Last year for my niece’s 16th Birthday my sister and I took her to Reno, Nevada. While we were there we did whatever she wanted to do…along with a couple things I wanted to do such as visit a tea shop!
I did a quick search and receive several options, one of which I spotted was The Laughing C.A.T
If you know me, you might have realized I LOVE cats. So when I saw a tea place that had to do with cats, I was like let’s go there.
When we arrived we went up to the door and it was locked, even though online it said open.
Of course while “Reno” was open in February 2021, not every place was and I figured maybe he forgot to update his hours online? But the store sign said open. Confused we decided to call and see. When I called on the phone, it took a long time ringing and while I was waiting for a response, a man came up to the door, unlocked it and then said sorry the phone is ringing. Before I could tell him it was me, he locked the door and ran inside, I trying to tell him it was me, I was on the phone.
Already I’m thinking this is not off to a good start. We then had to wait quite a while until he returned, letting us know that whoever it was had hung up. I again tried to tell him it was me, but he didn’t understand me.
He asked us what we wanted and I told him that we wanted tea. He told us he doesn’t sell drinks, only tea and coffee.
We all looked at each other quizzically and felt like that meme with the lady and the math equations. I could tell we all had the same thought “but tea and coffee are drinks”.
We said okay, we wanted to buy tea and asked him what he had, or if he could just give us a menu. He told us no one could come into the store because of COVID but to instead just tell him what we wanted. I was starting to get annoyed by this and asked him again if he had an online menu where we could see choices and he told me no, just to tell him what we like.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t like when people do that. Let me know what you have and what to choose from. Otherwise I’m just spouting off things I don’t know if you have or not and we stay here longer than we should while I try to puzzle out what the “right answers” are.
My sister told him we like black teas and then he asked if we liked milk in our tea. I said that I did and he told me I shouldn’t drink milk in my tea. I told him that’s how I like it, but he ignored me and went on a long discussion about how milk ruins tea. I was starting to get more annoyed at this as I really didn’t like his dismissive attitude or how he was trying to tell me how to drink my tea.
He then recommended his Earl Grey which doesn’t have any bergamot in it. I said I like Earl Grey with bergamot and this prompted a long discussion about how bergamot ruins Earl Grey and you shouldn’t drink those types of tea. He also recommended his Irish Breakfast tea, and when I said I have yet to find an Irish Breakfast tea I like, this prompted another discussion about how it’s probably the “wrong” tea I’ve been drinking. He said his Irish Breakfast was so good, it should be had without milk and sugar. I started to tune him out as I really didn’t want to be lectured but I wanted to purchase some tea.
To be honest I was ready to just abandon this shop and head to one of the thousand of Starbucks in the area, but I had made us drive out here so I was prepared to just buy something, anything, to be gone. I agreed to buy the Irish Breakfast and my sister purchased the Earl Grey.
The owner took our cards and returned with the loose leaf tea (I don’t sell drinks only tea or coffee now makes sense) and the door shut and locked in our faces.
This whole exchange felt really odd to me, it felt like he didn’t want us open and to just leave. I would not recommend going her as none of us enjoyed our shopping excursion there
Online the shop had a lot a lot of good reviews about how knowledgeable the owner is and what a great experience they had but we felt that he treated us as if we were beneath him, some newbies to tea who weren’t worth his attention just his lectures.
That evening at the hotel we tried the tea and I was not impressed with the Irish Breakfast. I did not think it was that good and ended up giving it to a friend of mine later. My sister liked her Earl Grey as a base for other tea, but on its own with no milk or bergamot; she felt it was underwhelming.
I like the label on the tea, but I did not have a good experience here and when I return to Reno I will not be returning to this tea place ever, but instead plan to be checking out The Spice and Tea Shoppe instead.
For more tea house reviews, go to Spill the Tea: Tea Bar and Fusion Café Review
For more tea posts, go to I Won the Tea and Me Blog & Harts of America Giveaway
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