MATBA Gathering at Tea-For-All, Trenton, NJ

Mike and Debbie Raab, owners of Tea for All in Trenton, NJ hosted the fall seminar for members of the Mid-Atlantic Tea Business Association. Their business is located in the Trenton Farmers Market in Lawrence Township, NJ. The fall decor set the scene for an enjoyable event. The session began with a presentation by Steve Schilling, Fine Arts Photographer. His photographs seek to tell the story of places, the stories of objects, and the stories of people. He presented two topics which included 'Slow Art in The Tea Room' and 'Food Photography hints and tips'. Both presentations were well received by the members of MATBA.

Deb introduced the members of her 'team' and explained that this was their first formal tea event. Members traveled from NY, PA, and MD to attend this seminar. 

Menu boards, placed on each table, noted that the entire Afternoon Tea was vegan, meaning no meat, no eggs, and no dairy. The seasonal menu promised to be a tasty and healthy treat for everyone. 

A hearty Kale Salad was served first, well massaged and tasty with a delicate vinaigrette.

Hearty and warming Butternut Squash Soup served in a China teacup was the next course. Following the soup, the tiered trays were presented to each table.

The tiered tray held the tea sandwiches which included Avocado Cucumber, Carrot Raisin, and Chickpea 'Tuna' Salad. They were all very flavorful, colorful and quite tasty. The top tier held an assortment of teatime sweets which included Chocolate Mousse, Carrot Cake Truffles, Pumpkin Chocolate Truffles, and Coconut Pistachio Bites. A glazed scone served separately rounded out the menu.

Many thanks to our hosts, Deb and Mike Raab. They provided a wonderful assortment of teas to complement the flavorful vegan tea menu. The gathering of members of the tea association always provides the opportunity to share ideas, receive encouragement, promote and honor each other, and share the joy and passion of our profession. It is a rejuvenating experience, and an enjoyable one. With the unknown weather factor, the winter session will be held via zoom. 

Afternoon Tea at Chez Alice, Lambertville, NJ

Our afternoon tea experience at Chez Alice was quite memorable. They offer a range of select French styled teatime experiences. We selected the Versailles which is the ultimate experience. The simple yet elegant place setting set the scene for an enjoyable teatime adventure. Once we selected our teas, the tiered tray was presented.

Teatime at Chez Alice must be reserved in advance. The elegance, the attention to detail, the artistry, it was such an enjoyable experience.

The top tier held the sandwiches. Shown here were the vegetarian options. The middle tier featured an amazing array of desserts, and the bottom tier held scones and breads nestled in a cloth bundle. This spectacular serving was for two guests.

 The Savory tier featured: Cucumber Finger Sandwich with lemon & dill cream cheese, a Mini Croque Monsieur with ham, gruyere, & bechamel, a Roasted Fingerling Potato with smoked salmon mousse and trout roe, Roasted Mushroom Banh Mi Croissant with fresh herbs and pickled vegetables, Peppered Strawberry Caprese Finger Sandwich with peppered strawberries, fresh mozzarella, balsamic, and basil and an Egg Salad Mini Éclair.

Egg Salad Mini Eclair

Roasted Mushroom Banh Mi Croissant with fresh herbs and pickled vegetables

Cucumber Finger Sandwich with multiple layers of lemon & dill cream cheese

This was one of the vegetarian options in place of a sandwich. It was a very tasty, fresh, chopped salad.

Sweet and Savory Scones, and Mini Danish

Lemon Curd, French Butter, Jelly

The Ultimate Dessert Tier

The variety and assortment of desserts was beyond amazing. The touches of gold leaf on many of the desserts, the beautiful artistry of each dessert, just simply outstanding. Too beautiful to eat, but after admiring the tray, we managed to savor some of the sweets and packed a few to come home.

This plate full of delicacies featured a Mini Lemon Eclair 

(lemon cream, crisp meringues, & whipped cream), La Demitasse (a mini chocolate cup with coffee mousse, praline & whipped cream), and Strawberry Fancy (strawberry mousse, strawberry compote & Cremieux). 

The desserts on this plate included a Mini Financier Rocher, a hazelnut cake with salted caramel, Nantais Gateau, an almond cake with fondant top, and Mini Opera, with almond joconde, coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache.

My favorite, simply because of the intricate decoration on the side of the cake, is the Mini Charlotte Royale with vanilla roulade with raspberry jam.

Assorted macarons, French artisan cookies, and tea infused chocolate rounded out the desserts. The intricate desserts with layer upon layer of deliciousness, the gold dust decorating many of the desserts, from start to finish it was a feast for the eyes. Each dessert more delicious than the previous one. Suffice it to say, we may have found our favorite tearoom!

Chez Alice Patisserie, Lambertville, NJ

 The tea experience at Chez Alice in Lambertville, NJ was memorable. Just across the PA border from New Hope is the aspiring community of Lambertville. This was a fun stop on our return journey from our weekend adventure to Boston. This is a combination French style bakery and tearoom where they promise a taste of Paris awaits. Walking past the bakery cases to reach the seating area, was an experience in itself.

The tearoom has a French flair to it as noted in the painted walls and bistro tables. Opposite this wall is seating that overlooks a canal that feeds into the Delaware River. 

Once seated, we were advised to select our tea. There were five signature French tea selections. The French Garden Herbal Tea, Mademoiselle Rose Green Tea, City of Lights Black Tea, French Blue Earl Grey Tea and Citrus Symphony Black Tea. To help with the selection, there was a sample of each tea on the table so you could sniff them and decide which flavor you wanted in your beautiful floral teapot.

Deciding what tea to enjoy was a fun experience and proved to be a difficult decision. We all chose a different flavor and enjoyed sampling the various options we had. 

We preselected our Afternoon Tea option, choosing the Versailles Tea Time experience which was the ultimate tea experience. We were on vacation after all and certainly deserved a special treat. We'll share that memorable experience in the next blog post.

Northeast Tea Festival, Boston, MA - 2025

The main purpose for our excursion north was to attend the first-ever Northeast Tea Festival held Saturday, August 23, 2025, at the Arts at the Armory in Somerville, a suburb of Boston, MA.

This one day tea extravaganza promised to be "the perfect place to indulge your love for all things tea". The event was hosted and coordinated by Nepal Tea Collective, along with sponsorships from Simpson & Vail Teas, MEM Tea, Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, Chicago Teahouse and Cambridge Naturals.

 Admission to the festival included a tote bag and a tea tasting cup. The opportunity to sample teas from around the world was available around every corner. Vendors came from far and wide, eager to talk about their unique teas or specialty blends. The tea flowed throughout the day along with enthusiastic crowds comprised of the novice tea drinkers eager to learn standing side by side with experienced tea aficionados on a quest to discover their next ultimate tea experience.

If you've attended the Pennsylvania Tea Festival, you might recognize Mike and Deb Raab of Tea-for-All, in Trenton as they brought their tea  and tea wares here to vend also.

As noted in this picture, there is a balcony that provided a refuge from the masses on the floor. It also afforded a nice overview of the vending area and a quiet respite to simply watch the activities from above.

In addition to the sales floor, there were different programs to attend, of which we selected two. Susanna and Angelica had fun with the hands-on autumn tea blending session guided by Cyndi Harron of Simpson & Vail. Later, we attended a program presented by Bruce Richardson of  Elmwood Inn on the Five Teas that Launched a Revolution. 

The Northeast Tea Festival reached a wide range of tea enthusiasts, and appears to have already outgrown its space. There are talks about finding a new location for next year. Follow their Facebook page, to keep up with their updates.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA

This past August we enjoyed a morning visit to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, an art museum in Boston centered around this glorious courtyard that changes with the seasons. The museum was opened in 1903, established for the education and enjoyment of the public forever. The art featured in the museum includes European, Asian, and American studies represented in painting, tapestries, sculptures, and decorative arts.

Between the floral bounty and the Spanish atmosphere, the courtyard was a major focal point as the welcoming center of the museum. We were able to wander from different rooms to experience the amazing collection. Isabella Stewart Gardner had an eye for collecting.

The museum is most famous for the unresolved robbery of thirteen paintings that occurred in 1990 by men dressed as police officers investigating a disturbance. In less than an hour and a half, they slashed painting from their frames, and escaped without issue. The empty picture frames continue to hang in the museum in hopes that they will be returned,