LOS ANGELES—Veteran producer Dennis D. and former Playboy Playmate Shanna Moakler have unveiled their new site this week, drteasonline.com, which is the home for their growing herbal tea company that has its flagship store on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood.
Dr. Tea’s is a Tea Garden and Herbal Emporium that has gained national notoriety due to its coverage on TV shows such as “The View” and its numerous celebrity endorsers.
“I’ve been working on the deal for almost a year, creating the teas, getting the labeling done and putting the site together,” said D., who formerly owned the adult production company DNA and spent much of the last decade producing adult movies.
He said he got interested in the herbal tea business after beginning to regularly drink it himself.
“Now this is all I focus on,” D. said. “When I stopped doing the adult stuff, I went into the restaurant business. I own [the restaurant] Beso at Hollywood and Ivar with Eva Longoria. And we just had a new one open in City Center in Vegas. Through Beso I met a bunch of people, and I found myself getting addicted to these herbal teas. So I decided to franchise it and start distributing them to restaurants and brought in a celebrity to endorse it.”
Originally D. was working with actress Lindsay Lohan on the Dr. Tea’s project, but then he teamed up with Moakler, with whom he has been friends for several years. Moakler is an actress and model who is also a former Playboy Playmate, Miss USA and reality TV personality after starring as herself on MTV’s “Meet the Barkers” in 2005. Moakler was married to Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker at the time. She has two children with Barker and one from a previous relationship with boxing great Oscar De La Hoya.
“She’s a mom with three kids. She’s done beauty pageants and was president of the Miss California pageant, and she still has some fans from her MTV show,” said D., noting that Moakler’s public persona fits the image of Dr. Tea's more so than Lohan's.
The Dr. Tea’s online store includes 12 different kinds of “Craving” teas and 18 different herbal teas, among numerous others.
D. said his customers can create “the ultimate tea diet” with his products.
