The year-old Tea for Two teahouse in Dover is a big step back in time and place—and a refined, delicious step at that. Housed in one of State Street’s painted lady-style Victorians, it is furnished with period antiques and paintings, all selected by owner Paula Kinsey, and painted in Winterthur Blue and the Book Marker red of Biltmore. Speaking of Biltmore, Kinsey offers the same tea served at the famous Vanderbilt estate, Oliver Pluff & Co. teas from Charleston, S.C., the only tea plantation in the country. (Pluff is also served exclusively at Monticello and the Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum, so Two for Tea customers are in good company.) The menu offers some combination of tea, sandwiches and treats, including Kinsey’s own chicken salad, potato salad and coleslaw, and Amish-made scones. The menu options even have “Gone With the Wind”-themed names such as the Ms. Scarlett and Ms. Pitty, in keeping with the romantic feel of the place. “A young woman sat down not long ago and told me, ‘This is the first time I’ve felt like a lady in a long time,’” Kinsey says. “I make the girls very happy. That’s why this place was put here.” (678-2226, teafortwoteahouse.com)
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