Where: Hoschton, Georgia Style: Vintage tearoom Tea Selection: 2 to 6 loose leaf teas Teatimes: Wednesday to Saturday, 11-2 Reservations: Reservations required for parties of 5 or more, otherwise, walk-ins welcome Contact: 770-630-2612 Cost: $15.95 Afternoon Tea Destination Tea Tips: Revisit this tearoom to sample all the different seating areas: in the main dining room, through the arches, at the raised corner table and on the patio. Saturday afternoon tea reservations often book solid, but on a weekday, we’re fans of the walk-in opportunity to enjoy afternoon tea.
Destination Tea Notes: Put Fergusson’s on your bucket list if you are anywhere in the vicinity because this is a worthy destination tea trip to make. Why? (1) Michelle, Jim and daughter Olivia Fergusson have created a generous afternoon tea menu that includes soup or salad, which is (2) very fairly priced, and (3) their service is friendly and accommodating. Then there’s the historic setting. Step through the door and you’ve stepped back in time one hundred years. Ragtime background music properly sets the scene inside this early 1910s building, where we note men joining their wives for afternoon tea, possibly because this tearoom balances feminine lace and china with masculine dark tones, soft lighting, brick walls and arches. Whether you take your fella or go with the girls, the important thing is that you get to experience the deliciousness of Fergusson’s!
Inside Fergusson’s on the Square, dark ceiling and floors, lace tablecloths, antique furniture and masonry properly furnish this 1910s space.
Through the brick arches, a long room is overlooked by a dramatic perch where a table of four may enjoy afternoon tea.
A blend of floral accents and wood tones create pretty and inviting tables.
We spy teapots decorating the tables, either as vases with fresh flowers, or, as at our first table, in the form of a silver teapot lamp with fuchsia shad casting a cozy glow over an embroidered antique tablecloth.
On our second visit, a gorgeous embroidered tablecloth is complemented by covered dining chairs.
Tea Service
We are offered a choice of green Earl Grey or, much to our delight, Harney & Sons’ Paris black tea (one of our all-time favorites). So good! We share a pot at the table, which is refilled for the dessert course.
On our second visit, we find more tea choices offered, displayed on this prettily decorated framed menu.
Scones & Spreads, Savories and Sweets
In place of lemon curd, clotted cream and preserves, the tearoom’s peach and vanilla almond scones are drizzled with a light icing. The crumb on these scones is much to our liking and we debate which flavor is our table favorite, with no clear winner.
The tea menu comes with a choice of soup or salad. We choose very well: the chicken wild rice soup with fried onion garnish is hearty and tasty.
I intentionally eat only half of my fresh and colorful Greek salad, beginning to realize that the menu here is very generously portioned, and I need to leave room for the goodies!
Just look at this tea curate!
Many Southern tea sandwich classics appear, including cucumber and dill on pumpernickel, gouda pimento toast (yum!), tarragon and chive egg salad, roast beef and provolone, and chicken salad on croissant.
Dessert at Fergusson’s requires two tiers! Every item is “just right” in consistency, sweetness and richness, including peanut butter hearts (double yum!), lavender cookies, fruit skewers, grape macarons…
…, fruit parfait tarts and devil’s chocolate cakes with white chocolate triangles. Oh my, it is all so tempting, and so worth the indulgence!
On our second visit, the pimiento toast (a Southern take on Welsh rarebit?) is better looking and very yummy. All the tea sandwiches are tasty, and we appreciate the neatly cut finger sandwiches. We miss the homemade desserts from our first visit, but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying chocolaty brownies and mini pecan pies.
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