Where: Clermont, Florida Style: Traditional tearoom Tea Selection: 75+ loose leaf teas Teatimes: Tuesday to Saturday, 11-4 Reservations: Walk-ins welcome, reservations recommended Contact: 908-670-2305 Cost: $29.95 Lady’s Champagne High Tea; $24.95 Lady of the Lake High Tea; $22.99 Holiday Tea; $19.95 Lord Montrose High Tea; $17.95 Duchess of Clermont’s Petite High Tea Destination Tea Tips: Erika’s Tea Room resides in downtown Clermont, amidst historic avenues lined with cute shops that would be fun to browse. Also, Erika likes to stock her gift shops in the tea room and her neighboring store to suit a wide variety of tastes, so leave time to peruse her finds, especially the most diverse selection of teapots we’ve seen yet.
Destination Tea Notes: Mother-daughter hostesses Leila and Erika Shanoff share a true love for the custom of afternoon tea. It shows in the impressive variety of daily-changing tea menus and themed special events they produce throughout the year. Leila’s prowess in the kitchen proves that she knew what she was doing when she retired from her banking career to begin baking and cooking for her own tearoom. It’s a story we often hear repeated — afternoon tea enthusiasts dream of opening their own tearoom in retirement — but how that story goes depends on what happens once the dream meets the hard realities of the demanding restaurant business. In Erika and Leila’s case, their obvious passion and dedication to the tearoom’s success is paying off: Erika’s Tea Room just celebrated its five year anniversary. Come here for the delicious scratch-made menus that change daily, for the super-gracious service and to expand your tea palate. With two certified Tea Masters presiding over an expansive tea selection, you are guaranteed to be introduced to a new tea you’ll love.
Clean and bright, the tearoom is festooned with red and green, holly tablecloths and ornaments. Though it might not feel like winter outside, the tearoom’s decorations begin getting us in the holiday spirit.
Erika’s Tea Room puts a smile on our teen reviewer’s face. Please disregard her phone on the table as she settles in. She knows phones are stowed while we are at the tea table, except for photography purposes.
Tea Service
Special themed menus like the Holiday High Tea have a different prepared tea served with each of the three courses. If you are more the independent or (ahem, picky) type, you might prefer choosing your own teas, as one typically does at afternoon tea here, but know that you have only good things coming when you place your trust in the tea pairings of the Shanoffs. I certainly never would have ordered the Aztec Spice Tea we were served with the scone course, but it was SO yummy with chocolate and peppery notes.
What a pretty china pattern! But more importantly, we fall in love with Simpson & Vail’s Winter Wonderland green rooibos tea. I am thrilled to find it in the gift shop to take home my own stash of a tea that feels like a holiday treat without caffeine. I typically don’t prefer red rooibos teas, but am finding that green rooibos doesn’t have the woody flavor that I dislike in a red tea.
Scones & Spreads, Savories & Sweets
Check out Erika’s Tea Room TV Series on Facebook to learn how they make their cream cheese scones (minute 10:35). Their cranberry spice scone is perfect in consistency, served warm with white chocolate Devon cream and strawberry preserves.
We appreciate the portions here, which are filling without going overboard. The second course of savories includes roasted red pepper-spinach-mozzarella quiche, potato and pepper soup, and ultimate turkey club sandwich with mayo. We exclaim over each bite. Because tearoom cuisine is similar to from-scratch home cooking, it can happen that some menu items come out better than others. Not here, where every item is cooked just right. Leila is a marvel. We especially like the vegetables incorporated into these savories.
Dessert is a homemade chocolate pecan pie with shortbread crust, complemented by Pecan Tea. We are simply so happy at this point in the meal.
But Leila has one more surprise for us – a sample of her pumpkin cheesecake (Angela’s favorite). Thank you Leila!
Teapots galore! Erika’s Tea Room gift shop is the perfect place to find a teapot to match your friend’s personality.
More teapots! Erika even sells an Irish pottery teaset especially made for her tearoom.
So many great tea blends to choose from. I snag some Simpson & Vail Winter Wonderland and Roasted Chestnut for the holidays.
This is a great tearoom if quality tea and tasty food are your desires. Erika’s afternoon tea is not the “traditional” tower of finger foods but rather personalized choices of sandwiches, dessert, and the BEST scones in the state. Decor and ambiance may not make a lasting impression, but the food and flavorful tea will.
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This is a great tearoom if quality tea and tasty food are your desires. Erika’s afternoon tea is not the “traditional” tower of finger foods but rather personalized choices of sandwiches, dessert, and the BEST scones in the state. Decor and ambiance may not make a lasting impression, but the food and flavorful tea will.