Teahouse Review: The Flavour of Britain Tea Shoppe

Independence Mall
1601 Concord Pike
Wilmington, DE 19803
Phone: (302) 658-9975

This is a cozy retail establishment, offering both British items for sale and a tea room where refreshment is available - ranging from a cup of tea to a full English Tea with cucumber sandwiches, scones, and shortbreads. Various British entrees are also available, including steak & kidney pie and Cornish pasties.

The tea room itself is small - eight tables fill the space - but it is charming, with fresh flowers on each table, colorful table linens, and china settings. The walls are decorated with prints depicting British scenes and gardens. The one flaw I identified is that the kitchen is not well insulated from the tea room and some noise and chatter of staff could be heard.

Service is quite courteous and attentive. The lady serving my tea had a lovely British accent and was quite solicitous of my comfort and satisfaction. Approximately eight different loose teas are available to enjoy in the tea room, along with a variety of sweets. I tried Irish Breakfast, which had a good full body, and decaf English Breakfast - which paled by comparison. I sampled a lemon scone,with lemon curd, and a raspberry chocolate chip shortbread. Both were quite tasty.

The retail shoppe is a veritable treasure trove of British items, ranging from foodstuffs of all kinds, to British stuffed bears, to a huge assortment of tea pots. There was also a box of "Disney" sweets, imported from England.

After finishing my delightful tea consumption and browsing through the charming items enticing me to part with my money, I felt very soothed and ready to face the day's errands.