From Iraq deployments to Fox News: Hamilton native’s tea and coffee company goes national | Lifestyles

Days after a July roadside interview with Fox Business while stuck in traffic in Atlanta, Roger and Aimee Owens got a call they described as “some weird call from New York City.”

It was a senior producer wanting to feature the couple’s business, Star Spangled Tea & Coffee, on Fox & Friends Saturday’s “Saturday in America” on the main Fox News channel.

For Aimee Owens, the national attention that came from a serendipitous moment is still surreal. Instantly, the Owens family was catapulted onto the national stage, something that was awkward for Aimee, and far from her origins in Hamilton, where her family’s roots run deep, where her mother, Gail, and brother and sister-in-law Michele, still live.

Known as Aimee Leyrer, a 1991 Hamilton High School graduate, grew up on Holmes Court not far from the high school. But she also spent a lot of time on North Third Street where her grandfather, great uncles and father, the late Dr. Thomas Leyrer, practiced medicine for decades. Today, the building known as the Erwin-Leyrer house is where Third Street Music sells and records music.

“There was a sense of community,” Aimee said, describing that it was in her hometown where she learned the value of hard work and the idea that “you can achieve anything you put your mind to.”

Roger and Aimee’s life changed in March 2003 when the United States invaded Iraq. Uncertainty became the new normal for the next few years.

Roger was a combat engineer in the 3rd Infantry Division, and part of the 2003 invasion, deploying again in 2005. It was a tough time for Aimee, then still a new mother. Caring for their toddler son, Alex, now 26, and newborn daughter, Lizzie, now 21, Aimee was by herself in Columbus, Ga., while her husband served overseas. She lived with the consistent fear of “the knock” on her door from the Army. That knock, thankfully, never came, though some of Roger’s missions had resulted in fatal casualties. She taught full-time at Fort Benning’s elementary school and completed her master’s degree online while raising her kids.

Those deployment years shaped the values Aimee still leans on today.

While raising their children with Roger in Iraq, first in 2003 during the first invasion and returning in 2005, she leaned into her “strong Christian faith” and her belief in the country.

“We don’t go by politics. It’s just that we believe in America,” she said. “And we believe in God. And He leads us to where we go. Sometimes we don’t know what we’re doing, and then all of a sudden, He kind of tells us, He leads us.”

Nearly two decades after those deployments, uncertainty turned into an unexpected idea that’s changed their lives. During COVID, Aimee got her coffee-drinking husband to try tea. Then what began as a simple search for a veteran-owned tea brand developed into an idea to build one themselves.

The couple started Star Spangled Tea & Coffee (the coffee came later) and operated out of their Columbus, Ga., dining room. Starting a business during COVID, a time when people were furloughed or laid off, was not easy, they said.

Aimee handles the backend of the business, from product development and packaging design to bookkeeping and shipping.

Behind the scenes is where she thrives.

“I don’t like my pictures taken too much,” she said, laughing.

Star Spangled Tea & Coffee now sells coffee and loose-leaf teas. Many are inspired by regional flavors and American history. They’re working toward a flavor profile for every state. Some are easy, like teas infusing Georgia peaches and Florida key limes, but some, including Ohio, are not so much. The Owenses are still trying to figure out the ideal flavor or flavors for some states, like Ohio.

“Every state kind of has a flavor. So, we started putting that into tea,” Aimee said.

They’re now working on a coffee tied to President Jimmy Carter and are pursuing a deal to be in the White House gift shop.

Long-term, Aimee’s dream is to see a Star Spangled Tea & Coffee shop open in Hamilton. But for now, in addition to online, it is sold in neighboring Fairfield at Jungle Jim’s International Market.

No matter how the company grows, supporting the military community and the country is at Star Spangled Tea & Coffee’s core, she said. They are a sponsor of the Best Ranger Competition — an elite, three-day event at Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning) where two-soldier Ranger teams compete in challenges to determine the Army’s top Rangers — and has sponsored military job fairs.

Recently, the Owenses partnered with Freedom 250, a national public-private partnership coordinating America’s 250th-anniversary celebrations and working with federal agencies and local partners.

Even with national opportunities, Aimee, along with her husband, is still pulled back to Hamilton, admitting she does not get back to her hometown as often as she wants.

The Owenses were in Hamilton for the July 4 holiday, and watched the parade down High Street, though they had the opportunity to spend the holiday in Washington, D.C. They believe they chose wisely.

“We like to come to Hamilton, especially for July 4,” Roger said, “because it’s more patriotic.”