Bon Appe-tea: Muir’s Tea Room Creates High Tea with a Vegan Twist

Tucked inside the lazy main drag of downtown Sebastopol, you can find a picturesque Victorian bungalow with spacious, light-filled rooms; tables set with gold-trimmed porcelain tea cups; and, best of all, glass dome cake stands and bakery cases filled with delectable treats: all vegan.

Muir’s Tea Room, opened in the spring of 2015 by Christine Dzilvelis, offers traditional English and Scottish high tea service. If you, like me, don’t know what high tea is, you’re in for a treat.

At Muir’s, you can order a la carte or choose from multiple tea racks, featuring an assortment of soups, salads, finger sandwiches, pastries, scones and petit fours served on tiered racks.  And, of course, the requisite pot of tea.

A light meal of soup, salad and finger sandwiches like tofu egg salad and tomato, pesto and cream cheese are filling yet light enough to leave room for the stars of the show: the desserts.

Beautifully presented sweets range from cookies like chocolate chip, snickerdoodle and chewy peanut butter to cranberry-apple turnovers, lemon-raspberry and snowball cupcakes.

Tea lovers have an array of options—herbal, black, green, rooibos and oolong. All teas come from Mr. Trombly’s Tea, a local Sonoma County tea purveyor.

For those who wish to take a little bit of the tea house home with them, Muir’s sells a wide range of trinkets like books, jewelry, tea ware, and animal statuary. Speaking of animals, the tea shop is adorned with them—from the deer print wallpaper and napkin holders to photos of animals all around.

If you’re fortunate enough to visit during warm weather, you can sit outside in the flower garden or the sunny porch. Be sure to make a reservation because business is booming.

Dzilvelis created Muir’s because of her affinity for high tea. As an ethical vegan, she wanted to recreate the romance of high tea and all its grandeur with delicious foods that happen to be vegan. Nine out of ten of patrons aren’t vegan. Visitors come for the novelty of high tea and return for the delicious food.

Muir’s is named for naturalist and Sierra Club Founder, John Muir. Muir was known for his pioneering environmental work. With what we know about the environmental impact of factory farmed meat, eggs and dairy, it’s befitting that this tea room is named in his honor.

Muir’s Tea Room
330 S Main St.
Sebastopol, CA
(707) 634-6143