Afternoon Tea at the Camellia Rose Tea Room & Gift Shop

We enjoyed a most pleasant afternoon tea at Camellia Rose Tea Room in Plant City, Florida last Saturday.  And, I had the pleasure of meeting co-owner Ellen Garrett (top photo).  She and I are members of an online tea chat group.

Camellia Rose is an English-style Tea Room with a Southern Flair, combining a fantastic loose leaf tea selection, with delicious food and gracious Southern Hospitality!

We ordered the Lorena's Afternoon Tea.  The first course was a cup of homemade soup.  GJ and I ordered the potato soup and AJ ordered the minestrone.  (He reminded me later I forgot to take a photo of his soup).  The three tier server arrived next.  Freshly baked Strawberry White Chocolate Scones were on the bottom tier, served with southern style Devon cream.  The middle tier held an assortment of sandwiches including a heart-shaped cucumber cream cheese open-faced sandwich, a ham and pineapple sandwich on swirled rye bread, a dainty Gruyere cheese and strawberry phyllo tart, and their signature curry chicken salad tea sandwich on white bread with the edges encrusted with finely chopped pecans.  The top tier held a delicious swan-shaped cream puff, a delightful heart-shaped chocolate cheesecake with a chocolate cookie crumb crust, and a delicate trifle in a mini tea cup. 

We ordered bottomless pots of tea.  AJ and I had Queen's English Tea, while the amazing aroma of GJ's Sandy's French Creme Brulee tempted us to try a few sips of his tea as well. 

Plant City is located between Tampa and Orlando just off I-4, and is the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World.  Camellia Rose Tea Room & Gift Shop is located in the downtown Historic District, among several antique shops.  Convenient free public parking is available in the area.

Just in case you are wondering about AJ's ROTC hat in the top photo, we all had hats selected by Ellen in our seats awaiting our arrival.
Camellia Rose has a lovely, well-stocked gift shop including a wide variety of teas available. 

And, there was a special guest speaker at tea, a horticulturist who specializes in growing and selling Camellia's. GJ thoroughly enjoyed the presentation.  He and AJ purchased one to take to our Kentucly Snowbird friends, Marie and George in nearby Lakeland, FL, were we spent the night. 

More to come in the next post....