specialTEA Lounge

I hadn't been to a tea house in Miami for ages, and conveniently my friend JJ kept reminding me of one right near his house. Yesterday we finally decided to go to specialTEA!

It is important to note that specialTEA is a self-proclaimed tea "lounge" rather than a tea house. The best way to describe it is as a coffee shop, but with tea instead of coffee. However, they had plenty of coffee drinks and smoothie options for non-tea drinkers.

Their tea storage was an interesting one. They kept the tea in labelled paint cans on the wall. My question is, how well did they clean out those paint cans?!



Sorry for the blurriness. If you look closely (the first two rows are just the name of the tea lounge), but the first row of the actual teas - the third one is missing. They took it down to get out the leaves to brew my Darjeeling tea!

Chado Tea Room

Because one tea service in 48 hours clearly isn't enough, Shaunna and I hit up another tea room per the recommendation, and accompanied by, another friend of ours, Charleen. We went to Chado Tea Room in Pasadena, CA.

Being that I am trying my best to review tea rooms, by default I had to get the tea service! This included a pot of tea, four tea sandwiches, a scone (with jam and clotted cream), and desserts.



My sandwiches consisted of:

• punjab (a sort of tea-infused egg sandwich, which was quite delicious)
• smoked salmon (simple and tasty)
• souchong chicken sandwich (chicken with jam spread - it tasted like Thanksgiving! ... but again, I'm not a huge savour + sweet fan so this sandwich wasn't exactly for me)
• mediterranean (goat cheese, greens, and nomaliciousness!)

My friends got the tomato soup. I knew I was already going to be exploding from the amount of food and tea served, so I didn't bother with soup or any sort of appetizer. However, by their silence and glazed over eyes, I think the soup was pretty epic.



This is the first scone I've had in a tea room that didn't come with lemon curd. The cream was so delicious with the jam - the fruit was a great touch! The scone was moist, dense, and really good.

The desserts were good - a cookie sandwich of a hazelnut/chocolate spread and a chocolate cake filled with a sort of custard - but I was much too full by this point to even pretend I could eat them.

We enjoyed our waiter. He was nice and helpful when Charleen wasn't sure exactly what sort of tea she wanted. He was also patient with us as we exchanged some sandwiches with others, ordered appetizers and the like. And yes, I know it's his job to do all this - but to do so graciously and in a friendly manner is just all the better!

I was mildly concerned this tea room would be too contemporary or asian for my tastes. I definitely prefer more classic teas, and tea rooms. However, the quaintness mixed with the restaurant-style seating mixed with the tea bar and massive (almost overwhelming) selection of teas actually came together for a really great atmosphere. I would definitely come back here again.

PS. Thank you Charleen for picking up this tea tab! Next one is on me.

Two A Tea

Shaunna and I went for tea today at Two A Tea in Glendora, CA. We both ordered the "Grand Duchess Tea" which included a pot of tea, a scone, soup or salad, and five tea sandwiches. I definitely left feeling extremely full and satisfied.

The scone was very moist and light. It was supposedly a mango scone, though it did not taste significantly as such (which I didn't mind - I was worried it wouldn't go well with the lemon curd, jam, or cream). My only complaint about the scone was the sugar baked on top of it. Far too sweet for my taste! The lemon curd was ridiculously sugary as well. The flavor wasn't bad, but... it was too sweet! The cream was good, and the jam was delicious.

Next came the bruschetta, which wasn't the normal sort of salad with large slices of tomato and slices of mozzarella. Instead, it was cherry tomatoes and shredded mozzarella over greens. The dressing was a balsamic vinagarette. The salad was good, but definitely overdone with the greens. But... it's a salad, so I can't really complain about that!



Lastly came out a two tiered tray with sandwiches! There were a total of ten sandwiches (five different flavors):

• turkey sandwich with some sort of fig dressing (I did not try this one)
• an egg salad sandwich (delicious!)
• a cucumber sandwich (SO good. It wasn't a cucumber salad, but rather a sort of dill or chive dressing on cucumber slices)
• roasted vegetable sandwich (tasted a lot like a red pepper hummus with veggies)
• chicken salad with fruit (as much as I hate to say it... it was terrible. All the flavors in it were good, just not together.)

And, last but certainly not least, the tea! I ordered Darjeeling (it was awesome!) and Shaunna got English Breakfast (I'm assuming it was good... she drank it without complaint.) I had my tea with two lumps and a splash of milk.

As a side note, I joined Steepster and realized they were holding a tea exchange! I joined, and got notified of my secret tea recipient. They marked that they particularly favored darjeeling and chai teas, so I got them darjeeling and chai!



Considering the darjeeling was as good as it was, I felt confident buying both the darjeeling leaves and chai leaves.

Elise's Tea Room

On Jan 7th 2011, Shaunna and I took an adventure to Long Beach, CA where she had found a cute tea room for us to try out. All things considered, neither one of us are overwhelmingly picky - we're both food-loving, tea-loving people, so as long as everything tastes good and is served fresh, it's very difficult to go wrong. Elise's Tea Room definitely didn't let us down!

Their menu was a good size. It wasn't overwhelmingly large, which gave me a good feeling that anything we ordered ought to be good. The variety came in the different combinations of lunches or teas we could order. Being that we were visiting for lunch, we both opted for the Luncheon Delight Tea at a reasonable $10.50, which included a pot of tea, three tea sandwiches, and a scone with assorted jams.

I got a small pot of the black currant tea. I was slightly concerned the tea would be too light, but the size of the pot and strength of the leaves was just perfect for the flavor. One lump of sugar and a splash of cream made it just right! (Not to mention that the china in which it was served was adorable.)

The scone was fresh, warm, and absolutely delicious. I could have easily had a lunch of a platter of scones. It was served with a small plate of three toppings - a berry jam (my favorite!), Devonshire cream (also delicious), and a lemon curd (tasty, but too strong for the scone. It tasted much like the filling of a lemon bar.)

After the scone was sadly gone, out came our sandwiches! There were choices of the types of tea sandwiches. I opted for cucumber, black olive, and egg salad. The cucumber was just as I had hoped - light and crisp! The black olive was my least favorite of the three. The flavor was great, but it seemed the sandwich was less "filled" than the olives seemed only to be on the outside of the bread. Last but not least, the egg salad sandwich was simple and good - which can really describe the entire tea room.

Some tea rooms I've visited have been a bit intimidating or overwhelming, either in that the employees seem condescending, the menu is presumptuous, or the environment is bare. Elise's is warm and inviting; I felt at ease for the entire tea service.

In addition to the wonderful food and tea, I also found the tea set I have been searching for at an unbeatable price! But that I will save for another post.

Fondly, Aimée

P.S. As I was just so kindly reminded by my partner in crime, our tea excursion would not have been nearly as entertaining or awesome if it weren't for the old women sitting adjacent to us. They themselves were not particularly notable, but their conversation involving a big (not fat! - this is important) orange cat nicknamed "Lady Marmalade" definitely left us dying of silent laughter for a good portion of our tea service.