Indy Chicken Soup: " Tea’s Me Cafe", Tamika Catchings’ tea shop here in Indy

Thursday

Origins & How It Began

Tea’s Me Cafe is a loose-leaf tea bar and café in Indianapolis, offering tea, tisane, and café fare.
Tamika Catchings, WNBA star (Indiana Fever), had been a regular customer of the original Tea’s Me Cafe when it was independently owned.
Around 2016 the original owners planned to sell or close the café. Catchings decided to buy it. She officially acquired Tea’s Me in February 2017.

Under Catchings’ ownership, Tea’s Me has expanded from the original location (near North

Side/22nd Street) to additional sites:
1. Butler-Tarkington Park (North Illinois St.) opened in 2021.
2. Ivy Tech Community College location on North Capitol Avenue (opened ~2023) to serve campus community.
Beyond brick-and-mortar, Catchings has also moved Tea’s Me into retail: bottled teas.
- These “Starting Five” bottled tea flavors include Pomegranate Blueberry, Keywine (herbal), Summer Blush and Tropical Cyclone (green teas), and Kenya (black tea).
- The bottled teas are lightly sweetened with agave, ~50 calories per bottle.
- They are sold in several Meijer stores around the Indianapolis area (Carmel, Westfield, Noblesville, Zionsville, Indianapolis 96th Street) and in other grocers as well.

Tea’s Me isn’t just a café; community is central to its purpose. Catchings uses it as a space for conversation, connection, and youth empowerment.
The café hosts events: art displays (local youth and adults), open-mics, “Community Conversations” around social issues, etc.
Employment & mentoring: Many café staff are young people (high school / college) who may be getting their first work experience. Working there is part of building work skills, confidence, professionalism.
Connection with Tamika’s nonprofit: The Catch the Stars Foundation, which she founded with her sister Tauja, supports youth through fitness, literacy, mentoring. Some proceeds from tea sales (especially bottled tea) feed back into that foundation’s programs.

The campus location (Ivy Tech) is helping to reach students, providing a welcoming space for them.
Bottled tea distribution continues expanding. Retail presence gives Tea’s Me more visibility and revenue channels.
As of mid-2025, Tea’s Me remains active in community programming. The cafés are seen as a place where people can gather, including neighborhoods like Butler-Tarkington.

Tea’s Me serves as a model of how an athlete (Catchings) can translate her leadership off the court into business and community impact.
It provides a culturally rich space in Indy: more than just a café, but a place where local artists, youth, and neighbors can interact.
It creates job opportunities for local youth, building skills.
Through its charitable tie-ins (Catch the Stars), purchasing Tea’s Me products supports youth literacy, mentoring, fitness.

Tea’s Me has several locations around Indianapolis.

Location	Address	Key Hours	Phone
Tea’s Me Indy ‒ 22nd Street (original)	140 E 22nd St B, Indianapolis, IN 46202	Mon-Sat 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM	(317) 920-1016
Tea’s Me Community Cafe (Tarkington Park)	3967 N. Illinois Street, Indianapolis, IN 46208	Mon-Sat 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM	(317) 518-7536
Tea’s Me IU Indianapolis (Campus Center @ IUPUI)	420 University Blvd, Indianapolis, IN 46202	Mon-Fri 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM; Closed Saturdays	(317) 432-0022