Yes, there really is a Mrs. Robinson.
Mrs. Robinson’s Tea Shop is a project of passion for Marlene Robinson. With over twenty years of unique retail experience, Marlene decided she wanted to create her own personal project, one that combines her love of tea with her joy of serving customers. Mrs. Robinson’s Tea Shop has become her palette.
The idea started back in 2005 as Marlene was chatting with a friend during a business trip. A simple question came up in conversation. “What do you like?”
Marlene kept asking herself, “what do I like?” She found herself mulling over the question. “I went back to my room and thought if someone asked me that, what would my answer be? I thought the only thing I like is tea! Wherever I went I would go to have tea. The formal thing, the sitting and the cookies, the whole thing.”
This moment sparked Marlene’s dream. While she had a firm foundation in retail, she had to learn the business of tea.
“I looked at tea rooms and I visited businesses. For awhile, I thought I would open a tea room. I really started studying tea and went to trade shows and networked with people in the tea business. I just studied. I visited every tea place in Chicago.”
After serious consideration, Marlene realized a tearoom wasn’t what she wanted. “I really like shopping and I really like tea.” She decided to brew up plans for a tea shop, but she needed to define the shop’s personality.
“Tea either becomes very fussy where men have no interest in it at all, doilies and lace tablecloths and rose petals on teapots or it’s the zen thing. So you go into these shops and you feel like you don’t know the language and nothing is explained.”
“I want to be a serious tea shop that doesn’t take itself seriously,” Marlene says. “I wanted it to be fun.” After thinking of a few potential names for her business, she woke up one morning with the name Mrs. Robinson’s Tea Shop in her mind. “People are always asking, is there really a Mrs. Robinson?” She laughs. “Yes, that’s me!”
Marlene wanted the shop to be comfortable for both the serious tea connoisseur and the novice tea drinker. “I tried to think of all the barriers to this interesting thing that people didn’t know much about. That’s how the tea bag bar came about.”
Of the 150 varieties of tea in the shop, 36 teas are pre-labeled and bagged for the tea bag bar. They are organized by type of tea so customers can pick a selection and try an assortment of teas.
“That’s what makes us unique,” Marlene says. The teas sell for 95 cents a tea bag or $8.50 for ten assorted tea bags. Customers can mix and match themselves or with the friendly guidance of staff. “It’s like a candy bar for tea bags. It is by far the most popular thing in the shop and people have control over the teas they choose.”
Mrs. Robinson has made other efforts to welcome tea novices. “Every tea that we sell loose we also sell in tea bag form and we make the tea bags in the shop,” Marlene says. “That was me responding to those people who say you should only use a diffuser. I would rather see someone drink a tea I’ve bagged than drink inferior tea.”
Despite already carrying over 150 types of teas, Marlene is always searching for new teas to provide her customers.
“I drink everything. You can get a sample of tea from a supplier but it’s never enough. And I’m pretty fussy,” Marlene says. “I usually order two pounds of tea and try it four or five times before making a decision.”
“I have customers I’ve engaged in tasting. I have a customer that loves Darjeeling, so I give them samples and say, ‘you are my darjeeling expert.’ Some of the teas I carry are from customers who tell me they had a tea in Michigan and I try to respond to them.”
Marlene’s favorite pasttime is helping customers discover new teas they had not tried before. “My husband teases me it’s like my tea ministry,” she says with a laugh. “If someone comes in and says they like the apricot tea, then I know they might like this or that. I do tea prescription. If someone likes a black tea, I might know they would like a tea from a different mountain.”
What’s Mrs. Robinson’s favorite tea?
“My favorite tea is Black Snail. The reason I love this tea is because it comes from the Hunan province of China. It’s hand rolled. When I look at some of these teas – I have to be mindful that someone plucked and hand rolled this – so there is a sense of connection to that – and when you brew it – its a black tea but there is a hint of honey in it – though there is no honey in it. I tell people all the time that when they send me to the nursing home and I can only take one tea I’m taking black snail!”
Mrs. Robinson’s Tea Shop is located at 108 North Union Street, Kennett Square, PA. Hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 11am to 5pm; Sundays from Noon to 4pm. Reach Marlene at the shop at 484-732-8140.
