Marie Hope, owner of Tea with Marie & Everything British in Atlantic Beach, has launched the company’s ecommerce website to feature an online tea shop including podcasts, videos and blogs discussing tea and British culture.
The website store allows visitors to purchase Hope’s own exclusively selected products, including a personal brand of premium teas and an array of themed British gifts. She will also expand her business to include catering and coordinating afternoon tea and high tea events, along with tea etiquette as classic British traditions, among others.
“It is my hope that by engaging with an authentic British experience, the practices will be accessible without anyone ever having to cross the Atlantic,” she said. “I love to create and build businesses, and expanding our capabilities is an extension of my former experience in the brick-and-mortar restaurant industry. When I feel a passion for something, there is no way but forward.”
Hope’s lifelong focus on her native culture is a virtual extension of her childhood, adult life, and former tea shop and restaurant.
“We have now created a virtual place to learn, reminisce and connect with like-minded people, and just generally slow down the pace to enjoy the moment,” she said.
Hope was born in the small idyllic town of Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. At the age of 11, she and her parents moved three miles outside of Clitheroe to a small village called Barrow where Hope would walk a mile to the telephone box to call her friends. It was then that she realized that there was much more to life, and at that moment, her cravings for travel and new experiences were realized.
Hope attended Thomas Danby College in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, to study business and hotel and restaurant management. Shortly after she graduated, an opportunity presented itself to manage a small café in Bermuda. Not knowing where Bermuda was, her wanderlust took over as it sounded exotic and sunny.
In May 1977, she flew to Bermuda where she spent the next seven years building her professional experience and gaining confidence.
She managed a café for three years and then taught culinary arts and restaurant service at the Bermuda Hotel College for the next four years. In 1984, she left Bermuda for a life-changing opportunity in the United States. She continued her passion in the restaurant and culinary industry, this time as the director of the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in the Philadelphia area.
After many years, Hope opened a space at a small farmers market in the Philadelphia suburbs of Malvern, Pennsylvania, called A Taste of Britain. During this time, she baked and sold homemade British goods as well as sourced a line of British grocery items that were difficult to find in the United States. Her customers expressed a desire for an authentic British tea shop where they could enjoy afternoon tea, scones and British pastries.
Soon after, Hope opened a tea shop on the Main Line of Philadelphia that blossomed into a popular venue. A Taste of Britain served British-style lunches and full afternoon tea events complete with tea sandwiches, scones and petit fours. Special dinners were held to honor various British holidays, such as the Queen’s Birthday, Scottish Burns Night and Candlelight Christmas Afternoon teas served during December.
In time, the menu grew to include a full line of homemade British specialties, and the display shelves overflowed with British china teapots, cups, saucers, tea strainers and various British gift items. Catering services were added that focused on afternoon tea events and were well-liked for bridal and baby showers, sweet 16 gatherings and mother-daughter gatherings.
After 15 years, Hope decided to sell A Taste of Britain and eventually relocated to Northeast Florida. However, the love of her British heritage and passion for sharing her knowledge prompted her to start her latest endeavor.
For more information, call 904-372-4458 or email marie@itsteawithmarie.com. The website is itsteawithmarie.com.
