After sudden closure, Tacoma tea house bounces back with more space and a better view

Mad Hat Tea Co., a downtown Tacoma staple offering loose-leaf retail, wholesale orders and a sit-down cafe setting for 15 years, has found a new location after abruptly closing its original storefront in March.

Owner Tobin Ropes and business partner Maureen McHugh are revamping an old Texaco building at 301 Puyallup Ave. in the Dome District. When it opens, hopefully later this year, Ropes anticipates a small retail section up front and a much larger seating area in back, flanked by two commanding walls of windows, the northern set overlooking the East 21st Street Bridge.

“It looks like you’re in a Fellini movie,” he said, describing how golden-hour sunlight dapples through a neighboring trees’ leaves and onto the concrete walls covered in a cream-colored stucco veneer.

The larger space boasts various architectural flourishes: high ceilings of crisscrossed wooden beams, arched doorways and cement floors with industrial patina. Designed by architect Charles Frederick W. Lundberg as an automobile service station with offices, the building — part of the Trecento Block — was constructed in 1924, according to its listing in the Tacoma Register of Historic Places. The Mission Moderne stylings featured checkerboard trim on the facade and Texaco’s star inside a circle, elements that were removed in the ‘50s but later restored.

Most recently it was Tacoma artist Ellen Ito’s studio. She moved to a larger unit on the same block, one used by Ropes’ good friend before his unexpected death earlier this year. The landlord, knowing the Mad Hat Tea owner was seeking a new address, reached out.

“What happened ended up being the best thing that could’ve happened,” said Ropes. In a chapter from fate, he added, he attended an art show “in this very building” shortly after moving to Tacoma in 1989.

MAD HAT TEA FINDS A NEW HOME

Sitting on one of two purple velvet couches moved from the original tea house, next to a freshly found secondhand Afghani area rug awaiting its permanent place, he expressed frustration with the end of the line downtown but eagerness for this next chapter.

With an entrance at 1130 Commerce St., Mad Hat opened in April 2007. The building was bought in 2019, according to county records, and in February the new owner, according to Ropes, asked for a large rent increase.

“It pretty much doubled,” he said.

Given only 30 days to sign a new lease, the terms of which were not feasible for Mad Hat, or leave, he felt no choice but to choose the latter.

On Feb. 19, Ropes and McHugh announced on Facebook that “Mad Hat Tea is moving … destination unknown.” The online shop would remain open for shipping orders and local pickup, they said. By March 3, they had officially moved out: “Tears were shed and laughs were had, thank you everyone for your support during this time,” they wrote.

A third post four days later asked for leads on potential rentals, for “a funky place just screaming to be Mad Hat.”

More than 200 people chimed in over those few weeks sharing suggestions as well as memories of time spent at the tea house. One woman mentioned it to a friend as a refuge during times of sobriety. A German customer sent a photo from their one-time visit.

Ropes considered spaces all over Tacoma. The space at 301 Puyallup, though, has enlivened him to pursue things he had long wanted to install downtown.

It’s already equipped with a partly finished kitchen, which he will improve. An expanded food menu will likely include a variety of toasts, he said, with a selection of high-quality butters and locally sourced jams.

“Fancy toast, but like $5 fancy,” he joked, adding that he wants to feature local sourdough if he can find it and Corina Bakery’s potato bread. “Nothing is better than potato bread toast.”

He envisions themed vinyl nights, the records sourced from Turntable Treasures off Sixth Avenue, available for purchase at Mad Hat, and maybe a communal table that could play host to pop-up dinners. Of course there will be tea — lots and lots of tea, from rooibos and honeybush to oolong and pu-erh, mate to kava, plus myriad blends of black, green, white and more, meticulously prepared in the particular way that only Mad Hat has in Tacoma for going on two decades.

For now, McHugh will continue to fulfill online and wholesale orders (to dozens of cafes, restaurants and retailers in the region) while Ropes upgrades the business’s new home, perhaps launching a crowdfunding campaign in the near future.

MAD HAT TEA CO.

▪ 301 Puyallup Ave., Tacoma, 253-302-2046, madhattea.com

▪ Details: retail store and cafe reopening in new Dome District location, follow facebook.com/madhattea and instagram.com/madhatteaco for updates

▪ How to order tea: online for local pickup or mail delivery

This story was originally published July 1, 2022 at 5:00 AM.