After having served the Portland, Oregon area, Shahqia Cross, owner of a blissful haven of an herbal tea house known as Rainbow Te, has opened up shop on Johnson’s Main Street. The business website’s homepage states that Rainbow Te provides an array of bubble teas, herbal teas with blends inspired from the seven bodily “chakras,” as well as gluten-free vegan waffles, with most of them served in immensely mouth-watering cone-shaped formations.
Originating throughout the emergence of ancient mediation practices, chakras are defined as seven focal points of the human body that are said to promote subtle detoxing of the organs, mind, and intellect. The seven chakras in the spiritual body are the crown chakra, the third eye, the throat, the heart, the navel, the sacral and the root.
Science and spirituality often don’t really go hand in hand very well and there is much doubt about the existence of holistic healing methods and whether they work, or if it’s a placebo effect. YogaU states that western science currently lacks the tools to measure the energy that makes up the chakra system. According to a Medical News Today article titled “What are chakras and how do they affect health?” by Zawn Villines, there is no scientific evidence that supports its existence in the spiritual sense. However, it has been argued that the chakras correspond to the nervous system. Their connections to certain health aspects may relate to different nerve plexuses.
After relocating to Johnson, Cross and her husband’s tea house came out with a bang, setting up shop and honing in on one mission: reviving the communal liveliness that was Johnson under twenty years ago, and even as recently as before the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Cross carried a keen ambition of wanting to set up Rainbow Te with the intention of providing, and cultivating, that same sense of liveliness for the community once again.
“It’s funny, because this place had a history here,” said Cross. She noted, between the pandemic and changes on campus, Johnson has had a rough few years.
“And they’re having a little bit of a hard time bouncing back.”
That’s why the real bread and butter of the tea house lies in the essential importance of providing accessible resources that are geared toward — in the words of Cross — the replenishment of “fast nutrients.”
Once Cross opened the tea shop in early 2021, she encountered a population of folks with preferences for at-home cups of joe over ordering from the nearest coffee shop or fast-food venue. Result? A limited knowledge in wellness-based replenishments through certain drinks amongst the community.
Enter Cross’s devising of her nine herbal tea blends.
“When most people think of tea, they think of the basics: Green and black tea,” said Cross. “But I thought I really can make this system easy for people who have certain sicknesses or ailments that they’re going through to just be able to touch those parts in a quick way.”
A new tea mixture that has recently been under development, and Cross considers one of the best examples of drinks that can help address such aliments, is her Tulsi-Ginger Hibiscus mix. This drink mixture has yet to be included on the menu, and yet Cross’s latest experimentation of a tea drink still holds a special place in her heart. And of course, what good is there without a dash of Yerba Mate?
In an interestingly wholesome way, Rainbow Te remains distinct from the fast-paced environments within most coffee shops. Cross’s values for her products, and the tea house as a whole, aim to ensure that people’s health needs are met.
Wanna get a taste? The tea house is open every Wednesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.