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Tea time!
Find a brew that suits you to a “tea” at
Mugg`zs
By Jeffrey D. Norwalk
Special to Maumee Bay Press
GENOA - There’s an enticing new aroma in the air at A Most Unusual Garden & Gift Shop in downtown Genoa.
It’s not coming from the lavender shrubs, the sprigs of thyme or other colorful perennials in the tidy garden at the rear of the boutique.
Shop owner Shirley Frater has been very busy planting seeds for new and exotic additions to her inventory - toasty rice, sweet pomegranate, and South African Aspalathus Linearis, all of which she’ll be serving up not in flower pots, but in oversized mugs as she debuts her new Mugg’zs Tea Nook.
“I’ve always been really into teas,” Frater said. “I enjoyed the relaxation aspect of them and drank them while working in the garden,” adds the Toledo native. “It wasn’t until I moved to Maine that I started to experiment with loose leaf teas, because they’re much more popular there.
“When we moved back here three and a half years ago, I found that I really missed having a shop, so I bought this building from a friend who owns Once Upon a Thyme Antiques, and started carrying the teas immediately.
“A lot of the times when people come into the shop, they’ve heard about the teas, but will have questions, because they’ve never done loose leaf before,” says Frater. “But then I’ll show them what they need to do, and they’ll keep coming back for more and more, saying, `fixing myself a pot of tea in the morning is such a nice thing to do.’
“And that’s really why I want to have this tea room,” she said. “I love meeting new people and having them come in to talk and visit, and learn about new teas.
Frater says she was looking to create a “nice, laid-back place, where people can stop in to have a nice cup of tea made with a press pot, where they can relax, make new friends, look through some good gardening books, and stay as long as they like.”
While Frater and her daughter Jen Younker had to do some rearranging in the shop to accommodate the five cozy tables, fellow green thumbs happening into the shop will still be able to come away toting all the usual mini-perennials, clay planting pots, stone sculptures and assorted whimsical garden adornments they’ve grown accustomed to finding.
Tucked strategically into a corner near the front of the building near the shop’s big sun-drenched window, tables with their happy assortment of chairs in lime greens, petunia purple and a rainbow of other colors offer the perfect spot for perusing a book or watching passersby on the sidewalk outside. A table or two placed on the sidewalk in front, as well as one additional seating area in the rear garden offer fresh-air seating.
Mugg’zs Tea Nook features over 70 different flavors of tea, brewed from the many oversized jars that come to Genoa from the corners of Africa, the Caribbean and exotic ports of call all across the Orient. Choose from up to 12 different green teas in flavors such as Long Island Strawberry (sweet strawberry and papaya pieces), Organic Gunpowder (captivating taste, slightly smoky), Niagara Peach, or Bohemian Raspberry.
There are also 32 different variations of naturally-flavored black tea in assorted varieties like Organic Monk’s Blend (grenadine + caramel vanilla = heaven), Black Forest (chocolate, cherry, and cream), and Jamaican Rum, along with light, smooth-sipping “Black Dragon” oolong teas, exotic white teas. Or chose Tisane fruit tea or a flowering tea, which make for refreshing iced drinks and literally bud into beautiful flowers on the bottom of a press pot respectively when brewed. When the sipping’s done tea enthusiasts will be tempted to take home some tea of their own, as well as an assortment of ceramic mugs, shiny tea balls, measuring spoons, and other cool gadgets.
If tea is not, well, your cup of tea, try a cup of joe - a house blend, a dark roast, and decaf blend of Intelligentsia Coffee, which was voted Chicago’s “Best Coffee,” and which Frater is bringing in for her customers who prefer a strong brew.
As the mercury soars, try your favorite tea iced, or a smoothie.
Mugg’zs will also be offering a generous menu of homemade, fresh-baked pastries including biscotti, cupcakes, muffins, scones and other goodies from local up-and-comer KoKoRo.
A Most Unusual Garden & Gift Shop and the Mugg’zs Tea Nook are located at 624 Main St. in historic Genoa. Call 419-855-7205 for hours and further details.
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