Tamika Catchings takes over Indianapolis tea cafe

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Former Indiana Fever star Tamika Catchings will hold an open house at her new tea shop Saturday.

She bought Tea’s Me Cafe Indy in February. Catchings described the tea shop at 22nd Street and Delaware Street just north of downtown as her safe haven during her time as a WNBA star.

“For me it was like an escape from basketball. You go in there, the atmosphere is just so relaxing, it’s just a quaint little place, hole-in-the-wall, but I just felt at home,” she said.

It was at home at a young age when she first started drinking tea.

“My family is avid tea drinkers, I just remember even from a little girl, my sister and I had tea parties,” Catchings said.

So after someone recommended Tea’s Me Cafe to her, she was hooked. And when she heard it would be closing, she did everything she could to find someone to take it over.

“Two weeks straight, I dreamed about this place and finally I asked my husband, ‘You think I could do it?’ He said ‘Yeah, anything you do, you do good.’”

Since purchasing the cafe in February, she’s expanded the hours and plans to add more staff.

“I really want to tie it in to my Catch the Stars Foundation. So one of the goals for me is to start hiring juniors and seniors in high school and giving them an opportunity in a smaller space,” she said.

But she does not plan on adding any Fever memorabilia.

“People are like ‘Are you going to put basketball stuff in there?’ And I’m like ‘No!’ I am not putting basketball stuff in there. I like the way that it is,” Catchings said.

It’s a place she hopes people keep coming back to.

“When new people come in and they’re like We’ll definitely be back’ and it’s like ‘Yes’!”