A permanent location is in the tea leaves for Baltimore Black-owned tea company Equitea.
The company will move to the ground level of 311 W. 28th St. in the Remington Row building, just blocks away from where they opened a pop-up on Howard Street in February.
The new permanent location will be a cafe called “House 28 Matcha by Equitea,” selling matcha-based drinks ranging from $3 to $9.
Parents Quentin and Erin Vennie founded Equitea in Baltimore in 2022 after searching for a way to holistically treat their son’s ADHD. Although they make no claims that their teas help with ADHD, the Vennies found that their son experienced improvements at school after he started drinking tea (among other factors).
Equitea’s canned teas are currently sold in more than 600 stores across 28 states. The company has even earned a customer – and investor – in actress and Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow, who in 2023 posted an Instagram video showcasing Equitea drinks among the items in her fridge.
“This is my favorite iced tea brand,” Paltrow says in the video, gesturing to cans of Equitea lining the top shelf of her fridge.
After moving their business to Los Angeles in 2023, the Vennies are replanting Equitea’s roots in Baltimore.
The company will continue to operate their pop-up at 2600 N. Howard St. throughout May and transition to the cafe space in June.
The pop-up is open Wednesday through Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Once operational, the cafe will be open Tuesday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Saturday through Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Since November, the Vennies have also partnered with Baltimore nonprofit Love & Cornbread to provide more than 10 gallons of small-batch, hand-blended hot tea to the Penn-North community every Saturday.
