Lovejoy's Tea Room

The Portland Metro area is expecting some chilly weather for the next week, Yay, celebrating National Hot Tea Month at a business that recently opened in Northeast Portland. Joe joins us live with more from Lovejoy's Tea Room. Getting fancy this morning, Joe. Yeah, and then Kim and Sean, let me tell you, I walked in here and I said to Brennan Constance, I was They're going to want to check this out. Brennan is the man behind Lovejoy's Tea Room, which opened just last year, so they're still relatively new here in Northeast Portland. It is National Hot Tea Month, so a great excuse to come out here and check out this location. Brennan, I want to show, Darrell, if you would kind of show the space here, it's a really kind of cool, funky little tea room that you've opened here. Tell me about kind of how this came to be. Yeah, well, I used to, I moved up here in 2011 from San Francisco, and when I lived there, I used to go whenever I could to a tea room there, also called Lovejoy's Tea Room, and just fell in love with it. It was the whole tradition of high tea, but it was a very casual, quirky setting, all mismatched furniture and dishes, and just delicious food. I never thought a little tiny sandwich could pack so much flavor. And ever since moving here, I've wanted something similar up here. I used to be a transit operator for TriMet, realized I So, finally figured out a way, reached out to Lovejoy's in the Bay Area, and they were able to help get me started up here. Yeah, and the vibe as you walk in, you kind of describe it as going to your quirky grandma's place with the mismatching furniture and all this stuff. So walk me through, when people come in here, they can either do it by reservation or they can drop in, but on the weekends I know it gets pretty busy, and you do a traditional tea service. So walk us through kind of what that includes, because there's very, I guess, options for what people want to do. And first of all, let's have a spot of tea. You get your pot of tea, you get a bottomless pot of tea person, correct? That's right. And this is, how many different varieties of tea do you offer? We have over 40 different teas. Okay. Blacks, herbals, greens, whites, traditional, we even have a CBD infused tea. Oh, what? Yes. This is quite good. This is the Scottish caramel tea that we're doing right now. Yes, this is Scottish caramel pooh air, and a pooh air is an aged black tea, so it goes through a fermentation process. And then you of course get all sorts of goodies, and you have different options. So this is one of your basic teas. These stones were made in-house. They were. These are amazing, Kitch It's a lovely traditional English style current scones. It's going to be a little more cake- And you just cut it open, we serve it with a house-made clotted cream, and raspberry preserves. This is our cream tea service, which is one of the lighter options. Yes, more basic ones, but they can get much more elaborate, and you get the whole stack we're going to set out a little bit later in the show. But basically, depending on what you want to do, and I guess the idea is it's not just about the drink and the food, it's kind of about kind of the social aspect, right? Yes, right. Yes, it's about the whole just escaping the world, just sitting, having a moment to just relax, enjoy your friends, your family. Just the whole tradition of the service, the whole ceremony of it, really savoring and enjoying every sip and every bite. Okay, well, As we mentioned, reservations are recommended on the weekend, but you can drop in, and if there's a table, they'll let you come on in. So Kim and Shada, we're going to have a lot more, some more spots of tea in our future here later in the show. Back to you. Hey, Joe, I want the story next time we see you on where he gathered all of his furniture, because I can see he has all kinds of goodies in there. And cups and saucers. Yeah, everything. So I want to know how and where he did his shopping, and if he needs a partner next time he goes out. There he is. Because I can help. There's a store there, you got it. Thanks, Joe. What a neat place. It really is, and it's funny because I said, gosh, it's For sure. He said, Mom would love that place. And right now, Matt, knowing that you'll be drug along to that as well as to the tea place, it's just . . And he'll be a good boy and take his head off. How about we get you another donkey instead? I'll go with you, Kim. Okay, all right.