Morgana

232 Followers / 183 Following

Lisa's Tea Treasures in Menlo Park, California

5/5

2010-02-27 00:47:35 -0500

This place will always be inextricably linked to the birth of my number 2 son, as it was the venue for my baby shower for that (now four-year-old) bundle of joy. I knew nothing from tea at the time, and I remember being totally baffled when my shower hostess asked me what tea to order. I, of course, being eight months pregnant, opted for something without caffeine. Somewhere I have the emails that would reveal my ultimate choice, but I’m not up to digging through to find it. It was a pleasant berry flavor as I recall.

The event I’ve described is the type of thing this place excels at. A small, intimate gathering of friends to celebrate a life event. I think we had 8 or 10 people, and that was about the size the room we were in could comfortably accomodate. Though others were having events in adjoining rooms, we were sufficiently, and as I recall, comfortably secluded. Of course, this should be taken in the context of my having a 20 month old at the time, so my views on what constituted noise and interruptions were somewhat skewed.

This place is right across from the CalTrain tracks at the Menlo station, but I don’t recall it being noisy. It’s a nice place to sit.

And by the way, I meant to give this 4 stars, not 5, simply because I am a curmudgeon when it comes to standards of perfection and though I’m willing to be swayed up one star for emotional attachment reasons, I am not willing to be swayed up 2. And yet, try as I might, I can’t turn off that 4th star. INTERFACE FAIL!

Profile

Bio

I thought I should probably update this bio as it’s been a couple of years since I “started getting into” tea. It’s now more accurate to say that I was obsessed with tea for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it, and I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order.

Personal biases: I much prefer to drink tea without additives such as milk and sugar. If a tea needs additives to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’m going to rate it high. The exception is chai, which I make on the stove top using a recipe I found here on Steepster. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs into the harder stuff, but once I learned how to make a decent cup of tea they became far less appealing to me. That said, I’m not entirely a purist, and I enjoy a good flavored tea, particularly flavored blacks.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is; will keep this stocked until the cows come home

90-94 First rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Excellent; likely to become a favorite, will likely buy more

70-79 Very good; would enjoy again, might buy again if in the mood for this particular one or a better, similar version not available

60-69 Good; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but probably wouldn’t buy again unless craving this particular flavor

50-59 Okay or run of the mill

40-49 So-so

30-39 Iffy

20-29 Would definitely pass

10-19 Ick

0-9 Never again