Tea Rooms

I went to 2 different tea rooms over the last two weeks.

The first was "Angel Tea Room & Heavenly Treasures Gift Shop." I discovered in downtown Dade City one night a couple of weeks before Christmas. The downtown area was doing "A Christmas Stroll", and all the different antique shops were open, and music, and all sorts of activities were going on. Well, the tearoom was open, so I had to go in. There's lots of breakables in there, and I had my 3 year old son in there with me, so it was a brief visit, with me looking after him more than me checking the place out. So I vowed to go back.

I went back about 10 days later, with a friend of mine, and took some pictures. They said they have an assortment of teas, which I'm sure they do, but the lady that waited on us clearly had a strong idea of which teas we should have, and that interfered with the experience, I think, because I was very strongly steered in a direction I wasn't prepared to go. So I ended up w/ a green tea infusion, mixed with what I thought was peach, though my companion said it tasted like something else, but the flavor was so subtle I could hardly tell. I wanted to try a black tea, but that didn't happen, obviously.

We also got a scones, with the "Berkshire Cream" and Strawberry Jelly. The cream and jelly were in separate little sections on the plate. The presentation was beautiful! The scones were great, very flaky and flavorful, if a bit dry. The Berkshire Cream almost has the consistency of sweet whipped butter. But butter is churned cream, after all. The price was reasonable, and I wish I hadn't had such a big lunch before I got there! I took the scone home with me, and I ate it later.

The shop itself is quite beautiful, full of dainty things, and some teaware. I mentioned before that I purchased a teapot from this place when I was at the "Christmas Stroll" thing. They had some other "gadgety" type things, like a metal insert you put into the teapot spout to prevent dripping, or a few strainers for tea leaves. I also purchased a "tea measuring" thing...I'm sure it has a better name than that, though I haven't used it yet.

They have books on a carousel. The books are mostly about women, and sharing tea, and all the finery that goes with it. My standard joke has become "I'll open a tea room of my own with ducks, and guns, and bird-dogs" because this tea room is so girly and frilly, and beautiful. I had spoken with the owner about people coming in, and single men do apparently go there. This is quite unlike the experience I had at the other tea room I went to.

So 3.5 stars out of 4, with points docked because of the high pressure sales "suggestions" I got from the waitress. Also, too bad they don't have a website!

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"The Tea Cup Tea Room, Gifts & Events, Inc." is the other tea room I went to. This is a converted house situated off a busy roadway, yet is still hidden. My friend that I met there said she drives by there all the time and has never seen it! I can see why, since when I drove up to it for the first time, I had trouble finding it myself.

I drive up and the front entrance has a sign telling customers to go around to the back, and the front area didn't have any more parking anyway, so that was easy. Friend, who showed up a few minutes later, had to walk around the place to come in the back entrance. Now, the back entrance is the preferred side anyway, since it has a nice patio with a few tables for the outside taking of tea. It might have been more Victorian, though, if there'd been croquet out there, too. Ok, I'm kidding about that last part. It was really nice, though.

Because I went the day after Christmas, it was really busy! There were people waiting for a table in the main entrance/shop area, sitting on red velvet couches (which were comfortable), which was set up like a small living room. They really had the place decked out for Christmas, though, with all kinds of decorations, tea related things, and all kinds of curios and such. There was a table with everything 50% off, and they had some teapots for sale, that were only for looking, and not actually for making tea! I, of course, think this is a travesty, since teapots are typically beautiful with their designs and such...and they're functional, not just decorative.

I also came at the end of the rush, so I waited almost 20 minutes for a table, which allowed me some time to really browse the place. I'm always fascinated with the fact that different tea rooms have different kinds of hardware to make tea with. This place had some nice silver tea strainers that fit on the top of your cup, though I wonder how functional that is. And they had the traditional variety of screen-type strainers, but they were shallow like the silver ones. Maybe it's just for catching the leaves that the teapot strainers don't catch.

So we finally get seated, and the owner (I guess?) tells us that the waiter will be there to help us in a minute. So we wait and wait, and I'm glad I had good company, because we waited a while. And I'm looking around realizing that I'm the only male in the place, save the single waiter. I had noticed this before, but wow. I really am! There were other wait staff, too, of course. Meanwhile, I finally go ask the guy if he can wait on us, and he's like, "OH! My mom didn't tell me..." But it still takes forever for him to get to our table, and get our order, and then bring it to us.

We both ordered an artichoke chicken cream soup, and it was HOT! I almost burned my tongue! It was getting toward the end of the lunch rush, and the soup had begun to separate, but wasn't quite there yet. In spite of this, the soup was great! They served it in fine tea cups, which is a bit of a puzzle, but it worked well enough. I also ordered a turkey-bacon club, which was really good, too. I was very hungry, and that's the heartiest thing they had on the menu. My companion didn't have anything more than the soup.

The tea I had was a black tea, with cranberry in it. My friend had a much lighter tea, that the owner specifically said she didn't like, that it could steep all day, and that it would never get any stronger. And almost to the point of "Don't order it." Of course, she did, and it was pretty good. I don't know what was wrong with it. I should have noted which tea it was, just like the one that I had. They do have a website, but it doesn't have a menu on it. The teas were good; the service, on the day after Christmas, was poor, but understandable; the food was great, the atmosphere was elegant; overall it was enjoyable. I will definitely go back there. 3.5 stars out of 4.