A New Killingsworth Cafe Will Specialize in Classic British Tea Service

Warm scones with clotted cream, sausage rolls, and delicate tea sandwiches are coming to Northeast Portland. Lovejoy’s Tea Room, a Portland outpost of the San Francisco tea house, is opening a casual cafe March 6 with a local version of classic British tea service.

The cafe offers several “tea” options, aka prix-fixe assortments of pastries, snacks, and lunch fare served with a bottomless pot of tea. The Queen’s tea, for instance, comes with tea sandwiches, two salads, a Farnia Bakery scone with preserves and Devon cream, a crumpet from Sellwood’s Scrumptious Crumpets with Meyer lemon curd, petit fours, and more, including the chosen pot of tea. The restaurant has a long list of various tea sandwiches, ranging from smoked salmon and cream cheese to pear and Stilton, as well as more traditional pub fare like sausage rolls and vegan shepherd’s pie.

The actual tea list is decently expansive, with more than 40 varieties from around the world — that includes classics like Yorkshire Gold and Afternoon Darjeeling, as well as eccentric versions like decaf chocolate truffle and CBD-infused hibiscus berry. The majority of the black teas come from Taylors of Harrogate, as well as some from Portland’s Jasmine Pearl Tea Company. Beyond tea, the cafe will offer coffee, sodas, and hot chocolate.

The space itself is a casual, quirky version of a British tea room, with mismatched furniture and floral-print chairs among vintage cabinets stacked with intricate china. Owner Brendon Constans fell in love with tea service while in Ireland as a young adult, eventually becoming a frequent customer of the original Lovejoy’s Tea Room in San Francisco. After moving to Portland in 2011, Constans regularly fantasized about opening his own version of Lovejoy’s; when he found out the original owners were thinking about expanding to Portland, he quickly jumped on the opportunity to run the local version. The cafe is now accepting March reservations for afternoon tea.

• Lovejoy’s Tea Room [Official]
• Lovejoy’s Tea Room of Portland [Facebook]