As we are now into 2017, what better way to celebrate the new year than enjoying January’s Hot Tea Month? Tea has been the drink of choice for many people in all countries for thousands of years, and it’s easily enjoyed at home or out, with tea leaves, tea bags or tea powder.
One of the top places for tea on the Main Line is A Taste of Britain, located at the Eagle Village Shops on Lancaster Avenue in Wayne. After celebrating its twenty-fifth year in 2016, A Taste of Britain is doing quite brilliantly. Step inside this shop amongst boutiques and find yourself in a lovely farmhouse dining room, with chocolates and groceries from Britain and edible delights to set your mouth watering.
The shop’s charming and beautiful third owner (in the third location), Debbie Heath, puts all her customers at ease, welcoming them into the shop as if it is her private household. You’ll feel instantly calm as you slip into the wooden chairs with unique English décor all around, and once you open that menu, you’ll feel as if you’d completed a long journey and now can finally rest with tea and more. “Now in our twenty-sixth year, we are so excited to continue to offer a special English tea experience to all our customers,” says Debbie.
A Taste of Britain’s menu is quite extensive, serving everything from tea and scones to salads and frittatas, as well as a full afternoon English tea. Light bites including warm curried cauliflower and lentil salad and quinoa and arugula salad are perfect for a quick stop, as are the curried chicken salad wrap and mini tea sandwiches. Soups, such as lemon zucchini soup with goat cheese, are made fresh daily.
Debbie and my server Sarah ensured everything that was sampled was of perfect quality and flavor—as was the tea! A Taste of Britain has a huge variety—from traditional English PG Tips, Typhoo, Lapsing Souchong and Earl Grey to delicate white teas, grassy green teas, rooibos and flavorful herbal tisanes. There are teas that correspond with the Royal Family—such as the Princess Charlotte, a glorious blend of tangerine, citrus and green tea. Other favorites include Pu-Erh Yunnan, a post-fermented earthy, smoky tea with probiotic health benefits, and white tea with raspberry, ginger, cardamom, star anise and cloves.
Special tea services are on the calendar several times a year, including Mother’s Day Teas, Christmas Teas and the upcoming Valentine’s Day Tea on February 12. Enjoy a complimentary mimosa, a pot of Valentine selection loose leaf tea, savory menu items such as a French onion stuffed mushroom or a bacon and goat cheese pop, a specialty lavender and strawberry scone and sweets like lemon trifle or salted caramel chocolate truffle.
The food and decor are excellent, but so is the service and the presentation. Tea sandwiches aren’t just put on a plate; they are served with a flourish and with elegance. They are lovingly arranged so much that you feel you are unwrapping a present with every mini tea sandwich you eat.
The Full Afternoon Tea arrives elegantly served on a two-tier iron server, on flowered china adorned with the scone of your choosing (buttermilk, lemon, raisin, maraschino cherry almond, chocolate chip, gluten-free, savory cheddar & chive or the special scone of the month), an assortment of eight tea sandwiches and mini pastries, plus a pot of loose leaf tea. There’s no better way to celebrate Hot Tea Month than with this customer favorite.
Chef Lisa, along with Debbie and the team, brainstorm each month for the elegant tea sandwiches, soups and scones that are presented to each customer. The scones arrive with strawberry preserves, fresh house-made lemon curd and sinfully delicious creamy clotted cream.
If you are looking to get a real authentic flavor, the menu is full of English favorites (most available to take out in the freezer to take home and enjoy), including mushrooms on toast, Ploughman’s platter, chicken pot pie, Welsh Rarebit, beef cottage pie, cheese and onion or Cornish Pasty. A pasty is a flaky, buttery pouch with a baked-to-perfection crust filled with a mixture of either cheese and beef (or chicken) or onion, cheese and potato. The pasty has roots going back to laborers of yesteryear, who kept the pasties in their pockets, with the crust serving as a “handle” to enjoy their food without getting messy. The pasties are an excellent comfort food on a cold day.
A Taste of Britain also does catering, which is perfect for game day (don’t forget the Super Bowl is coming up on February 5) or for having a full-service tea party in your own home. The shop can also host baby showers, wedding, showers, graduations and parties.
For full authentic flavor and a feel of Britain close by, celebrate your favorite hot tea this month—and any month!—at A Taste of Britain. Open daily, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; closed Sundays for private parties.
Visit A Taste of Britain at the Eagle Village Shops, 503 W. Lancaster Ave. in Wayne; phone: (610) 971-0390.
- Photos: Christine Tarlecki
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