Tea Blog

This Tea Princess and her hubby like food and lots of good tea to go with it. Having recently moved, we also liked to check out the local eateries in our new location. One was an Amish Country Store and Restaurant. We went there on a Friday and had two Friday catfish specials with all the trimmings. And tea, of course.

Now, in the past we have had wonderful food at Amish restaurants. Straightforward recipes and the freshest ingredients. The kind of cooking my mother learned from my dad’s sisters when they first got married (all she knew how to make at that time was a chocolate layer cake with buttercream frosting, which is actually a pretty good thing to know how to make). Our experience here was certainly not out of line with those earlier ones. The food, in short, was tasty and filling. The issue, as you have probably already guessed, was the tea. Sigh!

I didn’t have my camera with me or I would show you that a sign on the front of the restaurant declared that it was also a tearoom. Here we go again with that word getting slapped on something that was not in the least tearoom-ish!

The tea served with our meal consisted of a mug of hot water and one of those American iconic tea brand string-and-tag teabags. Okay, should have known better. But I am ever hopeful. Then, matters worsened when I asked for milk or cream for the tea. The waitress brought us some of those little half-n-halfs. Well, they were certainly better than that non-dairy powdered stuff we’ve been served before. We enjoyed this hot tea-like beverage as best we could, not wanting it to spoil the overall experience, especially since the food was so good. Sometimes that’s what you have to do.

The little mind trick worked, and we were able to have a very satisfying lunch. Then came another spoiler: the bill total seemed too high. It turned out that we were charged for a glass of milk and had to ask for a refund. We were also overcharged for the fish and again had to ask for a refund.

Now, we realize these things can happen anywhere and are not implying anything to the contrary or singling out any group here. The whole point is simply to watch out wherever you go for bad tea and less-than-stellar service. And whatever you do, don’t take the sign “tearoom” too literally. It seems to get bandied about rather freely these days.

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