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Tea, With A Unique Twist

Tampa Tribune staff photo/Greg Fight

Connie Holland, left, and daughter Amanda have tea at Simply Country Gifts & Southern Belles Tearoom.

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By JAN HOLLINGSWORTH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 1, 2007

PLANT CITY - The frilly lace curtains, gilded forks and elaborate place settings convey the cozy elegance one might expect from a tearoom best described as "country Victorian."

The blue-jeaned cowboy whipping up scones in the kitchen, however, is a unique twist that's pure Plant City.

The irony does not escape Rick and Susan-Lynn Lewis, proprietors of Simply Country Gifts & Southern Belles Tearoom, 2214 Thonotosassa Road.

"He's always liked to bake," Susan-Lynn said of her husband-partner-chef. "I'm glad he does, 'cause he sure can't decorate."

Rick Lewis does make a mean scone - among the best of the best, according to Teamap.com, which rates Southern Belles No. 6 among 101 tearooms in the state.

If the truth be known, he would rather be riding a tractor or tending cattle at the family's 10-acre Lithia ranch than creating delectable finger sandwiches and audacious desserts.

"My therapy is my cows," he said. "All they want is something to eat and they're sweet."

Lewis may enjoy delivering calves, and Susan-Lynn, an obstetrical nurse, delivers babies at South Florida Baptist Hospital, yet the couple's business also has been a labor of love for the better part of a quarter-century.

The couple opened Simply Country on the day after Thanksgiving in 1986.

"It was kind of a fluke," Susan-Lynn Lewis said. "We wanted to do antiques."

"A feed and tack store would have been nice," opines her cowboy chef.

Instead, they opened a gift shop in a Plant City shopping center. There, they sold gifts, collectibles and home furnishings until 1998, when they bought an English Tudor-style house south of Interstate 4.

"It just seemed to be perfect for what we were doing," she said.

And, for what they wanted to do in the future: open Plant City's first traditional tearoom.

Susan-Lynn Lewis attended tea school in Columbus, Ga., to learn how to do it right.

"We wanted it to be a real afternoon tea - not biscuits and gravy," she said.

"I just do what she tells me to," said Rick Lewis, who nonetheless tinkers with the recipes with pleasing results.

In spring 2002, the couple added two tearooms to the gift shop and offered a "Queen" and a "Princess" tea.

"Ninety-five percent of our customers choose the Princess tea - and 90 percent of those never eat everything because it's a lot of food," she said.

The Princess tea is served on a three-tiered tray with tea sandwiches, desserts and two types of scones served with Devonshire cream and lemon curd. The Queen adds a first course of soup and an extra savory, usually stuffed with meat.

Loose-leaf tea in a variety of flavors, iced or hot, rounds out the experience.

Diane McDonald, a teacher at the First Baptist Learning Center and Preschool, has been buying gifts there for years. Last month, her daughter, Rebecca, brought her and friend Tiffany Lloyd to Southern Belles for their first tea.

"It won't be my last," McDonald said. "It is so special. You don't realize how special it is until you try it."

At the next table, Connie and Amanda Holland were sharing one of the many teas they've enjoyed since Amanda, 20, was a toddler.

"It's our special time," said Connie Holland, who teaches third grade at Walden Lake Elementary School.

For Holland, visiting tearooms is a longtime hobby. This one is a favorite.

"I've visited every tearoom in Florida, and this one has the best food," she said.

And lots of it, her daughter added.

The Hollands come for the food, the fellowship and the ambiance - right down to the creative ways Susan-Lynn Lewis presents the bill.

"She always has the cutest things to bring your check in," Amanda Holland said.

On this day, it is tucked inside a glittery antique-style opera purse that dangles from the table, one of the many gift items available in the shop.

"I always say it softens it a little bit," Susan-Lynn Lewis said of the cost.

The Princess and Queen teas are $15.99 to $18.99.

Those who come to shop or drop in for an afternoon snack can choose a lighter "cream" or dessert tea, which consists of two scones with Devonshire cream and lemon curd, fruit and tea. The price: $6.99 to $7.99.

Those are among the most popular teas in addition to bridal and baby showers, family outings and socials.

There are three tearooms within the sprawling Tudor home - the Scarlett room, popular among brides; the Rhett room, with its cozy fireplace and paisley wallpaper, is a hit with the masculine clientele; and the Garden Room, where customers can sip and shop at the same time amid the Department 56 Christmas villages, Seraphim Angels, pens made from antique flatware and other collectibles.

"That's what teas are all about - being able to sit down and relax in this rushed, drive-through world," Susan-Lynn Lewis said.

In an effort to offer harried holiday shoppers an alternative to mall madness, the Lewises are offering a number of special events, including Christmas carol teas through the month of December.

Though they sell relaxation, it is a luxury for the Lewises who, after 32 years of marriage, three children - the oldest is 25, the youngest is 10 - still work at other jobs outside their business.

Still, they have no shortage of dreams and plans for the future of their enterprise, which include a dedicated room for children's teas and a day spa for their mothers in 1,000 square feet of unused space on the second floor.

"A lot of people don't know what we've got here," Rick Lewis said.

His 19-year-old son, who would love to move to Montana and become a cowboy, would just as soon it stayed a secret.

"He says, 'Daddy, don't tell people we've got a tearoom!'"

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Simply Country Gifts &

Southern Belles Tearoom

WHERE: 2214 Thonotosassa Road

Exit 19, 1/2 mile south of Interstate 4

HOURS: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

TEA SEATING TIMES: Reservations preferred

Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Other seating times available for groups of eight or more by reservation, Tuesday through Saturday

INFORMATION OR RESERVATIONS: (813) 754-LOVE (5683)

Reporter Jan Hollingsworth can be reached at (813) 865-4436 or jhollingsworth@tampatrib.com.

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