This fall, a new cafe and tea house will make its debut in Fernandina Beach. Coastal Tea Cafe, “Where Coastal Calm Meets Artisan Tea,” will bring a cozy atmosphere (complete with a book nook) and hot and iced tea made just right to the house at 27 S Fifth St.
“They say do what you know,” owner Tonya Blanchford told What Now in an interview on Tuesday. “And what I know is making tea. I love tea, and I’ve traveled the world with it. I’ve lived in Shanghai, I’ve lived in Germany, and there are a lot of places that don’t serve tea quite the way it’s supposed to be served. And tea lovers know it. Here, we’re going to have a lot of flavors served at the right temperatures.”
The interior of the space will feature a coffee bar, comfortable seating, and even a book nook with used books for sale in partnership with the local library, so that anyone popping into Coastal Tea Cafe can find their next beach read. There will also be seating in the patio behind the house.
The menu will feature four different tea flavors daily (the flavors will rotate frequently), along with coffee from a local roaster. On the food side, Coastal Tea Cafe will serve breakfast and lunch, along with pastries like biscotti and cookies. Its operating hours will run from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“The whole idea is to have a calm, relaxing community place for people to come sit, relax, cool down, and have something hot or cold to drink,” says Blanchford.
And the buzz is already starting to pick up on the Coastal Tea Cafe Facebook page and its companion Facebook group, Friends of Coastal Tea Cafe, where group members can vote on various goings-on at Coastal Tea Cafe.
An opening date hasn’t been set in stone yet, but Blanchford said the goal to launch on October 1.
“I want the community, near and far, to feel like they’re contributing, so when the place opens, they’ll be able to say, ‘Oh, yeah! I voted on that!’ So that it’s not just me, fulfilling a dream I’ve had for twenty years: everybody is a part of it.”
You can keep up with all things Coastal Tea Cafe by following @coastalteacafe on Instagram.
