Tearooms come and go in America, but ex-pat Pamela Brand from York has weathered the last two decades’ economic storms and trends to establish herself as an icon in the Orange County, California tea community. We asked her some pointed questions and found her answers delightfully candid. How long ago did you come to the states and what brought you here in the first place? I came to the states in 1993. I was going through a divorce and could not settle, so I came out here to visit friends who I had met when I was a nanny here in 1966. I decided whilst here that I
wanted to come back and open a tearoom. The feeling was so strong ― gut and all that ― that when I went back to England I put the wheels in motion. A very heart wrenching time to leave my children; Katie was 23 and James 20, but nevertheless my babies. Took me about 10 years to call this place home.
