The success of Lola”™s Tea House seems to be written in the stars ”“ make that the tea leaves ”“ according to one clairvoyant customer.
“A lady was in here and she was a little eccentric,” said Leslie Allicks, proprietor of the Pelham tea emporium. “She came in and sat down with another friend and she looked around and I was standing here watching her. I went over to greet them and she said to me, ”˜Are you the owner?”™ And I said, ”˜Yes.”™ She said, ”˜What”™s your sign?”™ And I said, ”˜Virgo.”™ She said, ”˜I knew it, I knew it! I do readings you know. I feel good vibes, good spirits,”™ she said. ”˜I”™ll be back.”™”
While Lola”™s doesn”™t offer tea-leaf readings, with a variety of teas, baked goods, sandwiches and quiche, it doesn”™t take a mystic to foretell Lola”™s promising future.
On April 12, Lola”™s Tea House opened its doors as what Allicks said is the first tea house in southern Westchester. But opening up a tea house wasn”™t always this former HMO executive”™s dream.
“The dream originally was a coffee house, but Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks and everything else ”“ life got in the way,” said Allicks.
About two years ago Allicks”™ father was diagnosed with cancer. During her daily visits with her dad, she noticed that her mom would bring him a cup of tea with every meal. It was the day his tea ran out that Allicks”™ learned the importance of the drink to her family ancestry.
“One day we ran out of tea and he got very upset,” said Allicks. “He stopped eating and demanded that I go a get him tea. So I went and got the tea and when I came back I struck up the nerve to ask, ”˜Hey dad, what is it about the tea? Why couldn”™t you wait until tomorrow?”™
“He started telling me this story ”“ that he is the youngest of 12 children and your great grandmother raised us all the queen”™s way, he lived in the Caribbean, and we had to have tea with three meals. So I said, ”˜Alright I understand that, but one meal? I don”™t think the queen would be upset with you.”™ He said, ”˜No, it”™s a tradition in our family.”™”
Allicks was directed to go into a cabinet and there she found a variety of tea pieces. Her father told her that her great grandfather was the first black man to work in the Haviland China Tea Company and every year he would give Allicks”™ father and his siblings china.
She realized then that her dream wasn”™t in coffee, but in tea. To pursue her dream and take care of her father, she decided to take a leave of absence from her job. During her in- between time while taking care of her father, Allicks did research on tea, visited local tea houses and joined a tea organization. She was mentored by the owner of the Silver Tips tea room in Tarrytown and worked out a deal with the owner of The Tea House in Mamaroneck: She would work for free and in return learn the ins and outs of running a tea house.
Her father”™s health deteriorated and he died. Her leave of absence was ending in September, but when the time came to go back to work, Allicks decided to stick to her dream, and quit.
From there, Allicks said opening up her Tea House was not easy but “effortless.”
While she was starting up her business, she started teaching part time at Monroe College in the Bronx in its Allied Health Department. After some permit delays, the rest of the process just fell into place. She went to tea school learning everything about the tea industry: from the history to the taste to whom to buy from. A member of her church was her interior designer and her cousin who owns a tea catering company helped her create the menu and makes the fillings for the sandwiches.
The name of the tea house also has sentimental family value as it is named after her mother.
“My mother is named Lola, so I thought that was a cute name for a tea house,” said Allicks. “She is 4-feet 9-inches and spunky and she”™s 83 and (I was) thinking, I”™ll name it after her. She”™s a celebrity now, a rock star. And every now and again she”™ll hop in a cab and come over and she stands by the door and ”¦” Allicks threw her arms up in the air.
“Almost two years to the day” after she began to bring her dream to life, Allicks thinks this is her calling.
“Maybe I am supposed to do this, maybe this is my path,” said Allicks. “And there were some challenges, but not a lot of obstacles came in my way to say I shouldn”™t do this. Everything kind of lined itself up.”
