Signage for a new coffee and tea shop has gone up at a storefront near Reston Town Center that was once slated for a completely different business. Brewing Alley Craft Coffee & Tea Lattes now holds an active Fairfax County food-establishment permit for the ground-floor space at 1864 Explorer St., Suite C101, inside the Midtown at Reston Town Center condominium building, and it's already posting job listings for the location.
The storefront sits at the corner of Market Street and Explorer Street, right next to Reston Town Center, according to The Burn. As the outlet notes, more than a year ago it and other media reported that this same space was headed to a national bubble tea chain called Yi Fang Taiwan Fruit Tea, a plan that was based on information from the landlord and paperwork filed with Fairfax County at the time. Brewing Alley now appears to be the one actually moving into the space.
What the Permit and Job Listings Reveal
According to Greater Reston Living, Brewing Alley's county application lists 33 seats and projects between 101 and 400 customers a day. The same filing lays out proposed hours of 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, stretching to 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
The shop posted two job openings in early October: a barista role paying $16 to $19 an hour plus tips, and a full-time assistant store manager position paying between $52,000 and $58,000 a year. The listings describe Brewing Alley as a “growing coffee and tea shop” that will serve espresso drinks, coffee, tea and specialty beverages, the Reston outlet reports.
An Unresolved Connection to Yi Fang
The clearest open question hanging over the new storefront is its relationship, if any, to Yi Fang. Brewing Alley's Indeed listings appear under an employer profile named Yi Fang MD, but the report notes that neither those listings nor the county records explain how Brewing Alley actually relates to Yifang Fruit Tea. A 2025 building permit for a smaller portion of the same storefront had described the work as a new tenant layout specifically for Yifang Fruit Tea, adding another layer to the puzzle without resolving it.
The Burn's earlier reporting from February 2025 had detailed Yi Fang's plans in some depth: the chain reportedly intended to lease an 1,100-square-foot space at the Midtown retail center, at the other end of the same block as Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and right next door to Ice Cream Jubilee. That planned menu included bubble teas, fruit teas, tea lattes, other cold beverages and seasonal hot teas, and the chain was said to already operate at least two other DMV locations, one in Fairfax and one in Rockville, according to online listings cited at the time.
No Word Yet on When Doors Will Open
Despite the active permit and active hiring push, Brewing Alley has not announced an opening date, per the same Reston outlet's reporting. The new shop would join a wave of recent food and beverage activity around Reston Town Center and the newer RTC Next blocks, where outlets have tracked a mix of openings and pending debuts this fall.
