The Spice & Tea Exchange opens in Patchogue

You want flavor? The Spice & Tea Exchange has flavor. The new Patchogue business, part of a national franchise, stocks hundreds of spice mixtures and tea blends, as you might expect, but also flavored salts and sugars and even sugar-free monk fruit sweeteners. Another surprise: While most of the raw materials are provided by the Florida-based company, the mixtures are blended right there in the store so customers can watch.

"The goal is for our customers to have an experience," said co-owner Dorine McGloine. "We want people to know what’s in the blends, and we want them to understand what the ingredients are for."

Dorine and her husband Bill McGloine wandered into a Tea & Spice Exchange in Newport, Rhode Island in 2022 and had a vision for their retail future. Bill was retiring from a career as a musical instrument executive; Dorine, a registered nurse with a master's degree in nutrition, was passionate about cooking and the healing power of food. Last year they took over the Spice & Tea Exchange that opened in Port Jefferson in 2018 and, on April 18, they opened the doors at the corner of West Main Street and Railroad Avenue in Patchogue.

The pocket-size shop could be overwhelming if not for the sensible layout: Customers are greeted by a display of straight (unblended) seasonings such as cumin, anise, cardamom or coriander seeds; true Ceylon cinnamon, chamomile and lavender; exotica such as star anise, saffron and Sichuan peppercorns.

Teas are along one wall and range from pure black, green, oolong (midway between black and green) and pu-erh (fermented) leaves to blends both classic — Lady Grey, a more fragrant alternative to her spouse, the earl, contains black tea, orange and lemon peel, cornflower, lavender and vanilla, bergamot and crème flavor — and creative: Crème brûlée features green tea, apple, cinnamon, rose hip, cocoa nibs, cornflower and crème brûlée flavor. Next to the proper teas (made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis bush) are herbal infusions such as Banana Nut Muffin, Bourbon Chestnut and the relaxing Calming Nights (catnip, peppermint, chamomile flower, lavender flower).

Why just put plain sugar in such a tea when you could choose salted caramel sugar, wild blueberry sugar, bourbon-black walnut sugar or one of eight sugar-free monk fruit sweeteners such as classic, cinnamon-vanilla or pumpkin spice.

Opposite the teas and sugars are the spice blends, from Adobo to Zesty Lemon Garlic Pesto Seasoning. Bestselling blends include Tuscany (garlic, tomato, onion, olive oil, rosemary, basil, green and red peppers, parsley, coriander, cumin, oregano and thyme, among other ingredients) and Cinnabar Smoke (sugar, onion powder, salt, garlic, chipotle smoked black pepper, Worcestershire powder, paprika, cinnamon, marjoram, parsley).

Freestanding shelving units display about 30 salts: fleur de sel, pink Himalayan, Hawaiian red, black mesquite-smoked, bacon-smoked, truffled, honey-truffled and both chocolate and vanilla which, Dorine said, are great to sprinkle on brownies before baking. Ghost pepper sea salt or, less incendiary, chili lime sea salt, noted Bill, are great for rimming margarita glasses. Where there’s salt, there’s pepper, from whole Malabar peppercorns to whole chili peppers and chili-derived spices such as Hungarian and Spanish paprika or Syrian Aleppo pepper.

Virtually everything is displayed in wide-mouth jars so you can sniff as well as look, and most premeasured packages start at one ounce. If there’s a tea you think you might fancy, someone will brew you a sample, either hot or cold.

There is also a small selection of olive oils, maple syrups and honeys (including LI’s own Spy Coast from Setauket), tea and spice accessories and gift bags.

90 W Main St, Patchogue, 631-730-5232, spiceandtea.com. Open every day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.