Eats

A spot of tea

by Mary Tutwiler

When downtown's coffee house, Café Bonjour, closed about two years ago, the caffeinated crowd still had spots to hit for a cup of joe but no real place to hang, read the paper, watch the morning rain.

That changed this a.m., when A Spot for Tea, in Gordon Square, began pouring. However, a coffee house it is not.

A Spot of Tea is a bit twee, just as a good tea room should be. Offerings are 28 different types of teas, all brewed from loose leaves in sturdy china pots. Sit down at one of the tables draped with snowy white linen and choose a potent morning black tea like Earl Grey, a fragrant green Sencha from Japan, or even a tisane brewed from flower petals and dried bits of fruit. Breakfast consists of pastries, small quiches and stuffed biscuits.

Owners, brothers Shane and Dana Romero, and Kelli McCormick will brew your tea to the proper strength, warm your bun and pour your first cup, before leaving you in solitary bliss to sit and sip and watch through the plate glass window the working world rush off to the office.

Afternoons, traditional finger sandwiches like cucumber, egg salad and chicken salad join the scones and clotted cream on the tea trolly.

Dana Romero has his fingers in another pie as well. His Web-based business, Acadian Cheese, which delivers Louisiana and global cheeses here in Lafayette, is planning to make an appearance in the format of a mini-fromagerie at the tea shop.

So have a jolly good morning, beginning at 7:30 a.m. The tea room stays open till 7 at night, Monday through Saturday, and Sundays from noon till 5. Call 251-3214 for more info.

p.s. There's coffee too, if you must.