Customer Reviews

The Great Tea Rooms of America

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Bruce Richardson has done it again! After much success with "The Great Tea Rooms of Britain," loyal readers asked for and encouraged Richardson to do an American version. Over a three year span, logging alot of air and road miles, he has produced what so many have been longing for. He has given us the first-ever look into some of "The Great Tea Rooms of America."

While not feasibly being able to include ALL tea rooms in America, Richardson, based on his many years of experience in the tea trade, picked those that he thought best represented the fine art of tea. His knowledge is incredibly valuable. He begins the book with an introduction of tea itself and the history of the introduction of tea into America. Then begins the journey. With a wonderful representation of many different styles, twenty-one tea rooms are spotlighted, including: Brown Palace Hotel of Denver, Butchart Gardens of Victoria, British Columbia, Cliffside Inn of Newport, Rhode Island, Drake Hotel of Chicago, Dunbar Tea Room of Sandwich, Massachusetts, Dunshanbe Teahouse of Boulder, Colorado, Fairmont Empress Hotel of Victoria, British Columbia, Farmhouse Tea Shoppe of Dunwoody, Georgia, Disney's Grand Floridian Resort of Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Hydrangea of Wilmette, Illinois, Landy Mendl's of New York City, Lady Primrose's Thatched Cottage of Dallas, McCharles House of Tustin, California, Rose Tree Cottage of Pasadena, California, St. Regis Hotel of New York City, Sentimental Rose Tea Garden of Frazeysburg, Ohio, Swan House of Findlay, Ohio, The T Salon of New York City, The Tea Room of Savannah, Georgia, Waldorf-Astoria of New York City....and of course Richardson's own Elmwood Inn of Perryville, Kentucky. Included in the description of each particular tea room is a bit of history, delicious recipes, great color photographs (Bruce is also a photographer), and a narrative overview of his tea experience there. Included is Jane Pettigrew's (of London) editorial on Elmwood Inn. Each tea room's mailing address, phone number and website are listed in the back. I found the book to be informing, interesting and quite simply...fun.

While I know there are many American tea lovers that are thrilled this book is finely completed, there must be as many international tea lovers that are just as thrilled, as this book makes for an excellent tea traveler's guide across the great United States of America. I assure you, you can find confidence in this wonderful book. With Perryville being home to me, I frequent Elmwood Inn and enjoy the pleasures of afternoon tea as prepared by my friends, Bruce and Shelley Richardson. (I feel so fortunate!) After all, this is the only American tea room to be recommended by the British Tea Council.

How disappointed I was in purchasing this book, especially considering how much I've read about the author. The writing is marginal, relying more on recipes from the tea rooms. The photographs are low quality, and do not typically depict the tea atmosphere as normally presented by the tea rooms. I was expecting "CLASSY" and got "TACKY". I think the author, Bruce Richardson, uses this book and his other to officiate his own tea room.

Page 17 -- recipe for Double Chocolate Brownies. Part of the recipe is missing. When do you add the eggs, vanilla and sugar listed in the ingredients?

I am surprised that someone didn't notice this since the first printing which appears to have been in 2002, but perhaps the error did not appear in those issues.

I just bought this book and it makes me hesitant to try the recipes -- just wondering if there are other mistakes (this one was obvious).

Note also -- there are only 117 pages in this book with 77 recipes listed (77 recipes if you include the recipe for the double chocolate brownies on page 17 which isn't complete). I think the suggested price of $25.00 is a little expensive for the content.

This is a delightful book for browsing and getting inspired. The photos are pretty and the recipes fine. I wish the author would have included a copy of the current menu at the time of publication. This would help in planning a visit to know if one wants to go for lunch, the real teatime or something else. Overall, I love the book and it is througly charming.