The Tea Scoop

The Secret Garden Tea Room

Last Friday, while visiting my sister in San Francisco, we visited the The Secret Garden Tea House, near Golden Gate Park with my two nieces. They reveled in the dress-up accessories that were available.

The girls (aged five and almost three) ordered the Princess Tea, which consisted of Ghiradelli hot chocolate, peanut butter and jelly tea sandwiches, teddy-bear shaped cinnamon toast, a pig in a blanket, a petit four, and a mini iced brownie. My sister order a lox plate, and I went for the full "Bedford" afternoon tea, which came with six different tea sandwiches, a little savory croissant, and several tea pastries including a delicious macaroon. And of course, there was the traditional scone with devon cream and preserves.

The food was great, and the girls had an absolutely lovely time, although they required a lot of supervision with all of the breakable bits that decorated the cute little shop. But unfortunately, the service was terrible. We were the only customers, and there was a single waitress. In her defense, she was quite young and probably the owner's daughter. But she was quite clueless and a little slow. When she brought out my tiered food display, she neglected to bring me plants for one.

Next time: What did we learn from the mysterious woman who came into the shop while we were there?

Sweet Life Cafe

The Sweet Life Cafe in Old Town Fairfax is at the corner of North Street and 123. This charming cafe is housed in the Moore House, which was built in 1840 and is perhaps home to a ghost of unknown origins who likes to play pranks on the staff.

Primarily a restaurant, Sweet Life Cafe also hosts afternoon tea with reservations. Or, if the owner Maureen is around, she'll make up a pot specially for you from one of the many blends from Tea For All Reasons. I tried a peach oolong, $3 for a small pot (all pots priced the same). The little pot holds enough tea for about medium sized teacups. The tea itself is good, although it tastes more like a black tea than an oolong, and the liquor is also dark for an oolong. The peach flavor is definitely there though. Honey, sugar, and milk are all available, although I drank it black. (If you're drinking a non-black tea straight up, are you still drinking it black?)

There are two tea rooms, the green room which boasts a fireplace and several square tables, and the yellow room, which is a warm sunny room with a china cabinet displaying many cups, pots, and saucers, and a large window which lets in plenty of light. In this room there is just one large table, great for small to medium sized groups.

Prices vary depending on the tea service, but selections include scones, delightful tea-sized chicken salad sandwiches, the traditional cucumber sandwich and fresh fruit.

Hillwood House

Recently, a friend and I decided to visit one of Washington D.C.'s many historic homes, Hillwood House. Our plan was to tour the house and gardens, and then take what looked to be promising afternoon tea at the on-site cafe. The gardens were lovely. The house was beautiful, but didn't quite live up to expectations. We were told that it would take up to three hours to tour both, and we were done in well under two hours. The atmosphere was somewhat disturbed by blue plastic chairs spread about and interrupting the view. But this review is really about the tea
Expectations were further built up by the fact that we were told we wouldn't be able to be seated until 3, due to the many groups that would be taking lunch or tea in the cafe. Afternoon tea wasn't served until 2:30 anyway, but we were starving by about 1:30 so we went to see if we could get a seat early at least to grab some soup or a little snack to tide us over. We were immediately seated outside. After far too long, a waiter came to take our drink orders (hot chocolate and water). The water came out, but we waited and waited on the hot chocolate until finally I ordered another. Then both came at once, one in a tall glass and one in a mug, so Jess took one and I took one. Our soup took even longer to come. My borscht was pleasant enough, but Jess's chicken noodle tasted like Campbell's soup out of a can. 2:30 came, and we ordered afternoon tea. When I was choosing my pot, I asked what kind of darjeeling they were serving, as I like some gardens but not others. I was informed that "Darjeeling is a black tea" in a very patient voice, and then I asked where it came from. I was informed "Ashby's." I'd never had Ashby's loose leaf, but since I'm kind of picky about my darjeeling, I decided that Earl Grey would be a safer bet. I've never met an Earl that I didn't like! Our tea came in very small pots that had tea stains down the spout, and Jess's leaked when she poured. I opened it up to check on the steeping, and found a teaball inside, with no chain or visible way to remove it. I wiped off my soup spoon after a time when the tea looked done, and had nowhere to put the teaball except on the table, as the tea had been brought without the accompanying food. Once our food was brought, our waiter disappeared and never came back to check on us. Finally the food plate came. It included: one small scone (about palm-sized) with orange marmalade, smoked salmon on a miniscule piece of toast, shrimp salad on water crackers, two cookies, and two tea-sized chicken salad sandwiches. The devon cream, which I usually think of as for scones or crumpets, was next to the salmon. None of the foods were grouped in any logial order. The shrimp and chicken salads were extremely mediocre, and the two cookies resembled something from those plastic boxes from a grocery store bakery. Jessica's scone was a lumpy mess, although mine was probably the best part of the tea.
The tea itself was awful. It had very little flavor, and hardly any bergamot taste to it at all. Jessica's teaball did have a chain on it, that was dropped into the pot, and her tea was extremely bitter although she didn't leave the teaball in very long.
All in all, we were very underwhelmed. The service was terrible, we were completely neglected, and nothing was timely. And there is never any excuse for a dirty teapot. The tea part of the meal was $15, the hot chocolate was $1.95 and the soup (cup size) was $4.95. The hot chocolate was probably the only part worth the money. I would not go back or recommend it to anyone else. Lake Anne Coffeehouse may not have the same upper-crust atmosphere but the food and tea are both better.

The British Pantry

I'd like to share a review of a lovely little placed called "The British Pantry," located in Aldie, Virginia.

A few weeks ago, on a trip down to Middleburg, a quaint little Virginia town, we stopped for lunch in another quaint little Virginia town (there are many), at The British Pantry. This little boxy structure houses a little shop of British imports and a tiny cafe. As soon as we entered, we started oohing and ahhing over the adorable merchandise. There were lacy aprons, teapots, demitasse spoons and all sorts of other British paraphernalia. Motivated by hunger, we took a spot on the patio before continuing our examination.

The first order of business was to order a pot of PG Tips, which is the ubiquitous brand of English tea. There was the option of having it bagged or loose leaf (we of course chose loose leaf). Customers can also choose decaffeinated PG or Earl Grey. It was brought to us in a pot with an adorable cozy, and each of us received a unique cup and saucer with demitasse spoons. I poured out with the little strainer provided, and we opted to drink it the English style, with milk and sugar (although I usually drink my tea black).

The food was delicious as well. We each had variations of lox, bread, and crisps (chips for Americans) which were delicious. I believe the cook herself was English, as was most of the staff.

This particular time we opted out of dessert, but they had a dessert menu, and of course, afternoon tea. These options will have to be investigated at a later date.

Then it was into the little shop again, that sold frozen bridies and bangers, treacle tarts, McVity's Digestive Biscuits, a variety of imported candies, and assorted other imports as well. If I ever have a British themed tea party, I'll certainly know where to pick up supplies.

Tea, Lace, and Roses

Tea, Lace, and Roses
I recently went with two friends to the Victorian teahouse called Tea, Lace, and Roses, located in the historic district of Culpeper, Virginia. It was about an hour and fifteen minute drive from Reston, located in Fairfax County.

When we arrived, there were ladies dressed in Victorian garb who apparently sew all their clothes and meet for a monthly luncheon there. Our table was already set for us, three settings with a bread plate, silver, and three different tea-cup and saucer sets, in the Lilac room, which of course, had lilac colored walls. There were three small rooms in total, as well as a tiny gift shop that overflows into the upstairs rooms of the square building.

On the table was a "sniffing station," which were racks of small jars with a few teaspoonfuls of tea leaves in each one, so that customers can smell the teas before they choose one. The selection was extremely wide, with everything from the traditional Earl Greys and Darjeelings, to exotic blends called "Once Upon a Tea" and "Wedding Tea." I decided on the "Rose Petal" which was a traditional Rose Congo, a black tea scented with rose petals and a very nice floral flavor over Chinese black tea. Lauren chose "Cheeky Peach," a peach flavored black tea, and Jessica went with the Darjeeling. Our tea quickly arrived, and we each had our own extremely generous sized pot, which held probably about six cups of tea. The tea had already been steeped and filtered, and the waitress poured out for our first cup, and then we were allowed to serve ourselves after that. My favorite touch on the teapots was the little paper drip catcher on the spout. We were all satisfied with our teas, and I found the Rose Petal to be steeped to perfection, not requiring the slightest bit of sweetening, although we were offered a choice of cubed sugar or artificial sweeteners.

There are many levels available in terms of food accompaniments, from a salad tea of crudites and fruits, to the full English tea, which had four courses. The waitress recommended the English tea for first-time visitors, and we took the suggestion.

The first course was a scone course. The offerings change from day to day, and the scone of the day was a cherry scone with cherry curd on the side, as well as an in-house clotted cream. The scone was hot from the oven, and just soft enough, and the curd (available in the gift shop) was the proverbial icing on the cake, especially with the clotted cream. It was absolute perfection.

After we had finished with our scones, a three-tiered tower was brought out to us. On the bottom plate was the finger sandwich course. It included a chicken salad sandwich on a half-croissant, an open face cucumber sandwich with dill-wasabi spread, and a mini filo dough pastry shell filled with strawberry ham salad. The chicken salad was absolutely delicious, but my favorite was the cucumber sandwich. The wasabi was very light, and did not make it spicy at all, simply lending it a little je ne sais quoi. It was a very nice twist on the traditional tea fare, as was the strawberry ham salad. I would not have thought to put the two ingredients together, but the berries gave it just the right amount of sweetness.

The second tier held the savories. The first was a slice of cucumber with dill hummus and sweet peppers on top, which was divine, and a filo dough pastry filled with hot spinach and melted cheese, which was the hands down favorite of the savories and sandwiches. The third item was a cheese and sausage ball, which while good was not nearly as impressive as the rest of the food, being slightly dry and bland in comparison.

The third tier was the dessert course, with a white chocolate cake, a nut bread made from a house recipe called "Neiman Marcus Cake" and a Russian chocolate swirl cake, all of which lived up to the rest of the meal.

The service was delightful, the other patrons friendly, and a unique atmosphere. Perhaps what made it quite unique was the dress-up room, which contained boas, hats, gloves, and long pearl necklaces for customers to dress up. It appeared that almost all customers, from child to adult, took advantage of this. We certainly did!

And we enjoyed the experience so much that we plan to go back at a future date.

A few other bits of information: Rooms can be rented, and with at least 72 hours notice, a Royal Tea can be given, which includes champagne, caviar, salmon, and other options not usually available. I would recommend reservations, as it is quite a busy little shop, and it becomes more so towards spring, according to the staff.