Country roads… take tea home…
Tea Cellar was borne out of a passion for tea and a desire to serve and love people.
I grew up with “tea time” in my grandparents’ home in Aplington, Iowa. Even as a little girl of 4 or 5, I can remember pulling my chair up to the table, grandma (“Oma” in German) taking the glass teapot off the stove and straining the tea into my and Opa’s cups. Of course, I added cream and sugar to make it more tasty, but the memory is etched in my mind. Good memories. Memories where the TV was off. No cell phones existed. Just conversation and laughter and maybe even an opinion or two regarding world affairs.
It wasn’t until our oldest daughter, Olivia, went to college in Chicago a few years ago that the fascination was renewed. She’d come home with bags and bags of tea along with a knowledge about the various teas that made my small-town experience look pale in comparison. Then Alexis, our second daughter, began her tea journey and the kitchen was running out of space in light of all the tea bags and tea tins.
Then an idea hit me. Driving down Main Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa, on my way to my job every morning, it dawned on me that our area lacked a tea shop of its own. What if…..
That “what if” kind of thinking is now the Tea Cellar.
I suppose we could just offer loose leaf tea and the tools to make a good pot of tea, but my personal longing is to re-create that “3:00 Tea Time” right here in the Cedar Valley–some 50 years later. There’s still nothing like conversation over a pot of tea. Laughter over a pot of tea. Good friends and family sharing their days over a pot of tea. So an adjoining cafe is in the mix as well.
At the Tea Cellar, you won’t just “get a cup of tea,” you’ll have a “tea experience.” Tea is served from a single or double pot, with a scone or baked yummy if you choose, cream and sugar (if you desire), a timer to help you know how long to steep your tea, an old-fashioned cup and saucer unlike any other in the shop, all served on a tray.
It’s all in an effort to love the tea drinkers in our area, to introduce tea to non-tea drinkers, and to capture a time that some of us–especially me–have long forgotten.
Come join us for a pot of tea for your own personal “underground tea experience.” We cannot wait to see you, meet you and enjoy a cup with you!