...Not just tea, but tearoom pleasures, amusements of people, conversations, quirks, and a place we call our own.

Our very good friend and customer, Chris, brought a young person to Tea the other day.  It was her friend’s 13-year old daughter.  The plan was for Chris to have lunch while her guest had her favorite Chocolate Mousse.  As an opening tea, not knowing what her tastes may be, Chris suggested Coco Choco Blast – her own special blend of Coconut Vanilla and Chocolate.  After this had been served and enjoyed, our young friend asked if she could choose a tea of her choice.  Chris readily agreed.  To her amusement and surprise, she selected Gyokuro.  Now this is not just any  tea.  This is the top grade of Japanese Green that we carry.  Chris watched with amazement as she not only enjoyed it but bought 2 oz. to take home.  Additionally, she had a Flowering Display Tea (shown here).  Chris, who stays with more robust teas, usually with a fruity flavor, was quite astonished at how her friend’s daughter so quickly took to high-end green teas.   Job well done, Chris!  Another tea convert.

We’re paying the price for becoming too much of a home-away-from-home for some of our regular customers.  Now that we’re no longer a small 20-seat tea shop but more like a full-fledged restaurant, with close to 40 seats, we have to plan and manage our space much more efficiently.  Some of our regular customers are so comfortable at Silver Tips that when they see their favorite table opening up, they just get up and move themselves even when they’re in middle of their meal!  Alas!  We can no longer entertain this casualness.  Like all restaurants, we need to manage our space as we think best.   Once seated, random changes result in a duplication of cleaning, increased usage of linen, confusion about seats, errors in ordering and an overall disruption in our flow, not to mention potential of liability.  There will always be times when we will need to move customers to make space for an unforeseen situation.  That’s our prerogative.  We may also hold in reserve a table set for 4 and not seat a party of 2 there at peak times – that’s standard in the industry.  So as of this weekend, our entry sign that says ‘Please Wait to be Seated’ will now include a sentence that says, “If you must sit at your favorite table, you may have to wait until it is available.  Once we seat you, you cannot just move yourself!  There will be a charge if you do so.  Management reserves the right to seat customers”.   Now if we can only stop customers coming into the Employees Only area behind the counter….

Little Matilda comes often to Silver Tips with her mother.  Some days, her mom told us, she is fussy about her food and nothing will please her.  On those days, she’s discovered that the one thing that Matilda will eat is Silver Tips’ soup.  Now we’ve known for a while that our soups have a following.  It’s the reason we post them on our Facebook page, the reason why some customers call each morning and why we pore through recipe books and experiment to add new ones.  And we’re not talking Chicken Noodle here.  Our soups include Chick Pea & Canellini, Leek & Potato, Moroccan Pasta with Vegetable, Tuscan Bean & Barley, Corn & Red Pepper and we have 30 others!  But still.  Little Matilda’s love for our soups is precious.  Today was Vegetable Barley and she said “More!” and was working her way through her second bowl (cup for her).  She will be 2 in a few months and she radiates joy each time she visits.  You can waltz into our lives any time you wish.

Just before closing time today, Valentine’s Day, a frazzled gentleman came in looking for a gift for his wife.  Although we have a rule about not selling our decorations, Christina bent all the rules and sold him a pretty heart-decorated bag that was sitting on a shelf adding color and charm.  He selected some other lovely tea gifts and we sent him on his way.  We could only imagine what troubles he would encounter if he went home empty-handed and we figured he needed the decorations more than we did.  I hope his wife is pleased.  We are now in the business of saving marriages, I see.