Mary Alice Higbie began thinking how this need to escape the “Tyranny of the Urgent” could be met long before the Tearoom first opened in 1999. She settled upon using the medium of the British tradition of tea she had practiced all her life, a tradition specifically designed to foster reflection and relationships, to slow down and savor life itself. A classically-trained Japanese porcelain artist, china painter, and expert gardener, Mary Alice approached the creation of her tearoom with a trained artist’s eye to hone the art of tea. She instinctively understood that the quality and excellence of the experience would have to be unparalleled in Albuquerque for the tradition of tea to catch on.

The Art of Tea Finds an Audience in Albuquerque

In short order she solicited the aid of her son, Daniel, and after a flurry of activity, the Tearoom was established in December of 1999, as a tiny, 27-seat tea service establishment just north of Old Town Albuquerque with three employees. Within six months, a rating of four stars was awarded to the Tearoom by the chief food editor of the Albuquerque Journal at that time, Charlotte Balcomb Lane (her initial review is included in the Reviews section).

What followed were years of blood, sweat, and tears as business lessons were learned. Growth progressed slowly but surely, and the process itself was refined and refined yet again, constantly evaluated to squeeze every last possible drop of excellence out of the experience.