The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Tea for Two: Don and Doreen Araki wanted The Tea Totaler, their new teahouse on Lincoln Avenue, to be someplace they'd go on a date.

Two new Lincoln Avenue businesses offer shoppers the chance to relax and indulge

Romantic tearoom and beauty-supply store owners share product knowledge

By Mary Spicuzza

Steam rises as Doreen Araki pours tea from the pot into the waiting tray, called a Chinese tea boat. As her husband, Don, co-owner of The Tea Totaler, describes this "first pour," a process used to expand the tea leaves and release caffeine, it becomes obvious that a trip to the new Lincoln Avenue teahouse isn't about a quick caffeine fix. It's more of a global adventure.

Sipping green tea, Doreen launches into the history and global significance of tea. Explaining that it wasn't until Queen Anne's reign that tea time came to mean lace-shrouded women munching on crumpets, Doreen says that in Japanese culture, many men historically used to gather for tea to discuss everything from world events to philosophy. It's something enjoyed by common people as well as the elite.

"We planned the shop according to where we'd like to go on a date," Doreen says.

Don adds, "We wanted to create a place where everyone--both men and women--would feel comfortable."

And it's hard to imagine anyone walking into the teahouse and not experiencing the shop's almost immediate calming, comforting effects.

A Japanese garden with a stream trickling through it greets shoppers. Patrons can either sit on colorful pillows at low, Japanese-style tables (heated for those chilly autumn evenings) or on chairs at sleek, modern tables. Rows of glass canisters filled with loose teas line the counter and are available by the cup, by the pot or in bulk.

Located two doors down from the Willow Glen Coffee Roasting Company, the tea room offers more than 40 select and rare-grade teas, and an international menu of foods that have traditionally accompanied them. Dishes include sushi meant to accompany Japanese teas, caviar and smoked salmon to be enjoyed with Russian teas, and light sandwiches and treats that the British usually snack on while sipping tea with cream.

"We wanted to provide an alternative to the coffee shop," Don says.

The Arakis, both possessed of an encyclopedic knowledge of tea, also offer more unusual treats, like shave ice with tea, Thai iced tea and chai.

"We're really excited about The Tea Totaler. I think it will be an excellent and unique edition to the Avenue," says Willow Glen Business and Professional Association manager Demetri Rizos.

Meanwhile, another new addition to the Avenue will offer Glenites a chance to slip into a very different yet equally relaxing world of indulgence. Peninsula Beauty, opening between Peet's Coffee and Tea and Petroglyph on Sept. 15, offers pampering possibilities for the entire family.

By opening day store manager and Willow Glen resident Tamara Binz will have the shop stocked full of all the major name brands in hair products, skin-care supplies, nail-care accessories, bath products and aromatherapy items. It has a special section devoted solely to children's products with fun bath supplies and toys, and a makeup bar with a wide range of sample items for testing. Peninsula Beauty will also offer a full-service loft-salon with five hairstylists, two manicurists and a skin specialist devoted solely to facials.

If it sounds like owner Lori Silverstein has thought of everything, it's because she has. She has learned from years of experience, and she had the best teacher a girl could ask for. "My dad opened the first shop on the Peninsula, in San Mateo, almost 40 years ago," Silverstein says. "I've been doing this for 24 years."

The Willow Glen location will be the seventh for the successful family business. Peninsula Beauty also has stores in Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Mateo, Burlingame and San Bruno.

The two shops may be radically different worlds, but whether sipping tea or treating yourself to a facial and supplies for pampering, it's hard to imagine a better way to spend an afternoon.

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