important.

What brings you joy?
My family. We all love to hike, drink coffee, talk ideas, be in nature, travel, create beauty and be together. That is my joy.

Thanks, Jennifer! You can find out more about Three Sisters Tearoom at www.threesisterstearoom.com.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.