The days when going out for tea meant slipping on a pair of white gloves are long gone.
It’s not to say the experience of afternoon tea, often with dainty tidbits to eat, is gone as well. But more often, the place to explore the world of tea is a casual spot, even downright bohemian.
In 2011, two new businesses that focus on serving tea opened, in Milwaukee and Port Washington – not coffee and some tea; not just a few teas and mainly a lot of other things; but tea first and foremost, an expertly steeped cup of it.
More tea, it turns out, is being sipped in America these days. The Tea Association of the United States notes that consumption of tea outside the home has increased by at least 10% a year in the past decade.
The time around the holidays is a natural for stopping in at a teahouse or a tea room: There, you can get together with family and friends and catch up over a pot of tea, with a little something to nosh as well.
Pick your experience – it spans from simply ordering at the counter to being attended to by a tea butler:
Verduras Tea House & Café
181 N. Broadway, in the Isabella Ryder Building(414) 224-6144; verdurastea.com
There are wine flights and beer flights. Why not tea flights?
That was Jennifer Nowicki’s thinking. Besides selling a good spectrum of 45 or so teas by the cup ($2) and by the pot ($4.75), the Verduras owner also sells tea by the flight, in small traditional cups: three cups for $5, four cups for $6.
Customers who want to learn more about the nuances of tea – or just find out at once what several kinds taste like – can explore them in the vertical tasting. (The flight is all black, or green, or whichever variety the customer wants, but Nowicki chooses the individual teas.)
Conveniently, paper menus of teas are at the counter; grab one, hang back and make a leisurely decision, or take one along to look over later.
Verduras – the name means vegetables in Spanish – has a light vegetarian menu of soups, salads and sandwiches, with some vegan and gluten-free items. Guests order tea and food at the counter, and the order is brought to the table.
Sesame seeds and sesame vinaigrette give a noteworthy twist to spinach and beet salad ($7.95), and they happen to go great with teas. Eggplant and pepper Parmesan ($8.95), with goat cheese and olive tapenade, made for a flavorful pressed sandwich. Gypsy vegetable soup ($3.50 cup, $4.50 bowl) – chickpeas, bell peppers, celery and sweet potatoes in broth – skewed sweet when I first tried it; it was a more compelling soup later when spicy.
A varying lineup of sweets are available, such as shortbread sandwich cookies, slices of quick breads and sometimes vegan treats such as mini cupcakes.
The space at Verduras has a Zen-like Asian feel – appropriate since most teas come from the continent and since the gallery Artasia is next door.
The sweetest spot to sit is up a short set of stairs, at one of the tables beside the oversize windows that look down on Broadway. Verduras can be hard to spot from the street; look for those big windows, and Verduras’ name on them.
Hours: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Baltica Tea Room & Gift Shop
223 N. Franklin St., Port Washington
(262) 268-8832; balticatearoomandgiftshop.com
Baltica, in a meticulously restored 19th-century building in downtown Port Washington, has the light, bright look of Swedish interior to it.
Well, close. It’s patterned after tearooms in another country on the Baltic Sea: Poland.
Owner Urszula Cholewinska wanted a tearoom like the one in her hometown where she would meet family and friends to chat over tea. She opened Baltica in May.
Guests sit at generous, sturdy Amish-made tables and chairs crafted from golden oak; the contemporary white china is English. (Notice that the spoon over the place setting is turned bowl-side up, European style.) The music in the background is likely to be Edith Piaf.
Customers choose from more than 60 loose-leaf teas to have by the cup ($2.50) or pot ($5.25). For lunch, there is a brief menu of sandwiches such as tarragon tuna salad on croissant ($7.95), with crudités and satisfying, chunky homemade applesauce on the side. The homemade soup of the day when I stopped in was a tasty Polish soup of cabbage and smoked sausage in tomato-tinged broth ($3.25 or $4.75); Cholewinska usually makes a different Polish soup once a week, and all are gluten-free.
Baltica serves cake by the slice, including cheesecake, from a rotating selection, and an exceptional, melt-in-the-mouth scone ($2.95) – maybe the best scone in the metro area.
As for the gift shop aspect, Baltica sells items such as traditional Polish pottery, children’s knitted caps and women’s scarves, many of them fair-trade items, as well as Rishi teas and Amish jams.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Saturday for winter, with lunch served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Anaba Tea Room
2107 E. Capitol Drive, Shorewood (lower level of Garden Room shop)
(414) 963-9510; anabatearoom.com
Anaba serves its 75 or so teas all day, alongside Asian-inflected salads and sandwiches at lunch and entrées at dinner. But at lunch, Anaba also does afternoon tea ($17 for one, $30 for two).
The tiered stand that’s delivered to the table smacks of tradition, but with Anaba’s own spin to it: ginger-pear chicken salad and smoked salmon with goat cheese on oolong scones, Asian egg salad tea sandwiches, ginger-matcha tart, fruit, a full-size scone, crumpets and Devonshire cream and jam. It includes a pot of tea.
An informative tea menu provides helpful descriptions of the teas’ flavors. They’re available by the small or large cup, and small or large pot; prices vary depending on the tea.
If, like me, you can be indecisive or would like help in pairing tea with lunch or dinner, the servers are particularly helpful in navigating the tea menu.
Anaba carries an Asian aesthetic through to its décor; the dining room is a pleasant spot, and there’s also a small lounge area especially nice for guests having just tea or a drink. The rooftop greenhouse, an idyllic spot, is open year-round, the same hours as the main tearoom and offering the same menu.
Hours: Lunch and tea service, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday; scones and tea 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday; dinner, 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday; brunch and tea service 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday
Steaming Cup and Spring House Tea Room
340 W. Main St., Waukesha
(262) 522-3605; thesteamingcup.com
The Steaming Cup looks every bit the laid-back coffeehouse, with its eclectic décor, blue and orange walls and espresso machine in constant use. Coffee is what most customers appear to be drinking at any given time.
But there’s a devotion to tea here. Canisters behind the counter and shelves of tea accessories will tip you off. Ask for the tea menu at the counter, and you’ll be handed a list of 120 or more loose-leaf teas. One of the newest additions is a “purple” tea from Royal Tea of Kenya, produced from a drought-resistant variant of the plant used for black tea.
Tea is available by the cup, a small pot or a large pot; prices vary depending on the tea. It’s also sold by the ounce to brew at home.
Once you decide on which cup or pot of tea you’ll have, the next big decision is what to eat from the also-sizable food menu. Sandwiches here are terrific, from curried egg salad ($6), sprinkled with sesame and sunflower seeds, to hearty, thin-sliced prime rib ($8.50). The Steaming Cup also has a good selection of lightly sweet baked goods.
For a more traditional, tea-centric experience, Steaming Cup owners Terry and Kerry McKay offer the adjoining Spring House Tea Room.
Guests can schedule a tea date for six or more people, or sign up for open tea dates, which will be scheduled with more frequency, Terry McKay said. (Smaller parties also can be combined to arrange a tea date.) The two-hour event includes hot scones, hot finger foods, tea sandwiches, desserts, fruit and five or six teas, catered to tastes and interests, for $21 a person. Participants also learn about different teas and how best to steep them.
Holiday hours at the Steaming Cup through the end of the year: 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Regular hours again in January: 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. with live music Friday and Saturday; 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Spring House, by reservation only.
The Pfister
In Blu lounge, 23rd floor at 424 E. Wisconsin Ave.
(414) 935-5950; thepfisterhotel.com/afternoontea
Diners who are looking for an experience head to the Pfister’s afternoon tea, complete with a tea butler who describes the offerings, tea dispensed from self-tipping silver pots, a captivating view of downtown and the lakefront from the 23rd floor, and several food menus, from simple to elaborate.
Blu is a bar when it’s not tea time, so the velvety blue chairs at the tables are comfortable and lounge-worthy. There’s a good chance you’ll feel relaxed even before your tea arrives.
Once you’ve settled in, the tea butler presents 10 options for tea, mostly black, black blends and herbal teas. Guests can sniff samples of the leaves before making their choice, and choose add-ons to flavor their teas in the steeping, such as fresh mint and fresh plum.
You’ll select your food before your visit from several menus, including an array of sweets ($18 including tea) such as opera torte, shortbread, chocolate-covered strawberries and macarons, and the Victorian tea ($30 with tea), including savory bites such as curried quail eggs and smoked salmon in crepes along with sweets, presented on tiered silver stands.
This isn’t the place to dash to for a quick cup of tea or to find a broad selection of teas, but it makes for a memorable, relaxing hour.
Hours: 3 to 4:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday, November through March by reservation only
Watts Tea Shop
761 N. Jefferson St., (second floor of George Watts & Son china shop)
(414) 290-5720; wattsteashop.com
This tea shop has had a presence in Milwaukee for decades, going back to when tea rooms had a heyday in the early part of the 20th century.
The menu has been modernized of late, but it also offers an afternoon tea ($17.95) that will take you straight back to the 1930s, with food presented on plates lined with white paper doilies.
First up is a plate with tea sandwiches – tuna salad, chicken salad, olive-nut and cucumber-dill with cream cheese, made with the restaurant’s own light wheat bread.
Next, a plate with slices of signature Sunshine Cake, scone and flourless chocolate cake.
Watts’ dozen teas are steeped loose in pots, with a strainer provided to set over the cup.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday, with afternoon tea from 11 to 4; afternoon tea also available privately for groups of 15 or more
Rochambo Coffee & Tea House
1317 E. Brady St.
(414) 291-0095; rochambo.com
This classic east side coffee house is worth a visit for its tea menu, kept at the counter.
Rochambo offers more than 50 teas, including a number of harder-to-find teas.
They’re sold by the cup or the pot, and also are sold in bulk. Rochambo does sell some baked goods to nibble with that tea.
