The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Ritual Earth Tea finds home in historic building
Purveyor matches gemstones with exotic blends
HARTFORD — Stepping into Kristy Joyce’s tea shop in the Parkville neighborhood is like cracking open an unassuming rock and discovering an explosion of colorful crystals inside.
Ritual Earth Tea, housed in what was formerly a storage space at the historic Dirt Salon building at 50 Bartholomew Ave., is accessed by hauling open a heavy industrial side door. But the space is an intimate one, about the size of a medium walk-in closet.
Inside, large windows filter through a light that illuminates Joyce’s handmade jewelry, tea collections and accessories.
Her area of the building was originally a hothouse for a plant architect at the Dirt Salon. Before that, it was used by a band to hang out in, and a writer who left a tiny sticker on the wall that says: “Say hello sometime.”
Joyce incorporated a few glass bricks left there by a former occupant into her design.
“There’s like little bits of people who were in here before me,” said the hairstylist by trade. “I love doing hair. I wanted to do something different: My body is starting to hurt a little bit from always styling hair.”
The room consists of a birch tea bar, original brickface walls with a white wash of paint, and carefully curated artwork.
And then, there’s the tea — loose-leaf, ready for an infuser and a steaming hot cup of water.
When Joyce, who lives in Middletown, serves a cup of tea, it’s a tiny ritual, an exercise in being in the moment. She has a nightly routine she performs once she’s home from the salon where she works.
“I put the phone away and steep loose-leaf (green) tea in a French press. That way I can watch the colors change. I literally do nothing except watch the colors change and stare at it. That’s my meditation. I press it down, I pour it, enjoy myself,” said Joyce, who never liked the taste of coffee.
The Dirt Salon, according to the website it an “artful alliance of creatives and patrons at Hartford’s only art salon.”
“It’s cool because my space is super small, but it doesn’t appear small because of huge windows and you can see into the (adjoining) room and all the plants,” Joyce said.
Inside, there’s evidence of her various loves — gemstones, Smudge + Stone handcrafted jewelry, and, of course tea.
“I’ve been in love with rocks for pretty much as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I had this geology belt. I wanted to be a geologist so badly. I would go out and crack rocks and talk about rocks for days. I love going mining.”
As Joyce grew older, that interest didn’t exactly dwindle — it shifted. Years later, she began creating jewelry and her interest in stones and minerals was reignited.
“I do 10,000 things at once, so I’m trying to merge everything together: Collect and polish stones, cut them, make jewelry and tea,” she said.
To Joyce, tea ingredients are as important as the quality of tea. She also believes a good cup needs no sweeteners.
Her passion lies within the experience of creating teas based on things she loves. In that vein, Joyce launched a crystal collection in which each kit contains teas based on the properties of the most common semiprecious stones found in Connecticut — as well as the gemstones.
Joyce had so much fun with that initial project, she made the decision to create all her teas that way. After a good deal of research, she discovered the medicinal properties of herbs can be aligned with the properties of gems and minerals.
“There are so many connections,” she said.
For instance, her Garnet Chai tea embodies the idea that ginger is an aphrodisiac. “Garnet is the stone of sensuality and passion,” she said.
She soon realized both teas and stones have common properties.
“It makes sense, because it all comes from the earth. Now my name makes total sense. I love the symbol for earth. I want to do that,” she said, referring to the alchemical symbol of an upside-down triangle split by a perpendicular line at the base.
“Then everything was tumbling and falling into place so nicely. It’s like synchronicity at its finest,” Joyce said.
Her teas, such as Spicy Tourmaline and Minty Aquamarine, all have a key flavor note with which people identify. And her passion for a host of interests and the ritual of enjoying a spot of tea are infectious.
“Little things, I adore,” she said.
Her crystal tea collection is based on five crystals. “Everything that can be, or was once, found in Connecticut are my favorites: garnet, tourmaline, amethyst, quartz and aquamarine.”
Each kit contains a booklet that explains how she paired the gemstones.
“I’m trying to make it easier for someone to spot a tea and not be clueless,” said Joyce, who also enjoys making tinctures, oils and sprays — all of which she sells in her shop.
Each tea bag contains one serving, depending on how strong a person likes his or her tea.
“It’s all on preference, so I always suggest to use way less on the lower end so you can add more. To make your tea stronger, you actually want to add more tea, not time,” Joyce said. “Sometimes people get so turned off if it’s too strong.”
Many might not know black, white and green tea are all derived from the same plant.
“They’re just processed differently. Green is the freshest,” Joyce said.
“You hear a lot of people saying, ‘I don’t like tea.’ I end up finding something they will like because it’s not necessarily just tea from tea leaves. I call it tea because it makes sense to most people, but fruit and herbal teas are called tisanes.”
Joyce is working on a tea for her photographer friend Katie Russo: a honeybush, which comes from a plant similar to the tea leaf and has a natural sweetness. “It has white chocolate in it, and berries, so it almost tastes like a dessert. You mix a little almond milk in there, and it’s like you’re drinking a creamy dessert,” she said.
A majority of her business now is done online, but Ritual Earth Tea is open Fridays. To make sure what hours she’ll be in, call 860874-4123.
Joyce also sells her wares at events such as the Know Good Market, which, every second Thursday of every month, features food trucks and various vendors. It takes place down the street by Hog River Brewery, 1429 Park St.
For information, visit ritualearthtea.com or Ritual Earth Tea on Facebook.