Customers pick out soap to buy in Shepherds Blessings on Saturday. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — This weekend, Shepherds Blessings will be bringing bubble tea back to town.

The three-year-old shop, located at 121 West German Street, recently moved from its original location in the back of the same building to the front space in the building, which was vacated in February by Honor D Fine Shoes & Hats. In its new location, Shepherds Blessings has the room to expand its product line, according to Betty Shepherd, who owns the business with her husband, Steve.

“We completed our move into this space on May 1,” Betty said, mentioning it took five days to make the move. “We were particularly blessed, as all of the furniture we had used in our previous space worked here.”

In its new space, Shepherds Blessings will continue to sell its array of locally made items: natural bath and body products, paintings, crocheted stuffed animals, note cards, jewelry, single-origin organic coffee and organic tea. It will now be adding on some long-asked-for customer requests, such as storing a commercial coffee grinder on-site, so the coffee beans can be ground to-order. Other additions to what the shop will offer, include: drip coffee, pour-over coffee, hot tea served all of the trimmings, vegan milk tea and bubble tea with boba pearls.

“When we were thinking about moving into this space, we measured it and realized that it was a good deal larger than our original space. We decided to use that extra space to sell drinks and, hopefully, some baked goods, too,” Betty said on Saturday. “We should all be set up to go next weekend.”

Shepherds Blessings co-owner Betty Shepherd, left, checks out Lisa Hackett, of Parkville, Md., on Saturday. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

According to Betty, the flavors of syrup for the bubble tea will initially be limited to strawberry and lemon. A wider variety of boba pearl flavors, however, will be available, so drinks can be customized a little bit more.

“We are determined to do everything as naturally as possible,” Betty said. “I’m also trying to find things that are cost effective. Natural, wholesale companies are not as easy to find as the not-so-natural places. But we will do it, eventually — we have with everything else.

“With the syrup we’ve found for the bubble tea, it’s made with seaweed and contains no dyes or high fructose corn syrup or anything like that. And the boba is tapioca-derived — there’s no dyes in there, either,” Betty said, mentioning she was sourcing the products from Taiwan. “For the most part, you can get just about everything natural that you need to make boba and bubble tea.”

She noted that the decision to add the bubble tea to their product lineup was prompted by the permanent closure of The Green Pineapple, which had brought bubble tea to Shepherdstown and was the only business to carry it in the area. The drink was particularly popular with high school and college students, making it the ideal addition to the drinks menu Shepherds Blessings was creating, which appealed to a more mature palate.

“I was a waitress for 10 years, so I know how to manage this new side to the business,” Betty said.

Seating will be available in the back garden of Shepherds Blessings, so customers can enjoy their drinks and baked goods on-site. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

Seating areas will be set up inside of the shop, in its back garden and in front of the shop, so customers will be able to enjoy their treats on-site.