To celebrate our anniversary, Phil and I went to tea! I had been wanting to go with him for a few years now and this date was worth waiting for! We had such a fun time. It will definitely be a date we hope to repeat in the near future.
We visited the Tea Cart in their new location. They have had a tea room in Berryville that I have visited, but it was only a single large room downtown. Their new location in Winchester is a beautiful home with five separate rooms. It is so nice to have a little more privacy with the divided space. It also feels more homey since it is within a house rather than a store front. The mismatching dishes and table cloths add character to each setting. Phil was excited to be seated at a table under a photo of another bearded man!
We reserved the Duchess of York meal option which came with scones, four sandwiches, three desserts, and a bottomless pot of tea. Between the two of us we finished almost six pots of tea! Trying new teas is always one of my favorite parts of going to a tea party. Phil chose Strawberry Oolong (his new favorite and the one he got two pots of) and Darjeeling tea. I chose Chocolate Almond (my favorite of the three), Cherry Blossom, and Ginger Peach.
The Tea Cart’s scones are a fluffy plain scone served with Devonshire cream and preserves. This month’s menu included strawberry preserves. It was a hard choice which topping was our favorite but I loved the unusual long handled spreader we got to use to spread it!
The sandwiches were delicious. In our marriage, Phil has never enjoyed hardboiled or scrambled eggs and I have never seen him taste egg salad. However, he really enjoyed this open faced onion filled egg salad! Our other tasty bites included a traditional cucumber sandwich, a flavorful roast beef sandwich, and chicken salad on a miniature croissant.
The three desserts on the menu included a delightful lavender cookie with sweet frosting and blackberry jam, a strawberry shortcake trifle, and our favorite a creamy peanut butter ball. Growing up going to tea, I actually liked eating the desserts before the sandwiches because they were never my favorite. This selection however was a very nice end to our party! We tried to savor each bite to linger at the table and have an excuse to drink more tea!
Nana taught me how to make tea parties at home, but she also loved taking me to tea. From an American Girl Doll tea party, meeting in the middle for teas with my mom, tea parties during Nana Camp, coming to take me and my roommate to tea during college, and meeting me for tea around my first apartment Nana was present for almost every single one. The last time I went out for tea was with my Nana in 2021. This tea room opened up not long after she passed away in early 2023. She would have absolutely loved it. It was difficult to go without her and I am very thankful Phil wanted to go and help me create a new memory. I am grateful for such a fun legacy she left in a love of tea and quality time spent together at the table.
