I got this idea from Dar, who posted it as #67 of her “100 Things to Do Before I Die” list…
I would totally love to do a Pilgrimsteps World Tour to have a cup of tea with all of you groovy blogfolk. Drop a line in the comments to tell me where I’ll need to stop on my tour (your city), and also name your favorite local teahouse/coffeehouse (or bakery, yum!) for our meetup. Sound fun?
Weehaa, here we go!
For the OC tourstop, we’ll meet at Kean’s Coffee, where we can sip artisan lattes and watch the rich & famous get their caffeine fix.
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NW Portland–St Honore Boulangerie. I’m pretty sure they have at least coffee, though I’ve always been much too focused on the baked goods to notice. :)
OOOOOhhhh! I love St. Honore!
Mouth, watering…
The Beehive tea room in Salt Lake City is pretty nifty. I’ve always thought it funny that somethig with such an obviously Mormon-inspired name is a tea and coffee house.
Inverness, CA
If you don’t want to come to my little house, there is the Beehive or Toby’s Feed Barn. I haven’t actually been to the Beehive yet — but it is next to a cool store, Spirit Matters, that looks like a gypsy festival with flags and banners flying everywhere.
Coffee Matters in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Not sure how good their tea is but they have lovely coffees and lattes. And heavenly opera cake.
*waves from up north*
My favorite place for a cream tea was in Warwickshire but since that is probably largely out of budget for both of us right now, I would invite you to the Chicago area and see if we could find something passable that doesn’t end in “bucks”.
North Florida- my back porch. Or the front porch. Just depends on what sort of tree you’d like to look at as you sip your tea.
oooh fun!!
Atlanta GA, Cafe Intermezzo
A wonderful old style European coffee house and sadly a place where I spent a great deal of time in high school pretending to be oh so very. ;) But they have amazing pastries and some great coffee!
I live in paris, in the 11th at the edge of the 3rd, so we can go to Le Progress on rue de Bretagne.
a bientot jana! j’adore ton blog!
deborah
You could always hit Tim Hortons with me in Amherst, Nova Scotia.
(Lunch at cinders would be lovely too)
Mrs. Burton’s Tea Room in Old Town, San Diego is close enough to you to drop by, eh? I’m a brand-new reader (over from dooce). Love to see you.
Fresno, CA…Irene’s Cafe in the Tower District, which has delightful deserts.
I know Dayton, Ohio isn’t really a destination sort of place, but Cincinnati is pretty cool. Unfortunately, I don’t know any coffee houses or bakeries there…yet. But there is Jungle Jim’s, and I’ve never been to a place with more varieties of cheese (every single one I’ve ever heard of, from every part of the world, in a section that’s nearly as big as a regular supermarket. Also, olives!
I’m all for an OC meet up!
Salt Lake City, there’s a great little shop called Grounds for Coffee….but the BEST tea house I ever went to was the Pump Room in Bath, England, where Jane Austen took her tea.
Hey now, this one is a quick trip–come on over to the Catalina Coffee Company in Redondo Beach (Catalina Ave., west of PCH, north of Torrance Blvd.). Big squishy mismatched couches and chairs and end tables all over (or outdoor patio seating), with mighty fine fare. Just a couple blocks from the beach.
Come on over to Belfast, Ireland, and visit Cafe Renoir in Queen Street – great scones, cakes and banoffee, tea and good coffee (and right beside a great Bikram yoga studio too!) You would be very welcome and I might even treat you to a bun if you made it over :)
In the Rochester (N.Y.)area, we’ll enjoy wonderful desserts, coffee, or tea at Phillips European. Not a squishy sofa kinda place, but friendly and conducive to extended conversations.
Am enjoying your blog since being introdooced.
Karen, I had the most wonderful Thanksgiving one year in Rochester! It’s so lovely there. :) Thanks for the memory jog!
Pensacola, Florida – The Drowsy Poet coffee shop.
If you come visit me in South Carolina, we will go to the Whole House Tea Room near my house and then do a tour of the Charleston Tea Plantation nearby!
You’ll need a break after all your glamourous travels to Paris and Belfast and Atlanta and all points in between, so you must stop by Delphos, Kansas . . . there’s no actual “tea house” as such so you’ll have to settle for my kitchen. Afterwards I can drive you around the town square so you can see the sights . . . no really, that’s all there is. ;)
We have Mrs. B’s here in Lebanon, Oregon. Best scones away from the Big City, large selection of teas. If Darjeeling is your thing, my personal cupboard has the best selection in this small town. We can sip tea on the deck with cats in our laps…
i would be happy to meet you in a cafe in Montreal, in mid-spring/early summer. we can sit outside a cafe and just admire the beauty of our surroundings.
and talk kitties and chickens.
Pittsburgh, PA. Tea at The Cafe at The Frick. Check it out here: http://aws.frickart.org/features/cafe/
Cafe Descartes on Wacker in Chicago. Great people watching, comfy chairs, and less crowded than a Starbucks with better baristas and a Sara Lee store within 50 feet…heaven.
It’s funny that you mention that because my boyfriend and I have just decided that we need to go to high tea someday soon. Luckily, there’s a place near Pike’s Place Market in Seattle where we live.
Keep the tour dates coming–I am just loving this! (and I really do want to do this–from Belfast to Paris to Seattle to Florida to Delphos, Kansas and all points in-between)
And for those of you who suggested tea in your kitchen and/or on your front porch–I am so honored to be invited! :)
Crystal,
Where is Delphos? I spent too many years in Western Kansas and thought I knew many of the little towns throughout the state.
First, I’m so glad to hear that you’re feeling so much better. I’d love to celebrate your healing with a cup of tea and a fabulous French pastry at Fleur de Cocoa here in Los Gatos, CA.
North Ogden, UT! About 30 miles south of here in Bountiful is Parson’s Bakery. Whenever I travel to SLC my car automatically swerves off the freeway and heads directly there for the biggest, softest, frosted sugar cookies in the world! Diet Coke is my drink of choice so I can’t help with the coffee, although my husband swears by McD’s because it is always fresh and he gets it for $.27 (senior rate, but he’s much older than I).
Rebecca, we just returned from Seattle and spent some time at Pike’s Place Market. Incredible.
Kalamazoo, Michigan, and there are more than one fabulous coffee shops in town. Another favorite for tea is a little English tea house on the outskirts of town. Come visit!
i just found you through my yummy friend, dar. i live pretty close to you, so if your tour comes through los angeles we can do high tea somewhere downtown… xoxo
north north north to edmonton, alberta, canada where we could meet at mandolin bookstore surrounded by words, the aroma of tea and a little snack :)
Hello from Stellenbosch, South Africa!
It’s a college town about an hour’s drive from Cape Town and it’s in the heart of the South African wine country. Would you be opposed to bypassing coffee/tea in favour of some vino? Or don’t you do fermented grapes?
But if cofee/tea is your pleasure… Stellenbosch is filled with funky and cosy cafés.
Can’t wait to meet you!
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The commercial favorite is Watts Tea Room, upstairs from George Watts & Son's, a shop in downtown Milwaukee that specializes in fine china, porcelain, and crystal. https://shop.georgewatts.com/pages/teashop_menu.cfm
But let's save Watts for winter (i.e., September through May) because in summer the best local place for tea is my screened-in porch, which functions as a wildlife blind for watching hummingbirds at the feeder and chipmunks scurrying underneath the lilacs. I serve long leaf Rishi tea and estate-baked shortbread, and I've never found any shortbread I like better than mine.
So let's do that instead if it happens to be summer when you arrive (or later, with parkas, until the snow).
You must come by Albany, NY in the fall! We’re right on the Hudson river surrounded by mountains. We could get the tea to go from Tea Time on Lark, cross the street to get pastries from Crisan and head to the park. Or if you’re feeling the autumnness, we can go to my boyfriend’s home town of Red Hook down the river and go to Taste Budds.
You can tell I love taking stock of everywhere I can get baked goods and a good cup of tea. :)
Glad to read you’re feeling better!
New York City — Tea and Sympathy or Alice’s Tea Cup
Yay. World Tour!!
I would nominate Blake’s Coffee House on Grey Street here in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in north-east England. The street was voted the most impressive in Europe due to the classical facades and beautiful architecture. It’s a lovely view on a Saturday evening watching people in their finery dressed for a night at our famous Theatre Royal, a beautiful building of the 1830s.
I would highly recommend their yummy hot chocolate with mini marshmallows, and also their gorgeous chocolate brownies. Hmm, yes I like my chocolate ;-) They also do a wonderful tea selection…it isn’t England without our tea!
If ever you and your lovely family stop by this little part of the world, rest assured you have a place to stay if you like xx
East Bay, Northern California. Oh, I’m sure we’ll find SOMEthing. Market Hall in Rockridge is yummy, though not at all hip or trendy. :)
If you fancy a bit of travelling you’ll be more than welcome in Wales! A nice cup of tea, maybe some welsh cakes? Plus there are plenty of photo opportunities in Wales. Come on over!
Late to the party and I’m afraid Albuquerque isn’t known for tea or coffee (but the roasted green chile is fantastic) but for tea the NM Tea co where they will talk to you very, very seriously about the charms of cream tea vs full tea. For coffee Satellite Coffee across from the university so you can admire the fine collection of local Personalities and possibly run up the street for a breakfast burrito at the Frontier Restaurant.
Jana I just discovered your blog…and of course you would have to come have a cup of tea and a pastry with me at one of the many many fabulous bakeries in Berlin!
You’re going to have one heck of a world tour if you follow up on all the invitations! If you find yourself in South America, feel free to stop in Lima, Peru, and we’ll find you a great cup of coffee and some danish at my friends’ shop Arabica in the Miraflores neighborhood. Keep your chin up… Ryan