Make some time for tea time

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Need a break from the snowy weather? How about kicking back with hot cup of tea and taking a step back in time?

Sue Rothenberger has traveled around the world, sampling the finest tea houses and parlors throughout Europe and Turkey.

"My children would say to me, Mom, you ought to open your own tea room. Wouldn't it be great to open a tea room like they have in England," Rothenberger said.

But it was just a few years ago she opened her very own in the Loeb House Inn Bed & Breakfast off Cincinnati Street in Lafayette. From the moment you step over the threshold of the Victorian home, echoes of the past sweep over you. Pick out your perfect tea pot and sit down in the parlor for tea time.

"I wanted to have real napkins, real tablecloths, real silver and china," Rothenberger said.

She said to bring a group or come alone. She serves up a a lunch menu and desserts. But of course what keeps people coming back is the specialty tea, called Paradise.

"I don't give out the recipe, it's the Loeb House Paradise Tea," Rothenberger said.

She said she wants people to come in as strangers, but leave as friends.

"Just sit and relax, and absorb. Again, it's the atmosphere. I think without that atmosphere I'd just be another lunchroom," Rothenberger said.

The tea room is open on Thursdays and Fridays and by reservation on Saturday. So, Rothenberger invites you to come in from the cold and wrap your hands around the warm a teacup, and take in your piece of paradise.