We believe everyone deserves healing.

Rise & Ritual is a tea house and apothecary where plant medicine meets preventative care. Through intentionally formulated herbal blends, ethically sourced apothecary products, and immersive healing experiences, we empower people to take ownership of their health — naturally, holistically, and rooted in community.

Sipping and brewing tea is a sensory experience that begins with the smell and feel of the herbs and ends with the experience of a more centered and balanced you.

The Tea on Rise & Ritual

  • "Rise & Ritual's elevated herbal blends have been a game changer in managing my anxiety and adding more substance to my self care routine. Taylor helped me select the Valor tea and I've been a fan ever since."

    Anonymous

  • "As a tea lover and frequent consumer ethically sourced tea is a must with any brand I purchase from. Rise & Ritual tea's are the best blends on the market from quality to moral standard. My day starts with Rise & Ritual!"

    Anonymous

  • "When I started drinking tea I didn't know where to start but thanks to Rise & Ritual I have been able to step into the world of herbal healing with confidence and ease. I love the tea accessories that make brewing a breeze even on the go."

    Anonymous

Meet Our Founder

Taylor Nickens

Here Is The Tea About Our Founder

Taylor Nickens is the founder of Rise & Ritual, Philadelphia's first tea house and apothecary, and a certified herbalist and yoga teacher with over twelve years of study in plant medicine and holistic healing. Her path to plant medicine began in an unlikely place: research labs, during years spent on the physician track. Taylor conducted research at institutions including the National Institutes of Health, PCOM, Jefferson University, Rothman University, and Vancouver General Hospital, presenting her findings each spring and winter break and earning a publication for her work at the NIH and Vancouver General Hospital. That scientific grounding shaped how she now approaches plant medicine, not as folklore, but as a practice worth studying with the same rigor.

From there, her path shifted. Taylor's herbalism training took her to study directly under healers and teachers in Mexico, Peru, and across the United States, including Philadelphia, Arizona, and Massachusetts. Through these journeys, Taylor has built a deep, hands-on relationship with the land and its gifts, one she has made it her mission to share.

Rise & Ritual was born out of Taylor's own healing. During the isolation of Covid, faced with anxiety and depression, she began a daily practice of rising with a cup of tea and a journal, a small ritual that became a lifeline. Out of that lifeline came Rise & Ritual: a business built to hand people back the same simple, plant-based tools that helped her heal.

Since opening, that mission has been recognized far beyond her own kitchen table. Rise & Ritual was named Best Herbal Apothecary in Philadelphia Magazine's Best of Philly 2026. Taylor is a graduate of the Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women Black in Business program and completed the BSmart program through Vested In at Drexel University, where she first declared her intention to open a tea house rooted in community healing. She currently serves as Board President of the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA).

Taylor's goal has never changed: to help others align and ground their lives with nature, and to make holistic well-being feel less like a luxury and more like a daily, attainable ritual.