Monument Used to Drive South for Afternoon Tea. This Fall, Two Tea Rooms Opened in Town.

In early June, the Colorado Springs food newsletter Side Dish listed the region's tea rooms: Toodles Tearoom, Tea & Tidbits, The British Pantry and Tea Room, the tearoom at Miramont Castle, BrewCha, Yellow Mountain Tea House and Glen Eyrie. Then it pointed out that none of them was in the Monument area.

Four months later, Monument has two. One sits in a suite on Front Street downtown. The other is in the corner of a strip mall off West Highway 105. Each was started by a military family, and both are set up for occasions more than errands. You book a sitting, you dress it up a little, and you come for a birthday, a shower or a themed menu. That puts them right alongside the town's own calendar of special days, which gets busy starting with Halloween.

A crew chief's tea towels on Front Street

Ruby Rae's Vintage Tea House opened September 29 in Suite 8 at 251 Front Street. The Monument Independent reported that owner Melissa Holtzlander spent a decade collecting tea towels from her travels, then china and antique furniture, for a tea house she had no date for. All of it is in the room now.

Holtzlander retired from the Air Force in 2023 after 20 years. She spent her first six as a crew chief on the C-5 Galaxy, worked up to flying crew chief, and later retrained as a paralegal. One of her six assignments was Royal Air Force Lakenheath in England, and the last was Peterson Space Force Base. "Living in England was a dream come true and I fell in love with the tea culture," she told the Independent.

The military thread runs all through the place. The house tea line is called R&R Blends, after the military's "rest and recuperation." The blends have names like At Ease, a caffeine-free mint, ginger and rooibos mix; Sunrise Salute; Golden Valor; and Medic's Mug. Ruby, the tea house's namesake, is Holtzlander's red Alaskan malamute service dog, and she comes to work now and then, mostly for special events.

It's a family business in practice too. Her husband Gerald, a retired Navy veteran, is co-owner and manager and is there nearly every day. Their three children work as servers under one house rule: "no sibling arguments while at the tea house."

What a sitting costs at Ruby Rae's

The room seats 30. You book afternoon tea online for a two-hour sitting and pay when you book. Prices on the booking page include tax, so they come out a little higher than the menu prices below.

• Garden Tea, $39.95 per person: a pot of loose-leaf tea, three tea sandwiches, a savory course, a scone with Devonshire cream and preserves, and small desserts
• Duchess Tea, $44.95: adds another dessert, a mini trifle and unlimited refills
• Ruby Rae Signature Tea, $49.95: adds tarts, a sparkling drink and tea to take home
• Children 12 and under, $17.95: tea or hot chocolate, a sandwich, fruit, a butterfly or teddy bear cupcake and a chocolate pretzel wand

You don't need a reservation to stop in. Walk-ins can order a pot of loose-leaf tea for $8.95, or $10.95 for unlimited. There's also a tea and scone for $13.95, a cream tea with a bottomless pot for $18.95, and a three-pot tea flight for $16.95. Every sweet and savory comes from The Northumbrian Bakery, a British bakery in Sedalia run by Louise Ingrid. The savory side includes pot pies, a Coronation chicken wrap, quiche and sausage rolls.

A tearoom behind a screen on Highway 105

Between the Sips Bookstore and Tea Room is at 481 W. Colorado 105, near Serranos Coffee. Here the tea room sits inside a bookstore, and the bookstore sells romance novels.

The Gazette described the setup: lace curtains in the windows, shelves of Harlequin-style romances across the front, and the tearoom to the left of the entrance behind a screen. According to SpringsMag, the shelves cover contemporary, fantasy, dark, sports, LGBTQIA and mafia romance, plus independent and Colorado authors.

Owner Sheena LaBadie is a military spouse who homesteads in the Peyton area. She told Side Dish the shop would be "the first trope bookstore in the Colorado Springs area." She said the tea room is what sets it apart from romance shops in Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins. "Everyone does coffee and books, but no one thinks about tea and books for those who don't like coffee," she told the Gazette. The Gazette also reported a comment from one of her first customers: "Finally, something fun has opened in Monument."

The occasion idea goes further here. Once a month, the food and drink are themed on a book. The first themed menu was "A Threshing Day" tea for the October release of Colorado author Rebecca Yarros's companion book. It came in three tiers: the Mess Hall Tier of finger sandwiches, the Bonding Tier of scones and the Dragon's Hoard of sweets. It cost $45 a person and ran October 17 and 18. LaBadie also hopes to add book clubs, release parties and signings with local authors.

Booking runs through OpenTable. The listing shows afternoon tea on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at $45 per person paid in advance, with 90-minute seatings. The Gazette lists broader tearoom hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Since the two listings differ, call 719-203-6808 or check the shop's Facebook page before you go.

The two rooms side by side

Put together, Monument now has a British-style sitting run by a veteran, with a menu for kids and room for drop-ins, and a book-themed tea in a romance shop on Highway 105. Both pay off when you plan ahead. Ruby Rae's also takes private parties by email at [email protected], from birthdays to bridal showers, and plans seasonal teas, themed gatherings and tastings.

Where tea fits on Monument's fall calendar

These two rooms are opening at the same time downtown's busiest stretch of the year begins. While the big retail news is happening out at Jackson Landing, downtown keeps its own pace, and these are the dates the Tri-Lakes Chamber of Commerce lists on its downtown Monument page:

1. Saturday, October 31, 4 to 6 p.m.: Safe Trick or Treat. Downtown businesses hand out candy, and Ruby Rae's has said it will take part. The Chamber lists parking at the Lewis-Palmer Administration Building, Limbach Park and St. Peter's Church.
2. Friday and Saturday, November 6 and 7: Downtown Monument Holiday Open House. The Chamber lists it for the first Friday and Saturday in November, with food, activities and sales.
3. Saturday, November 28, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Shop Small Business Saturday, the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
4. Saturday, December 5: Small Town Christmas and the tree lighting. Small Town Christmas runs 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with Santa, Mrs. Claus, reindeer, hayrides and crafts. The same day, the Annual Tree Lighting at Limbach Park brings live entertainment and food trucks before the tree is lit.

Ruby Rae's sits downtown on Front Street, where these events happen, and Between the Sips is out on Highway 105. Seatings are limited at both, with 30 seats at Ruby Rae's, so if you want afternoon tea on a holiday open house weekend or a December Saturday, book when you set the date. Don't wait until the morning of.

Monument's new small businesses are as homegrown as Lolley's and the rest of the shops our team writes about. If you're planning a shower, a birthday tea or a holiday visit with family in the Tri-Lakes area and want to talk through which part of town fits how you live, the local agents at Pulse Real Estate Group are happy to help. When you're curious what your own Monument home is worth, a free home valuation is a good place to start.