Hooker's Tea Company

I'm not sure how much I like the modern tea shop, with its thousands of teas on the wall, and coffee shop/cafe atmosphere, any better than I like the frou-frou tea places, all girly and full of doilies. Somehow there's got to be a middle ground. Something unique about a tea room would be nice.

Hooker's Tea Company, in St Petersburg is the coffee-shop/cafe type place, with its thousands of teas on the wall. I had the Kennilworth Ceylon tea, and it was pretty strong stuff! Funny, but Ceylon tea tastes like, well, Tea. Unlike the variations on tea that are tea, like Yunnan, or Assam. It is the reference point, I suppose, that I go from when I think about what tea tastes like. It's the standard variety of store-bought, bag tea, that comes 100 bags to a box for a dollar. Of course, anything like loose tea is going to be of a much better quality than the store stuff, but the taste will be the same, nevertheless.

Hooker's is a good place. It's modern, black decor, mostly. Situated next to a restaurant on one side, and a little shop of curios on the other side. It's good to be dark inside, because so many hot, bright days in Florida can be a burden. The darkness lets you rest, and focus on the tea. There are a few soft places to sit, and a few more that are straight backed chairs and tables.

The only food items are sweets, except for quiche, which sells out, it would seem. Otherwise there are scones, and muffins.