The Magical, Mystical Vegan Tea Shop Warming Washington D.C.
Calabash Tea & Tonic is a place of healing — especially for the communities of color often left out of the mainstream vegan movement
In Washington, D.C. one tea shop is creating a safe and inclusive space for people of color to enjoy the benefits of plant-based eating with their haven of health in the predominantly black neighborhoods of Shaw and Brookland. The niche was filled by Calabash Tea & Tonic, which opened in 2015 and has been voted the Best Tea Shop every year since in the Washington City Paper’s reader poll.
Calabash’s new Brookland outpost, their second location, opened this summer, providing an ambiance that transports guests back to ancestral lands. The décor boasts African designs — Ghanian masks adorn the walls, bespoke Egyptian light fixtures inspired by calabash gourds illuminate the space, and an Afro-futuristic painting by Mazel Bowman hangs above the entrance. The global breadth of beauty of the African diaspora is a personal reflection of the mastermind behind the shop — Afro-Latina naturopathic doctor and vegan chef, Sunyatta Amen.
