Bloomsbury Tea Room Creates Rest for the Spirit

Tucked in one of Capitola’s most historic buildings is a charming place with enticing smells of tea and scones, Victorian décor and the hospitality of an old friend. It’s the Bloomsbury Tea Room & Cafe, in the 1890 Averon Carriage House at 911 Capitola Ave. 

But this isn’t just another English tea room. It’s a place with a mission — “serving up kindness for our community.” And so it does, as a nonprofit pubic benefit volunteer corporation.

I discovered Bloomsbury when Dining For Women had its monthly meeting at the tea room. Later, over a pot of Paris tea, with artichoke soup simmering in the kitchen, Jennifer Shaw Coffey told me how the idea of opening a vintage tea room came to her. A cup of tea, she realized, gave her such respite, and as such, it could be a way to serve others.

“When you brew a cup of tea, it blossoms, and I wanted to brew goodness,” she said.

In 2008, she bought the restaurant, which had been vacant after being a tea room for 30 years under other names. Her husband renovated the building, and she decorated the rooms in country cottage. Her sister-in-law and daughter got her set up with the cooking and baking, and her twin sons offered to serve and wash dishes.

Despite her name, Coffey became the expert in all things tea, served in dozens of different patterns of fine English bone china.

Within two years, she realized it wasn’t going to be the kind of restaurant that turned tables or made enough money to stay open. Still, she didn’t want to give up her dream to serve the community in this way. So she learned how to form a nonprofit, set up a board of directors and turned the proprietorship into a 501(c)3 last June.

“It’s altered our whole family financial picture,” said Coffey, now officially a volunteer. “But it’s worth it."

Coffey is married to a minister at Watsonville’s Family Faith Center. The tea room, however, is completely separate from the church. Coffey, also a minister, considers her work at Bloomsbury to be an outreach in the true Christian sense.

On a recent Tuesday, she packed teapots, cups, saucers, sandwiches, scones and a dozen elegant hats into her minivan and put on a tea party for the residents of Capitola Manor on 38^th Avenue. The dozen women who participated wore their Sunday best for what surely was a highlight for them.

Coffey plans to visit local nursing homes twice a month to give tea parties. She’d like to visit shut-ins, too, and is collecting stuffed animals to give to needy seniors in the community. New “plush” animals can be dropped off at the tea room anytime during regular business hours.

She also wants to help at-risk children and those affected with life-threatening medical conditions.

Meanwhile, her mother, JoAnn Shaw, is serving her apple pies at the tea room. Shaw won at the 35^th annual Santa Cruz County Fair Pie Baking Contest in September.

And with the help of her faithful volunteers, Coffey serves tea with lunch every Wednesday through Saturday.

Bloomsbury Tea Room & Café

Delightful lunch menu, full tea service and special events

911 Capitola Ave., Capitola

Open Wednesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

831-477-1798

Do you have any other ideas for volunteer work or ways to get involved in and around Capitola? With this blog, I'm looking for ways to make a difference in my hometown. Please leave a comment!