What better way to reflect on the year’s accomplishments and dramas with colleagues, customers, and friends than over a cup of tea in a relaxed, comfortable setting? Create a memorable moment this holiday season to recognize the people who contributed to your successes and helped you through your challenges this year – invite them for tea at The Quail & Thistle Tea Room!

Weekday holiday teas are available starting October 17 through December 30, 2011. Reservations for special weekday teas must be made by phone (831-272-ALBA) at least 2 weeks in advance. 6 person minimum. 30 person maximum (indoors). Your group will have exclusive use of the tea room during your 2 hour reserved time slot. Final head count due 1 day prior along with food selections (Omnivore or Vegetarian California Country Tea).  No deposit required. You will be charged based on your food reservation head count regardless of no-shows. We accept cash, all major credit and debit cards and personal or business checks. Checks are processed as same-day ACH electronic debits.

Please have a primary and alternate date in mind when calling to make your reservation. We appreciate your patience and flexibility as we try to shuffle our “day job” schedules to accommodate your mid-week reservation requests.

Nancy Lynn Jarvis

Santa Cruz author Nancy Lynn Jarvis will be joining us at the Quail & Thistle Tea Room during the Bonny Doon Studio Tour this weekend to sign, sell, and chat about her books and characters in her Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries series. Local readers will recognize landmarks in Santa Cruz, Aptos, Capitola, and Bonny Doon and can go in search of the real houses used as inspiration for the settings in Regan’s adventures.

Nancy and her books will be set up in the tea room while tea room owner and occasional potter Danny Thorpe demonstrates ceramic techniques in slip casting, mold making, and kiln firing down in the workshop. The tea room will be closed for food service.

Have a little mystery adventure of your own this weekend exploring artists’ haunts and hangouts hidden in the redwoods on the Bonny Doon Studio Tour!

Cindy picked up a carload of organic cherries from a local vendor at the Santa Cruz farmer’s market, spent most of a day pitting them, and another day over the stove making jam and vacuum packing the jars in the hot water bath. I’m now printing labels for several new cases of our own Cherry Jam!

Our jars this year are a stylish hexagonal clear glass and feature a one-piece “popup” safety button lid to prove freshness.

Our jams and jellies are $7 per 8oz jar and can be purchased in the tea room. We can also take orders by phone and ship jams anywhere in the US for as little as $1.20 / jar (case quantity).

Mention your interest in purchasing jams when booking your tea room reservation. We’ll set your requested jams aside so they will be ready for you when you arrive for tea.

If they seem unsure about visiting our tea room, point out that our decor in the old lodge is quaint but not insufferably “girly”. While we do serve some light floral teas, we also offer bold black teas guaranteed to rocket you out of the midafternoon blahs. While our portions are small, the courses are many and with lots of different flavors to explore. No one ever leaves hungry!

Round up your menfolk and hustle them up the mountain to The Quail & Thistle Tea Room for a relaxing and memorable Father’s Day Tea.

Call today to reserve your table – Mother’s Day sold out early!

We offer special bridal shower and baby shower event packages tailored to your specific needs.

Our shower packages include:

• A California Country Tea (a three course luncheon!) per person
• Gift Table
• Cake Cutting and Serving Table (if desired)
• A Special Gift for the Guest of Honor
• Exclusive Use of the Tea Room! (12 guest minimum)

All for just $26 per person!

Why settle for some windowless restaurant back room when you can have full run of our tea house and grounds, beautiful views of redwoods and mountains in all directions, a wide array of delightful foods and drinks to please the palette, and the freedom to relax and enjoy the company of friends?

Call (831) 272-2522 today to book your reservation. Hold your special event at The Quail & Thistle Tea Room and make memories that will last a lifetime.

Terms & Conditions

• Reservations Required.
• 5 person minimum for package pricing and features
• 12 person minimum for exclusive use of tea room
• 22 person maximum for indoor seating in cold or rainy weather
  
• 50 person maximum for fair weather outdoor seating on the canopied courtyard
• Parties of 12 or more guests require a 20% deposit due at booking to exclusively reserve the tea room. Deposit is fully refundable upon cancellation 14 or more days prior to the event, non-refundable upon cancellation less than 14 days prior to the event.
• Reservations for parties of 12 or more guests must be booked at least one week in advance.
  
• An 18% gratuity will be added to your bill.
• Final guest count is due 24 hours prior to the event and will be the basis for the bill regardless of no-shows.
• We accept cash, check, and all major credit and debit cards. Checks will be processed as ACH electronic debits.
• Payment in full is required on the day of the event.
  
• We will endeavor to accommodate special dietary requirements if we are given at least one week advance notice.
  

The tea room will be pressed into service as a gallery to display Danny’s ceramic works, and he will be demonstrating techniques and processes in his workshop.

We’re delighted to learn that we made the coveted “All or Mostly Organic” list!  Thank you, Rebecca!

We use locally sourced organic ingredients whenever possible when preparing the foods we serve in the tea room.  Most of the teas we offer are certified organic and fair trade.  Or to put it another way, the only teas we offer that are not certified organic are the brand name teas such as Twinings and PG Tips.

We use organic local fruits and organic raw sugars when making our jams and jellies.  While our farm is not certified organic, we follow organic sustainable farming practices (no pesticides, no herbicides, no synthetic fertilizers, etc) so that our fruits, jams, chickens, and eggs have no chemical residues or hormones.

Cindy is now stocking up on jelly-making supplies in preparation for a big fruit season this summer. It should be a great year for jams, and we hope to introduce several new types of jam to our growing jams and jelly repertoire.  Stay tuned!