Keeping a promise to her dearly departed sibling Simone, who transitioned two years earlier, Jacqui Mighty honoured a pact made between them to open a tea shop.

Mighty, an interior designer-turned-beverage purveyor, feels a natural progression assuming the mantle as director of The Teapot, which opened its doors at Sovereign Centre in May. “Interior design is not only about design but a lifestyle. Tea houses also facilitate a healthy lifestyle which has become fashionable worldwide, so it has been merely a segmentation of a comprehensive lifestyle,” she told us last week over freshly brewed Chai tea.

In a cityscape dotted with a dime-a-dozen coffee shops, Mighty saw an opportunity to diversify. “If the market is saturated, why open one of the same?” came her rhetorical query to Thursday Life.

Then, there was consideration she made of the North American marketplace where she said, “Tea is becoming the new coffee, and the market there is growing exponentially.”

On the menu at The Teapot are a rich variety of continent-spanning tea varietals from Africa, India, Japan and China, North America and naturally, Jamaica. There are chai lattes, iced teas, green teas, jasmine, oolong, hibiscus, Rooibos, and black and white teas. The beverages (including shakes), whether enjoyed hot or cold, can be paired with bites of biscotti, sesame seed cookies, gluten-free bars, bagels with cream cheese and if you’re one with a sweet tooth, pastries are available on the weekends.

“Many tea connoisseurs have discovered us and are convinced their prayers have been answered,” a beaming Mighty declared, as she slid a just-made summer fruit ambrosia over the counter for us to sip.

She added: “We also have been making many new converts as a lot of people were ignorant to the vast and exciting world of teas.”

As she settles into her role of upping the profile of teas (yes, she’s encountered many in-store who believe teas are solely made in bags), Mighty is keen on solidifying a customer base, perfecting The Teapot model and just maybe, opening new locations.