Tuesday, March 26, 2013

TeaHaus in Ann Arbor Michigan


Another tea room visit was on Prissy's itinerary.  This time we headed to Ann Arbor, Michigan, a college town.  TeaHaus caters to the varied residents of Ann Arbor.  Their menu offers afternoon tea, as well as lunch items.  Many options for special diets and food allergies are available.

First Impression:  TeaHaus is located a block off of main street in Ann Arbor.
  
Tea Room Setting:  Eight tables that seat four people fill the restaurant side of the TeaHaus.  The gift shop offers several stools at a counter facing the window and a comfy seating area.


The Table:  We were seated by the front window and enjoyed watching the people passing by.


Tea:  Over 180 loose leaf teas are available.  The tea was properly prepared in unlimited pots.  Priscilla and I enjoyed four different teas.


Vietnam Yen Bai
Russian Samovar
Assam Mokalbari
Japanese Gyokuro
Menu:  A full English tea is offered with reservations, as well as a smaller version, a cream tea and various lunch items.

Tea Tidbits:  The first course is a soup.  We had a mushroom soup infused with Puehr Tea.  I loved the little lidded dish.  Shortly after we finished the soup course, our tiered server arrived.

Mushroom soup infused with Puehr tea.
Tiered Server
The savory items on the bottom were a brie and apricot crostini, chicken salad with black sesame seeds and mandarin oranges, peppered salami with herb butter, traditional egg salad and a traditional cucumber sandwich.  
The middle tier held two scones with four spreads.  The traditional scone is from her Grandmother's Welsh recipe and it melted in your mouth!  The other was a pear and cinnamon scone.  The spreads included clotted cream, a berry compote, orange marmalade and lemon curd.  All were very good and offer options for specialty diets.
The top tier held the sweets, a French macaron with a champagne and elderflower reduction filling, Earl Grey dark chocolate truffle, lavender shortbread, and a green tea matcha petit four.

Entertainment:  Soft contemporary music played in the background.  The front table enables people watching.

Gift Shop:  The gift shop features the wall of tea, as well as many contemporary teapots, cups, mugs, and tea accessories.
These tea infusers made me smile.
Many tea items and the comfy seating area.
Price:  Afternoon tea is $25, but there are many other items on the menu.

Extras:  A binder at the tea counter describes all the available teas.  It lists the type of tea, name of tea, description and ingredients (including country of origin).  They offer tea by the cup to go, as well as this yummy sweets counter.

And have you ever seen a "Fairrium"?

Many herbs and teas are used in her menu items.  It is nice to enjoy tea on a plate as well as in a cup.  The owner, as well as her staff, were very knowledgeable and happy to make suggestions.  Priscilla and I had a wonderful afternoon tea.

Of course Priscilla wanted to visit the University of Michigan.  We drove past campus and on our way home she spotted "The Big House".  She insisted on a photo!

On the long drive home, she spotted some Canadian Geese.

May your cup of blessings always be full!

Sips and Smiles,
Teresa

8 comments:

Marilyn Miller said...

Oh does that afternoon tea look just delicious. Wow, even French macarons too. Teresa: You are doing an amazing job of blogging for sure. Each adventure just shines and delights! Thanks so much!

relevanttealeaf said...

You've been an INCREDIBLE hostess for the Traveling Teapot, Teresa!
When you were in Ann Arbor you weren't too far from where I live.
I wish I wasn't recovering from surgery because I would have loved to have had you for tea.
I've never been to the TeaHaus, and will have to put it on my list of places to visit once I'm out and about again. My friend, Lori, is always eager to go on tea jaunts with me.

amherstrose said...

Hi Teresa!

The TeaHaus sounds fabulous. I love the way you touch on each element of your visits to tea rooms and it makes me feel just like I was there with you enjoying all of the ambiance of each place.

Seriously, you really caught my attention when you said Macarons. Seeing all of them lined up in the case makes me want to drive right up there for a visit.

I can't wait to see her passport when The Traveling Teapot finishes her travels. With all of your adventures, I am sure your page will be overflowing with fun things.

Thanks for sharing and it sure looks like you are having FUN!

Hugs,

Mary Jane

amherstrose said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
La Tea Dah said...

I really enjoyed this review, Teresa. And I appreciate your systematic and complete comments about all aspects of the tea rooms you've visited. It's been a very special month for you and traveling teapot.

Next time I visit a tea room --- I plan on trying your technique of trying at least 3 very different types of tea. Conducting one's own tea tasting is interesting.

Thanks for a great post!

La Tea Dah said...

The deleted comment was from Mary Jane --- and was deleted only because it was identical to the one above.

Pearl's Tea said...

I LOVED reading this post especially! My family live in MI and we are always looking for tea places when I visit. I've been wanting to re-visit Ann Arbor and now this is a great reason- what a wonderful tea shop you've described. You and The Teapot have had grand tea adventures! Thanks for "bringing us along"!

Sparkly Engineer said...

What a lovely tea shop and all those teas...