EAST LONGMEADOW– A new shake and tea shop is now offering East Longmeadow residents a healthy and delicious drink options.

Elite Nutrition officially opened for business on Sept. 7. The shop, which is located at 130 Shaker Rd. next to the Pizza Shoppe, used to be part of the salon next to Elite Nutrition, but was transformed into the shake and tea bar.

Owner Crystal Jimenez knew she wanted to open her own shop, but didn’t expect it to happen so fast. Jimenez worked as a receptionist at an OBGYN office for nearly three years before she began working part time at Nutrition First in Agawam just a couple months ago.

Jimenez said it took her awhile to build up the courage to leave her receptionist job, but she found once she started working at Nutrition First she found herself really liking the job and the atmosphere.

“The environment, when I worked at Nutrition First, it was just like everybody’s so happy and excited and you just get to interact with a lot of people,” she said. “That’s kinda what drew me in. That’s why I was, like, that’s something I want to do.”

She told Reminder Publishing that she’d been working there for about a week when she told Michelle Fairman, the owner of Nutrition First, that she wanted to open her own shop. “I actually told Michelle, I was like ‘Yup, I’m going to open my own.’ I was like I’m giving myself to the end of the year, [I] didn’t know it was going to happen this quickly, [but] I’m glad it did.”

Once she decided she wanted to open her own shop, she began looking for a space to rent. Jimenez said despite a lot of people wanting her to open a shop in East Longmeadow, she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to find a space, so she arranged to sign a lease for a place in Springfield.

“It was funny because everyone kept saying ‘Oh you should open in East Longmeadow,’ and I was like, ‘Oh I’m not sure if I’m going to find a place there,’” she told Reminder Publishing. “So I was going to sign a lease in Springfield and I didn’t, I just didn’t have a good feeling. And then that same day someone called me about this place being open, and I walked in and was like ‘Oh my god, I love this place, I want this place.’”

The day of Elite Nutrition’s grand opening, Jimenez said they were open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and were “busy every single second of that day.” She said that people are “loving” the energizing teas they offer.

The energizing teas and shakes are offered in a variety of flavors like fruity pebbles, snickers, pineapple punch, strawberry cheesecake, watermelon sour patch, cool cucumber, caramel cheesecake, and more. While nearly all the drinks sound like dessert in a cup, the teas have no sugar, are low in calories, have very little carbs, are gluten free, and no fat. The shakes are under 250 calories, have nine grams of sugar, are low carb, low fat, have five grams of fiber and 24 grams of plant-based protein.

Jimenez said she’s excited to both be in her own shop and in East Longmeadow, and can’t wait for more people to try the drinks.

“We love it here, we can’t wait to get more people through the door and try our stuff. Really once everyone starts trying it it’s a whole different game,” she said.  “People are like ‘I’m not really into nutrition’ but I’m like it’s different, it’s like nutrition, but it’s really delicious.”

Jimenez said she’s excited to continue to meet new people as they come in for teas and shakes and to help everyone be healthy. “It’s just exciting because now I get to bring back to the community and have you know people get healthy,” she said. “The energizing teas people are loving and social media has been amazing, so what we’re just here for is just to really bring back to everybody and get everybody healthy.”

Elite Nutrition is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. They are currently closed on Sundays.