We live in a confusing, dangerous, competitive and stress-filled world. So it is a great comfort to know that we can go to a local teahouse whose ethos is to slow down, relax and have some fun.
Welcome to Tea Magic, located at 74 Hillside Ave. in Williston Park. This charming place offers up teas, macarons, cakes, homemade ice cream and crepes in a pleasant atmosphere of pink and green.
Teahouses have a long history dating back to 200 A.D. originating with Buddhist monks who would drink tea to help them stay alert as they meditated. The Japanese refined this in what is known as the Tea Ceremony ritualized by Sen Rikyu, an aesthete in the 16th century. The Tea Ceremony emphasizes the aesthetic ideals of simplicity, quietude, cleanliness and tranquility.
The teahouse has been incorporated into other parts of the world as well. One of my favorite moments while staying in London was having high tea at the Grosvenor’s House on Hyde Park with lots of those little scones with jam and finger sandwiches.
When I visited The American Club in Kohler, WI, I remember their lovely teahouse made of imported stained glass from England. That place was the ultimate expression of coziness and beauty.
But teahouses are subject to change as is everything else. The updated teahouse proffers up fun, liveliness and cuteness — the kind of establishment Hello Kitty would frequent to have afternoon tea and dessert.
I went to Tea Magic this Saturday to interview the owner. There are three partners involved with this new enterprise. Sharon and Stanley were not there but Wen, the third partner, was. Tea Magic in Williston Park is the third store for this group with the other two located in Manhattan at Columbia University and Lincoln Center.
The place was all green and pink and Wen described Tea Magic as kid friendly and family- oriented. The Tea Magic mascot is a cute little urchin called the Bubble Fairy, who can be seen on the walls. Like so many other Asian-created iconic images, the Bubble Fairy is unassuming, playful and adorable. I asked Wen if there was a backstory to the Bubble Fairy and she said no, not yet.
Tea Magic has a party room and caters to kid from ages 5 to 17.The menu includes bubble tea (hot or cold), smoothies, homemade ice cream, macarons, and cakes like tiramisu, red velvet and crème Brule. Sounds good, don’t you think?
I asked Wen why she decided to open a store in Williston Park and she told me she lives locally and could see that Williston Park was a safe family-oriented community.
Years ago I interviewed the famous science fiction writer Jan Freidman in Hildebrandt’s just up the block and asked him to conjure up a story about the famous antique toy cyclist Henry Hildebrandt, who is hanging on the tightrope above the dining area in the restaurant. Well, I have no time to call up Jan, so I’m afraid I will have to make up a story myself. After all, all good fairies and toys and puppets deserve a magic story to make them come alive and wake up. So let’s give this one a shot:
“Once upon a time, long, long ago in a land far, far away there lived a cute little girl in a pink-and-green dress whose name was Babette. She was walking home in the dark through a deep, dark woods after buying some delicious macarons in the bakery and was excited to bring them home and surprise her twin sister Boba with them for it was their birthday.
As she skipped along the dirt pathway, she heard a sound to her right and stopped to listen more closely. She could see no one in the woods for it was dark, but she heard a soft voice which said. “Hello, my pretty. Isn’t that a lovely pink-and-green dress you have on. …. …And my dear one, what is that in the bag you are carrying? May I take a peek?”
The little girl knew she was in grave danger but did not know what to do. Her home was still far away, it was very dark and no one was around to help her. She boldly spoke up, “I don’t want to talk to you so go away, and you may not take a peek in the bag! These are surprise macarons for my sister Boba, for it is her birthday today.”
With those words the horrible monster jumped out of the dark and onto the path in front of the little girl. With this the girl smashed the monster on the head with her bag of cookies, killing the monster instantly. As the bag crushed down upon the monster’s skull, the macarons broke into a thousand tiny crumbs and scattered into the air like fairy dust.
As it turned out, all this happened close to the home of a toymaker who was sleeping peacefully at the time. The fairy dust fell upon the plush material the toymaker used to make his toys. The next day, he got up as usual and used all of the magical material to finish his toys and for some reason he decided to now name all of his plush toys “Bubble Fairies.”
He was so happy when an American distributor bought them all and shipped them to stores just like the Tea Magic place in Williston Park. So now you can see the Bubble Fairy sitting happily upon the walls in Tea Magic. If you look carefully, you will discover that the Bubble Fairy has a secret, which is that every macaron on the counter (especially the pink-and- green ones) have the magic power to give little girls and little boys the courage to fight off monsters that come after them in the dark.”
The End…
So go take your kids to Tea Magic, check out the Bubble Fairy and have some of those yummy macarons.
