
I design Tribune Publishing newspapers for my day (night) job, and when I was working on the Aurora Beacon News a couple months ago, I read a story about Calla Lily Tea Room in Aurora and knew I wanted to try it. It looked like a really cute spot, and I have been searching for a Victorian-style tea room in the area for a while, so I was really excited to come across this place. I reached out to my longtime friend Laurel, who lives near the cafe, and this week we got together for afternoon tea.
The afternoon tea comes with fresh fruit, scones (I chose lavender cream for mine) with clotted cream and lemon curd, desserts and finger sandwiches. Each guest also gets an individual pot of one of Calla Lily’s house teas.
We both opted for the Lady Londonderry Tea, malty with notes of strawberry and lemon. This blend was great! I really enjoyed it, and Laurel, who isn’t a big tea drinker, also liked it a lot.
Not only was the tea good, but the food was really delicious. My lavender cream scone was slightly floral with a hint of vanilla. Though I always love a good cucumber finger sandwich, the chicken salad was my favorite of all four both sweet and savory, with a tart cranberry apricot chutney and added crunch from pecans.
If you don’t want a full tea service, Calla Lilly has heavier meals or soups, salads and sandwiches. It you just want to meet a friend for a quick snack, they offer cream tea (tea and scones) as well. Like many other tea rooms I’ve been to, the store sells tea ware, as well as loose leaf blends and scone mixes.
Not tea related, but while visiting, I also got to meet Laurel’s sweet puppy, Willow! All in all, a great day. 🙂
Looks like a nice tea room. I was just wondering where Aurora is and when I googled it, I realized that my sister brought us there to visit the factory outlet mall. I hope that I will have a chance to visit this tea room someday soon.
I hope you get a chance to visit it!