Pink paint announces that ‘queer hipster oasis’ cafe is preparing to open

  • Emmett Soldati, owner of Teatotaller, in front of what will be the company’s cafe on Main Street in Concord. Courtesy of Teatotaller

Monitor staff
Published: 4/15/2022 2:32:14 PM

There’s no sign on the storefront yet but one isn’t really needed to spot the soon-to-be newest eatery on Main Street in Concord. 

Teatotaller, a Somersworth cafe that describes itself as “an oasis of queer, hipster, tea, coffee, and pastry goodness,” is preparing to open its downtown Concord branch within a month or so following a long pandemic delay. It is hiring for all positions in the cafe and bakery, which the website promises will be “fun, friendly, and fabulous” mixing bubble teas and other specialties with “drag shows to die for.”

In preparation, this week it turned the storefront a shocking pink.

“We’re going to be even more bold – higher saturation – in Concord,” said owner Emmett Soldati. “We have two local muralists to design the interior … and are having custom furniture made.”

The store is in Concord’s central business performance district, which has a review process where an architectural design committee reviews proposed alterations. Despite the eye-opening change that Teatotaller made, because it involved just paint and didn’t need a building permit, no city approval was needed.

The LGBTQ-friendly cafe has been in Somersworth since 2016. The company was preparing to open a second cafe on Warren Street in spring of 2019 before COVID-19 got in the way. Since then, the Edible Arrangements at 2 Capital Plaza has closed, providing an opening to get onto Main Street.

The new space will have sit-down and counter service and takeout, including outdoor seating, Soldati said. It will feature roughly the same menu as the Somersworth store.

The city has approved the cafe’s sign, which will be going up soon. The actual opening date has not been set but late May or June appears likely, Soldati said.

Soldati ran for the Democratic nomination of the District 2 seat on the Executive Council in 2020. His father, Lincoln Soldati, was once mayor of Somersworth.


David Brooks bio photo

David Brooks is a reporter and the writer of the sci/tech column Granite Geek and blog granitegeek.org, as well as moderator of Science Cafe Concord events. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in mathematics he became a newspaperman, working in Virginia and Tennessee before spending 28 years at the Nashua Telegraph . He joined the Monitor in 2015.

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