I was strolling around my neighborhood along Falls Road, when I came upon a treasure trove of drinks at Whitehall Mill market, a sprawling 1798 renovated mill. Ariel Hess was stirring up this magical concoction called Butterfly Glitter Lemonade. It started out a beautiful blue; when she poured in lemon, it became brilliant purple with bits of glitter swirling around in it, like stars in a fantasy sky. A winter’s festive lemonade. (The glitter is edible and all for show. It has little taste.)
In this season when so much alcohol is passed around, it is great to find exciting nonalcoholic drinks that satisfy.
A few of the teas have a bit of caffeine kick.
This was just the introduction to Wight Tea, the enterprise of tea wizards –brother and sister– Brittany and Joey Wight. I went back today to see what other imaginative drinks they have created. While the lemonade is very tasty, made with edible blue flowers from Thailand, it’s like a whim attached to the substantial, unusual offerings of Wight Tea, from lavendar Earl Gray, a fragrant smokey elixir, to the Shenandoah which one patron compared to the taste of a campfire.
Brittany was there at the little shop carefully measuring, setting up and brewing tea leaves with an assortment of spices and herbs for a steady stream of regular customers. All the tea is organic from growers they verify for growing healthy, excellent plants.
“Me and my brother always loved to drink tea. We drank with my grandmother in her kitchen,” says Brittany between brews. Her grandmother did not offer them fancy British or Indian teas: we are “Russian Polish Jews,” the tea came from basic tea bags, she says. But the memory of that tea time bringst back cozy peaceful feelings. Later in life, Brittany began to experiment with different blends and leaves. She absorbed the basics of the tea business as a worker at a tea shop in Columbia and persuaded her brother to work there. They’d get together at their parents’ kitchen table and share tea tastes.
They planned a tea shop at Whitehall that unfortunately was opened in the middle of the Pandemic without many customers. But they built a business as a supplier to restaurants, shops and online customer. “Our vision then, and still today was to create interesting loose leaf tea blends.”
For anyone who dismisses tea as boring, you have to visit their shop. “We’re switching it up,” says Brittany.
One of her favorites is the blueberry basil rooiebos. “We try flavors we enjoy together, like fruit we like and basil, but blueberries and basil are not commonly used together,” Brittany explains.
Another unique brew is the cookie butter late. Or matcha in a variety of forms, from latte to lemonade.
Coffee lovers, you might just find the matcha gives you a gentler buzz than your caffeine brew. The powder is made from specially grown green tea leaves, traditionally consumed in East Asia. In Japan, matcha is used in tea ceremonies that incorporate a meditative aspect.
“I love the flavor” says Hannah, who is watching Brittany beat the bright green powder and water with a bamboo whisk for her drink. “It’s got caffeine but it doesn’t shock my system or give me anxiety like coffee.”
