Wednesday, February 24, 2010

To a Tea in New Hartford: Passiflora

I'm just soooo busy I hardly have the time to explore and report about truly scenic CT. Which is a shame, because while the blåg serves many purposes - outlet for hostility, humor, self-aggrandizement, it is also our mission to promote those things that are truly wonderful in our little state. So it was a real delight yesterday to spend a snow day reprieve from an afternoon of classes in "downtown" New Hartford with my school n' carpool mate Cynthia.


We stopped in at Passiflora "Tea Room & Herbal Shoppe" on Route 44, and now our newest favorite place. When you first walk in you see are greeted by a roomful of herbal remedies, teas, natural body products, homeopathy and assorted New Age-y gifts and crafts. Adjacent is the cafe, which has assorted comfy seating and casual charm. The shop was otherwise empty, so we browsed and chatted with the friendly staff and browsed the tea and food menus. Passiflora offers eclectic organic food with an extensive tea menu, interesting homemade desserts and smoothies and other specialty drinks. I was very tempted by the smoothie menu, but the shop was rather tragically out of bananas, a key ingredient for the best sounding drinks. So that will have to wait for next time.


I sampled a ginger tofu soup which was great and probably very healthy, and ended up ordering a chai latte made with almond milk and loose leaf actually spicy, wonderful tea and a vegan black bean brownie, which probably sounds slightly less awesome than it tasted. Cynthia had a fragrant, flowery green tea blend with lemongrass, rose, jasmine and lemon mytle in the mix, and a rather decadent magic bar. Everything was perfect, and we are so happy to find someplace that takes tea seriously and executes it so well. I will definitely be back to check out that smoothie!


Check out their website for details on natural health, special events and speakers, and consider stopping by on Thursday evenings for their weekly community night of games and conversation.

2 comments:

  1. I've been there a couple times—it's a nice, cozy place. But, the last time I went, the food kind of sucked. If you get the chance, check out The Coffee Trade in Avon. http://thecoffeetrade.com/

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  2. Oh wait...I totally forgot you already went to The Coffee Trade...haha

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