My husband and I bought a Groupon for this place, and we recently went to use it. The Groupon was for afternoon tea for two, which includes two pots of tea EACH (four pots total!) and scones and cookies. It also included a trial-size bag of tea for each guest, which I thought was a nice touch. They clearly want the tea to be the allure that keeps people coming back, so good on them for that. The general atmosphere was a bit stark and not really what I’d call “cozy.” The chairs were quite comfortable, but the tables weren’t well designed, and they had no high chairs for my two year old. Lucky she’s been sitting in a regular size chair for a while. It was a bit hard to keep her contained, though. Anyway, we did end up ordering a little food to go with our tea. The food came out very well-prepared, if not terribly quickly (the whole place seemed a little understaffed, considering its size and the number of tables there were). My soup was delicious! And the tea! There was a good-sized selection, over 100 teas to pick from, some organic, some herbals, some straight tea, some flavored, and even a couple pu-erhs. Also, their gluten free menu was another mark in their favor (while neither I nor anyone in my family is gluten-intolerant, it’s good to know that the option is there for those who are). The owner even stopped by to ask how we were getting on and comment on the teas we’d chosen. The understaffing issue and the lack of high chairs were really the only marks against them. Great experience otherwise.
The hubby and I had been hunting for places to go eat on our anniversary for a few days before I remembered we’d been wanting to try this place. It ended up being lunch. We called and made a reservation with no trouble. Their menu, while quite short, looked promising, and their price for high tea was VERY reasonable.
We were the only ones there when we arrived for our reservation, which wasn’t too alarming, since they’d only just started their food service 30 minutes before, and it was still a bit early in the day for any sort of lunch rush. The place is a retail location in a strip mall, but they’ve divided it, sort of, into shop area and dining area. The decor was quaint and familiar, lots of china and English things everywhere. Their tea wall is easily accessible for browsing and sniffing, which we appreciated, but they didn’t have a list of what teas they carry to refer back to, which was a bit disappointing. Our high tea was quite enjoyable, with soup and sandwiches and petit fours, and of course, tea and scones. The sandwiches were just delicious. We found out later that the soups came from a mix, which made me a little sad, but they tasted all right. They carry teas from The Metropolitan Tea Company, which made us very happy because now we have a place we can go to get those teas without paying shipping!
I really like going to Highland Coffees whenever I can. They don’t have the biggest variety of teas (I counted 34 on their website), but what they do have is of good quality. They even have a few organic teas, which is rather uncommon in my area. I can’t tell from their website if they use a particular company’s teas or if they source their teas directly from suppliers and blend themselves. I will ask next time I go. Anyway, they will sell any of their teas to you in 4 oz. increments for prices that range from $4.50 to $8.95, depending on the type of tea, which to me is extremely reasonable and in some cases downright cheap!
They are primarily a coffee house, as you might have guessed, and their coffee is ALWAYS high quality. They roast it in house and will also sell it to you in 4 oz. increments, in whole beans or ground for you according to your taste.
What I love best about this place is the ambiance. It’s very quietly artsy, there’s plenty of seating, and they always play relaxing music. They have an advertising area next to the counter for local art events and concerts. It’s right near LSU, so there are always college students around working their little hearts out. The employees are friendly and helpful, and you can get unlimited free re-steeps of your tea leaves. They serve homemade pastries as well, and bagels which they source from New York Bagel Company. It’s just a great little place to go unwind, get a snack and some tea, and listen to life going by. I have spent many an hour there just doing a crossword in utter peace. They also have a patio area out to the side where you can go if the weather’s nice, with a mural and an arbor and plenty of landscaping, a perfect little secluded spot. I give this place two thumbs up. I’d give more if I had more than two.
This place is not a tea house. It is primarily a spice and olive oil store, but they also sell teas which the owners say they acquire from a friend of theirs in California. The variety is not the best, but the quality is. They’ve even had a few teas win competitions. Definitely worth checking out, if you’re ever in Baton Rouge and looking for some local flavor.
I have always had an authentic English style tea experience at this place. The feel is very general-store-combined-with-restaurant, which lends to the very homey atmosphere. The building follows the aesthetic of most businesses in this area of Covington, which tend to look like Victorian-style houses—perfect, in my opinion, for a British teahouse.
The decor is quaint—knickknacks everywhere, spindly tables and chairs, pressed white lace tablecloths, hardwood floors, a fireplace, and even a cardboard cutout of the Queen. The tables are set with china and silver, and no two sets of china are the same. You can sit in the main room or one of four smaller side rooms, including a tiny sunny alcove called the Sanctuary, if you desire a more private dining experience (it comfortably sits up to four people), and a room called the Churchill room, which is a little comfier, with several armchairs and a sofa instead of wooden chairs and a coffee table instead of a traditional dining table.
All the food is made from scratch, from the crumpets to the shepherd’s pie to the cake balls. You can have as little or as much food as you like, from their “English Cream Tea” (just tea and scones) to their “High Windsor” (tea, two types of scones, two types of mini quiches, finger sandwiches, cake balls, and chocolate covered strawberries) to their lunch items like full-size quiches, salads, and sandwiches.
But enough about the food. They’ve finally uploaded their full tea menu onto their website. It is extensive, for a restaurant—I count 116 teas, including blacks, greens, herbals, oolongs, pu-erhs, whites, rooiboses, and fruit teas. They have a very wide variety, from straight teas to flavored teas to organics. And of course, you can order any mix of teas you desire. Their menu briefly describes the flavor of each tea, and though it does not tell you what all is in each blend, the manager and the owner certainly can. That brings me to another thing I love about The English Tea Room—the passion of the people who run it. Not only are they avid tea drinkers themselves, they really talk to their customers to find out what people love about their business, and they make sure that those things stay the same, no matter what other changes are made. They appreciate that the tea business is not “just business”, and I have not yet been there when the manager or the owner (or both) did not stop by and talk to us, even just to ask how we were doing. If I have one complaint about this place, it would be that it is too far from my house!
