Brìgh Music & Tea

From time to time, a new business opens in our neighbourhood that appears to make no sense. Often this lack of sensibility portends failure; the fishing tackle shop around the corner has closed, and one imagines that the kite/knitting shop that took its place cannot be too far behind.

I think Brìgh Music & Tea, however, is an exception.

While, on first blush, the notion of a shop selling tea and musical instruments appears to make no sense, once you walk in the door, meet the genial owners Mary and Cian, and realize there is method to the mad combination of music and tea, confidence in the enterprise’s future begins to emerge.

I’m enough of a musician to walk in the door of a music store, but, more often than not, I immediately feel like an interloper, and make haste lest I be asked whether I prefer dominant 7ths or minor 6ths. I would never, ever think of actually picking up an instrument.

At Brìgh, though, I have an alibi: I’m drinking tea, eating Katlin Doyle’s excellent chocolate, and listening to the impromptu jam sessions that appear to be a regular occurrence. I have a reason to be there.

And so, while I didn’t quite have what it took to pick up the lovely banjo hanging on the wall–someday–we did feel comfortable experimenting with the shakers, carimbas, drums, kazoos, and other musical curiosities that adorn the walls.

The tea–a lovely peppermint–was excellent, as was Katlin’s new Scottish Pureh tea-infused chocolate bar, shared with Oliver. And the musical accompaniment from the pipes and the fiddle as we sat on the stoop on a sunny Saturday was appreciated.

Cian and Mary seem, as near as I can tell, to be among the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Put all that together and perhaps Brìgh make more sense than first appears. I hope they’re a fixture on Water Street for the long haul.