Boxborough is a beautiful rural community filled with large old homes and lovely wooded areas. The Teapot Cafe is situated in a colonial home built in the 1770s, sharing the building with a law firm and a fantastic fabric shop called The Quilted Crow. (The Teapot Cafe site says that the building was actually a barn that was relocated from NH to its current site and rebuilt in the early 1980s. The Quilted Crow info. just notes its age as being from the 1770s.)
As you enter the front of The Teapot Cafe you are faced with a collection of gift items for sale. I must admit that at that moment I was more focused on getting to my reservation on time so I didn't do much perusing. I often find spaces like that feel a bit cluttered to me. I made my way through the gift shop into the cafe space.
The cafe has a very rustic feel, in keeping with the period of the house. The wide planks of the wooden floor, the exposed beams, the paned windows, and the subtle color of the sage walls created a nice feel. I was a bit puzzled by the art in the room, however. The black and white photographs on the wall were lovely - part of a rotating exhibit I presume. I couldn't quite comprehend the various LPs that were on the shelves along with the bowls made of melted LPs. I was really unclear as to how they fit the mood of the space.
There are two rooms with a hostess station and sideboard of loose leaf Harney & Sons tea for sale in the middle. One cafe room had three tables and the one I was in had six.
The tea menu was quite extensive - all loose leaf. I believe that it was all sourced from Harney & Sons. There were 7 black teas, 9 flavored teas, 3 green teas, and 6 herbal infusions. I decided to try the Russian Country Blend. It was a smoky tea, somewhat reminiscent of Mark T. Wendell's Afternoon Tea, but with a bit more smoke. It was served in a 2 cup ceramic pot and was brought to the table brewed with the leaves already removed. Extra points for this. Very good tea and brewed perfectly.
The food was served in the traditional three tiered arrangement. There were 4 types of sandwich. They were actually full sized sandwiches made with three thinly sliced pieces of bread with the crusts (mostly) removed. My favorite of the four was a honey ham with cheese and chipotle mustard. Well balanced flavors. I also enjoyed the turkey with cranberry chutney. Less successful was the cucumber and radish sandwich which seemed exceedingly dry and flavorless. I was also less than impressed with the hot house tomato and provolone sandwich. The center piece of bread had become very soggy. It reminded me of the way my sandwich would sometimes come out of my lunch box when I was a kid.
The second tier was a small gingerbread cookie and a scone with clotted cream and jam. These were both excellent. The bite-sized scone was simply perfect.
The last tier, the sweets, were decadent and wonderful. It included a rich chocolate brownie, a black and white cookie, a luscious pecan tart, and lemon cranberry bread. I ate every single bit and was in heaven. My only disappointment was that I had run out of tea at this point. I would have been happy to pay for another pot, but I didn't see a server and decided to just enjoy the desserts. (I wasn't asked if I wanted more tea, so it seemed like the tea comes with the 2 cup pot only.) I was also wishing I had asked for a glass of water.
I had a very nice visit all in all. The tea was excellent and the food was generally very successful. I certainly know a few people in my life who would enjoy this cafe with the added allure of an adjoining fabric store. Afternoon tea is served at The Teapot Cafe at 2:30 from Tuesday through Sunday. Reservations are required and they must be made by telephone 24 hours in advance. Lunch is also served at the cafe Tuesdays through Sundays from 11:30 to 2:00. That menu includes soups, sandwiches, and desserts. It is worth noting that The Teapot Cafe uses many locally grown ingredients from area farms.
Taken from http://teapages.blogspot.com/
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