Lady Elegant’s Tea Room

No little girl took teatime as seriously as Michelle Sommerfeld.

She began collecting tea varieties as a preteen and, by 14, had saved enough Christmas and birthday money to buy her first collectible teapot. She hosted tea parties out of the family house for nearly five years, building her mailing list to 300 people, until her parents asked her to take it outside.

In 2003, Sommerfeld opened Lady Elegant’s Tea Room and Gift Shoppe, where she hews to the English Victorian traditions from a small nest of shops on the southwest corner of Como and Carter avenues in St. Paul.

“To me, I think of teatime as being a relaxing time, to get away from the stress and just settle down to more tea,” Sommerfeld says.

“They call this the gateway tea,” she adds, pointing to a jar of French caramel crème brulee.

The smell of warm chocolate hangs in the air of her dainty shop — this weekend’s themed tea is for chocolate lovers, but the aroma comes from a candle. Fine crystal and lace tablecloths await guests.
Along with dozens of teas, her shelves are dotted with teatime accessories — porcelain drip catchers in the shapes of a bird and butterfly, gold spoons and sugar cube tongs, a heart-shape tea infuser.

Sommerfeld, 33, works another job at a law firm — she logs about 70 hours each week between that and her tearoom — but still indulges her own tea fancy. Her personal collection has grown to 83 teacups, all of fine bone china, and 16 teapots.

“I told myself when I get to 100 teacups that I’m going to buy the one I really want,” she says, holding the object of her fancy, a fruit-themed cup with green and gold inlay. It sells for $52.99.

(this article was taken from bradenton.com)