When I first came over to the USA in May of 2000, I was often asked if living in the US was a culture shock and I would reply, not really. The US is very similar to the UK in many aspects.
However, after spending many months here I realized one of the biggest impacts on my life was the lack of good Tea. Sure, Americans have been drinking tea for a long time, but the quality was
really poor. Initially the only option seemed to be Lipton's which was scraping the barrel when it comes to tea.
All through Europe, you will find Cafe's and Tea Rooms which serve a variety of Teas and coffee's but most importantly, each Tea Room is unique by the food they sell and the ambiance of the restaurant. People congregate around Tea Rooms for both social and business reasons and during
the weekends, finding a table is a challenge.
When we opened McHughTea, we had a vision of having a place where people could meet in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility without being stuffy. We did not want a restaurant where mothers brought their unruly kids and allowed them to run around screaming ruining the experience for other diners. We also did not consider having a TV playing sports in the background which most restaurants in the US seem to do. Surely as a nation we can go out without having to keep one eye on the sports.
The lack of Tea Rooms in Houston was an opportunity to offer a service that is lacking in the city.
If you search on Google, maybe 10 will show up and then you can start eliminating the ones that have no ambiance or lack of nice food, which leaves us with a few to meet the demands for a couple of million residents.
Another feature we wanted to include was the ability to have a private party or business meeting where people could gather in comfort, enjoy the food & tea while listening to their speaker.
