Serenitea Growing number of sippers and diners make stop at cafe a weekly ritual

loading...

In his novel “The Chosen,” Chaim Potok writes: “Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.”

Heidi Samuel lives by these words. And in central Aroostook County, so do a growing number of sippers and diners who have made a stop at Heidi’s Tea Shop in Presque Isle part of their weekly ritual.

Some come for carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, washed down with a strong cup of lavender-scented Earl Grey. Others drink in the cozy elegance of the dining room, with its white Damask tablecloths, tea-theme wallpaper and myriad teapots in all shapes and sizes. Those with a hunger that can’t be quenched by tea sate their stomachs – and their souls – with a savory Mediterranean salad and butternut squash soup, or, come dinnertime, curry-crusted pork tenderloin or a spinach ricotta souffle.

“Some of them I just know by what tea they drink,” Samuel said with a smile on a recent afternoon. “You get to know people and what they like. There are certain things you do a little bit differently for so-and-so.”

That personal touch is part of the appeal for the Rev. Shelly Timber of New Sweden and her friend Lona Albers of Caribou. Timber is one of the tea shop’s “regulars,” and she’s partial to a blueberry scone with clotted cream or lemon curd – sometimes both. And the women consider a visit to the tea shop a way to pamper themselves.

“There is no other place that has that genteel,” Timber said, letting her voice trail off.

“Hat and white gloves,” Albers added.

“Yes, that air,” Timber finished. “It’s intimate.”

It hasn’t always been this way. In its original incarnation – a kiosk in the Aroostook Centre Mall – the tea shop wasn’t exactly intimate. But it was a start.

Samuel has had a lifelong love for tea, which was only strengthened when she and her family moved to Australia in the early 1990s. Her husband, Gregory, is in the Air Force, and he was stationed there for three years.

“The culture of tea time really set in there,” Samuel said. “All of our friends were Australian, and they all drank tea. I got used to that. I like that culture.”

When she returned to the States, she couldn’t find a good cup of tea anywhere. After extensive research, she discovered Metropolitan Tea Co., a wholesaler in Toronto.

“I started ordering tea just for myself, but I had to share this with people,” Samuel recalled. “I had tried a lot of teas but I had never had a cup of tea like this.”

Several years ago, she set up the kiosk at Christmastime, selling loose-leaf tea, tea pots and tea making paraphernalia. In two months’ time, she had amassed a steady clientele, who contacted her after the holidays to order tea. The next Christmas season, she shared a mall storefront with several other local merchants, including antiques dealer Annie Graves.

“In that Christmas season, we were together every day for nine weeks,” recalled Samuel, who lives in Stockholm. “The first five weeks, we couldn’t stop talking about the possibilities of this combination of businesses.”

They started looking for a storefront, and eventually decided to move into Graves’ former antiques storage space, adjacent to her husband’s optometry office on Main Street.

During the renovation, they installed floor-to-ceiling shelves for the hundreds of antique books Graves has for sale, along with small collectibles and housewares.

They also added a tiny kitchen, because Samuel wanted to stick to tea and sweets.

That didn’t last long.

From day one, customers wanted lunch. Samuel responded with quiche, chicken salad sandwiches and green salad. Then the regulars started asking for soup. Samuel gave them fresh tomato-basil with tortellini, a velvety black bean and traditional chicken soup – all with freshly baked Cheddar biscuits. Before long, she hired a few staffers and a baker. And before long, the customers started asking for dinner.

This winter, she began to stay open on Thursday and Friday nights, offering a full, gourmet menu including vegetarian options. On any given evening, the selection could include Asian sesame pasta with fresh vegetables in a ginger-sesame dressing, Adelaide mini crab cakes with sweet red pepper pesto or crispy, bacon-wrapped shrimp served with melon and mango chutney.

“I decided it was a good thing to do because we needed another choice in town for good food and a better atmosphere,” she said.

A Caribou native, Samuel (nee Johnston) has always loved cooking. She attended culinary school at Southern Maine Vocational Technical Institute from 1979 to 1980, and when she graduated, she went on to work under Emeril Lagasse during his stint at the Sheraton in South Portland, long before he became a celebrity chef.

“He was young, shy, and my land, you could hardly get him to put two words together,” Samuel recalled, laughing. “Just being there was a good experience.”

In 1982, she and Gregory married, and they returned to The County. Heidi mostly stayed home to raise their children, occasionally working “odds and ends – not a whole lot.” Now that their children are older, tea – and circumstance – have given Samuel a chance to pursue her passion.

It has also given the locals a chance to “have some tea and continue to talk of happy things.”

“I see the faces of the people who come on a Friday afternoon – teachers – they’ve had a horrid week, and they come in at the end of the week desperate to sit and talk to each other and connect,” Samuel said. “You watch them and they hold on to their tea and it’s like a blanket. It’s like you just want to crawl into the cup when you’re feeling bad.”

And if you’re feeling good, so much the better.

“Whether it’s the tea or conversation or the atmosphere, no matter what, tea is the catalyst,” Samuel said.

Heidi’s Tea Shop is located at 769 Main St. in Presque Isle. Dinner is served Thursday and Friday nights only. For information, call 768-7900 or visit www.heidisteashop.com.