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A tasty classic ritual lives on

A spot of tea is just the thing to lift you up or calm you down and an English tearoom has it.

By MARY JANE PARK
Published October 1, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Think tea, and you may envision languid afternoons on a broad porch or well-dressed matrons with their pinkies extended. Both images would be apt, for the beverage is consumed by royalty - and the rest of us.

Even people who work outdoors in the heat have an affinity for it.

"It helps you perspire, but in a delicate manner," said Nazih Halawy, a 62-year-old retired airline pilot.

For Mary Lynn White, a retired schoolteacher who has homes in St. Petersburg and Clarksville, Ga., tea is almost a daily ritual.

"It's just so soothing," she said. "You feel so nurtured."

We commoners generally turn to the humble tea bag for brewing our favorite blends. White did, too, until she met Halawy and his wife, Thelma, who ran A Corner of England on Beach Drive for five years.

They scoop loose tea leaves into a German paper filter, place the packet into a china pot, then fill it with water brought to a boil in an electric kettle. They eschew metal strainers, which can make the end product bitter.

The Halawys moved west several months ago. The downtown building that housed their shop was demolished recently to make way for construction of the Ovation condominium project.

They bought Festive Occasions, a stationery store at 6297 Central Ave. Thelma Halawy, 50, said the move has enabled them to combine the two businesses into A Corner of England-Festive Occasions, where customers can sip tea, order party and wedding invitations and find a variety of items that range from Marmite to soaps and candles.

In addition to daintier fare, the Halawys offer Cornish pasties and a ploughman's lunch.

Construction workers David Goldberg and Dave Hill, who also patronized the Beach Drive business, stopped by for a tea break early last week.

"I was happy when they moved out here," Goldberg said. "It's closer to my house."

"The atmosphere. The ambience. Nazih is so good about keeping the tea hot and fresh," White said. She is partial to white tea, which has high antioxidant levels.

If she goes to their place by herself, she takes a book, but she enjoys meeting other patrons, many of whom are well-educated and are visiting from other countries, she said.

The Halawys themselves have dual citizenships in their native countries. She is from England, and he hails from Lebanon.

A Corner of England is filled with mismatched furniture, china and silver and abundantly decorated with lace table cloths and silk flower bouquets. Patrons who want to play dress-up have access to boas and hats, even vintage Christian Dior and Balenciaga.

High tea, the most elaborate service the restaurant offers, includes four kinds of finger sandwiches, sausage rolls, miniature quiches, scones, chocolate eclairs, cream puffs, tea cakes and fresh fruit.

Theirs is not grab-and-go fare, available in seconds and devoured on the run. The Halawys are efficient, but just as friendships take time to develop, the tea needs a few minutes for its flavors to bloom.

As White said, "It's not just a cup of coffee. You're doing something good for yourself."

[Last modified September 30, 2006, 22:29:19]