Tea time isn’t just a playtime activity for young girls or a dignified way to have a bachelorette party, it’s a small luxury that is for anyone regardless of age or gender. The Applesauce Inn in Bellaire has just started hosting a weekly high tea and it’s a lovely way to treat yourself mid-week.
The Applesauce Inn is beautiful. It’s dark navy and maroon exterior is surrounded by a wrap around porch and owner Jaime Creason had all of her Halloween decor out on display. The Inn sits alone on M-88 Highway and Jamie and her husband Gary weren’t seeking out Inns to buy. They were looking to make a move from San Jose, California to Frankfort after falling in love with Northern Michigan.
“We saw it on Craigslist. We both saw it at the same time and thought what a cool idea, and it just happened to work out,” Jamie said.
The Inn is also their home. The couple rents out three rooms that can accommodate two to three people, depending. On my visit I was able to see one of the bedrooms (the other two were occupied by guests) and it was decorated just as beautifully as the rest of the house; cozy, country and chic.
Jaime began doing the weekly Wednesday High Tea last month, but she had been hosting teas at the Inn before that.
“This kind of started on a whim. I was doing it just by appointment only kind of thing but then I had one of my repeats already from Suttons Bay call and ask when I was doing the next one and I told her it’s pretty much when you wanna do one but then it just never worked out so I said you know what? I’m just gonna start committing to Wednesdays.”
The Wednesday tea started last month and I can see why customers wanted the tea time to become a more frequent event. They’re a lovely experience and Jamie goes out of her way to make sure that every detail is perfect.
There were four pots of creamy Earl Grey tea. I have had regular Earl Grey and could taste a difference between the two. A woman enjoying tea time to my right commented on the added dimension of taste from the ‘creamy’ aspect of the tea.
“It’s almost like marshmallow.”
Earl Grey is traditional to high tea, and so are various little snacks. Jamie had what looked like cake displays with tiers of tea snacks on each tier. The bottom had savory pastries and pieces of crusty bread with chicken salad on it. The middle tier was for scones and jam, and the top tier had these sweet little baby cupcakes and chocolate pumpkins. Jamie makes all the delicious treats herself at the Inn. The trick to her fabulous pastry crust is ice cold butter, not over mixing and brushing the pastry with half and half before baking.
“I love to cook and I love to read cookbooks like novels, sticky notes in all of them. I find stuff off Pinterest too, I’ll see what other B&B’s are doing.”
Beyond the tea and treats Jamie also provided fixings for mimosas, but instead of using champagne she had cider from local meadery Bee Well Meadery.
The high tea is held in the Inn’s dining room, and I knew none of the other guests that I broke bread (scones) with, nonetheless the strangers were kind and the conversation came easily. The woman to my right knew the woman to her right from living across the street from one another 20 years ago. I was shocked and charmed that the two were seeing each other again out of sheer serendipity, but Jamie wasn’t surprised at all. She said that people connect over breakfast and teas in her dining room all the time.
“Listening to people laugh at the breakfast table is the best thing for me. You know everybody is having a good time and enjoying themselves.”
It’s impossible not to enjoy yourself at an Applesauce Inn High Tea. From the beautiful surroundings to the tea service, it’s a little piece of reality served with Earl Grey and homemade jam.
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