7 minute read
Tea Story 6
6Cui s C e neTea Story he Victorian Lace tea room in Burnham comes as a shock. You arrive through miles of leafy countryside to a blue-and-white farmhouse that’s been peering down from a rise above Lake
Winnecook since 1754–19 years before the Boston
Tea Party. You enter through an overstuffed garage full of “all sorts of junk,” says owner
Connie Reynolds.
You pass through a typical Maine mudroom tumbling with kittens to a farm kitchen right out of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and then there it is: an amazing Victorian fantasy. Soft yellow light filters through lacy, beige curtains into a red-andgold dining room with seven tables elegantly set for tea. The tables are adorned with several layers of table clothes, fine old china, antique glassware, and vases spilling bright cornucopias of flowers. Rare books sit on table-side bookshelves, and old photos line wallpapered walls.
Beads, bows, and feathers hang from light fixtures. In one corner sits a
Victorian couch and Tiffany lamp; another holds a basket full of hats, in case you forgot to bring your own. Two of the tables are pint-sized, made for children. “The little girls come in their party dresses…with their hats and gloves,” says Reynolds, 68. She’s never been to Britain, but says she “always loved the
Victorian times, how beautiful and gracious everything looked.” On the day of our visit, the menu featured a blueberry scone with whipped cream and sliced fruit, celery soup, a stuffed tomato, chicken à la king in puff pastry with butter-roasted carrots and cranberry sauce, and peach melba–all made by Reynolds’s cook, Esther Louise
Jackson Parsons, who changes the menu daily. This is just one of at least 19 tea rooms located throughout the state–all different and interesting in their vivacious peculiarity.
Of tea and POinted Pinkies
The oldest and perhaps best-known is Jordan Pond tea house on
Mount Desert Island. Here, elegant “rusticators”–urbanites seeking the
Wars have been fought over it; it’s addictive and curative; it’s been used as currency and traded for weapons and sex; and religious ceremonies revolve around it. get steamed at one of Maine’s many tea houses to find for yourself what all the fuss is about.
by Judith Gaines
Tfresh air and the scent of the ocean–came by carriage for afternoon tea with popovers, butter, and strawberry jam. The site was once a farmhouse built in 1847 by the Jordans, a logging family. It was first converted into an establishment offering tea in the 1870s, according to current operations manager Michael Daley, 57. The original house burned in 1979, with a modern restaurant built in its place. But the tradition of afternoon tea continues. “You can sit on the lawn or porch or in a dining room looking out over the pond, with [the petite acclivities] called the ‘Bubbles’ beyond, and it feels like you’re enveloped by these mountains,” Daley says. VisitingcLiPPermerchantteahouse in Limerick is like stepping into Heather Labbé’s imagination. Like Connie Reynolds, she’s never been to Britain. “But I’ve always been infatuated with the Jane Austen period. I love all the formality and civility and charm.” She was raised in a home where her minister father and his church “hosted large teas for the ladies,” Labbé, 59, recalls. After she bought a beautiful 1830s home in Limerick, she decided to convert it into a tea house. She decorated it with beautiful linens and china inherited from a Scottish aunt, rare books, “silver service, some exquisite glass work, lovely wallpaper, and paintings–things that make your spirit soar. “I want people to feel like they’re walking into a Jane Austen novel,” she says. “Tea time should be an enchanted moment.” Labbé makes everything for her teas from scratch. She even raises ducks to use their rich eggs in her lemon curd. The à la carte menu features delights like warm scones with jam and Devon cream, mixed tea sandwiches, homemade paté, quiche, cranberry chicken salad croissants, and petite desserts. Ten years ago, Jacqueline Soley, 43, and four generations of female family members sashayed into a tea house in Florida. “After that, wherever we traveled, I went to tea rooms: Harrods in London, on top of a mountain in Banff, in a quaint place by a park in
The Clipper Merchant
TEA HOUSE
Yankee Magazine March/April 2010
Enjoy gourmet delicacies, hearty lunches, decadent desserts, and teas from around the world, served in the beautifully restored J.M. Morse House, circa 1830. Summer Hours: Wed–Sun 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
Always available for private parties, showers, receptions, etc. 58 Main Street, Route 5, Limerick, ME
Ohio, all over,” she says.
In 2005, she opened Jacqueline’s Tea Room on a hilltop in Freeport’s historic district. Her three tea rooms sit in an 1848 home. Patrons get unlimited pots of tea (she has over 70 varieties), scones, finger sandwiches, and desserts, plus soup in the winter and sorbet in summer.
“Tea here lasts two hours, and I never rush anyone,” she says. “It’s an event, a ceremony. It makes people slow down, and we don’t do that enough.”
Far Out East
Nancy Zhou’s version of a tea house could hardly be more different. She calls it BuBBle maineia, a casual hangout with Taiwanese ambience on Portland’s Commercial Street.
She calls the bubble tea “a crazy kind of thing” that originated in China. In its traditional form, it consists of black tea, hot or cold, with cooked tapioca pearls, each about the size of a marble, that you suck through a fat straw. But Zhou, 42, a Taiwanese immigrant who worked for 15 years as a bartender, couldn’t help but experiment. “I love to make drinks,” she says.
Bubble Maineia serves teas with assorted fruit-juice concentrates and tapioca pearls; teas with non-dairy creamer, sugar, and flavorings; and Hershey’s ice cream topped with tapioca.
Healing Cup
Jessica Healy, 31, says “I always knew I’d open something called The Living Tea Room.” When she discovered “soul-centered healing” and became a certified practitioner, the idea fell into place.
Now, at her tea room in Portland’s Old Port, she offers healing consultations for physical or emotional problems supplemented by a cup of tea and a tea prescription. She calls this “medicinal herbalism.”
She says she might prescribe “a refreshing mint that’s purifying, a pleasure tea to help you feel joy, a tea for mental stability that helps you focus, a camomile tea to relieve anxiety and help you sleep,” or some customized blend. “When you serve someone a hot cup of tea, it’s soothing. It’s a moment to pause, a gateway from the outer to the inner world.” n
>>For more images, visit portlandmonthly.com.
Leighton Gallery
24 Parker Point Road Blue Hill, Maine 04614 (207) 374-5001 judithleighton@gmail.com www.leightongallery.com One of the most rewarding galleries in the state, the Leighton has captivated visitors for 30 years by featuring strong and playful works on 3 floors inside and outside in a superb sculpture garden.
Nellie’s Tea & Gifts 761-8041
5 Industry Rd. Suite 2 C, South Portland www.nelliestea.com
Victorian Lace Tea Room
R L • B, M
A special place for
Birthday Parties • Bridal Showers • Luncheons Red Hat Society • Church Groups Chef Louise Parson prepares
Five homemade courses including scones with fruit, soups and salads, entrees, desserts, and tea and coff ee. For more information
Call Connie at .. Or visit www.VLTR.com
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