Simply put, I’m the least-cultured person in the history of mankind.
No, seriously.
I should be happy that, growing up in Kansas City, Mo., I lived about three blocks away from the state line. I really wouldn’t have gone anywhere if it weren’t for the convenience of it. That, and I was forced into Kansas because my favorite coffee shop was located within its corn-laden borders, clearly the mecca for all things worldly.
I’ve left the Midwest only twice in my lifetime, once for about three days to attend a wedding in Atlanta and another for about a week to visit South Carolina with the cousins. Sadly, I was about 13 when each of these occurred and had little on my mind other than ways to coerce Zac Hanson into marriage-not that I have much more on my mind now, but still. Sans that, my life is filled with nothing more than Missouri; Kansas; Missouri; small towns in Illinois that no one, including those who live in said small towns, have ever heard of; Missouri; a tiny bit of Nebraska and some more Missouri to even out the score.
I have to live my worldly dreams vicariously through others, be it the adventures of my friends in Italian Club, my British-born friend or my father’s rousing tales from that one time that he went to Canada. It’s fairly slim-pickings.
It’s reasons like this why I fully embrace the London Tea Room (1520 Washington Ave.); despite it being only a 10-minute drive from SLU, it’s the farthest away I’ve ever been from the United States.
Located inside of the antique furniture store English Living, the London Tea Room is the perfect place to carry out the dream of going abroad. With cheap teas ($2 for a pot-take that, dollar to euro ratio) that don’t taste as such, the experience is even better.
The people behind the London Tea Room came to the United States in 1988. Unable to find the same tea-drinking, relaxing atmosphere they were accustomed to, the mother-daughter team that started English Living decided to try a new venture, opening the tearoom.
While the tearoom doesn’t claim to be exactly the real deal, according to its website, it’s “just good tea in good china in a relaxed, but cheery environment.” It’s still the next best thing to the famous English teatime. The tearoom may have the basic features of your average coffee shop-small in stature with marble tables, tall chairs and the occasional comfy armchair-but the variety of beverages offered are anything but common.
Not to mention, the tearoom adds just the right amount of sarcasm to the drinks. With the Organic Plum Berry tea with berries “so wild they eat their young,” and the store motto that “all culture shocks should taste this good,” the tearoom finds a way to quell my hunger for food and dry wit, all at once.
One word of caution, however: The tearoom is a nice place, so while the dress is fairly casual, an old Duke sweatshirt, dirty jeans and fake Ugg boots might not be the best attire, just for instance.
Ugly American attire aside, the London Tea Room is wonderful. It’s perfect for hip 20-somethings looking for a place to get away, a place to relax, or a place to dream about times to come; specifically times that don’t involve states famous for cattle and/or corn.
Kelley Dunn is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences.
