Sometimes becoming properly caffeinated is a hectic undertaking.

The machinations of the modern world have many of us thinking it’s best to consume our caffeine at 65 mph while going from Point A to point B, multi-tasking, talking on a cell phone and dodging spills from a plastic lid.

In contrast, Sarah and Wilson Franklin, owners of the Silver Plume Tea Room, have been asking customers for more than 10 years to sit down, relax and savor a cup of tea.

“A tea should be a relaxing kind of thing, where you sit down and kind of meditate, contemplate, think about things (and) sip it slowly,” Sarah said.

It’s all about subtlety, and it’s about taking your time.

A nice presentation

Located at 940 Main St. in Silver Plume, the Tea Room sits in a 121-year-old building. Sarah’s family has operated an antique store at the site since the ‘50s. It was only within the last 10 years or so that she decided to start serving  afternoon tea amid the antiques.

Since then, the Tea Room has earned accolades on National Public Radio, among many other honors.

Sarah admits that enjoying tea at the Silver Plume Tea Room doesn’t involve the breakneck pace of a Starbucks coffee assembly line.

“I mean, you come in here, you’re not always going to get quick service, for one thing,” Sarah said. “… Sometimes you have to wait to get waited on — but you can sit and just enjoy (and) sip your tea.”

And, Sarah said, that’s the point.

Having tea isn’t just consuming a hot beverage; rather, it is an experience that requires all five senses.

A wide selection

The Tea Room boasts more than 50 different teas imported from Scotland.

Often with live music in the background, customers can watch a “display tea” unfold in hot water into a complex floral pattern, and they can enjoy beautifully presented cucumber sandwiches, scones with real Devonshire cream or homemade lemon curd, fruit breads, pastries and maybe a blueberry soup.

“I do like to make things beautiful. I like to have a nice presentation,” Sarah said.

The Franklins say they draw a range of customers, including families, couples, retirees and even bikers.

“It’s been good for us,” Wilson said. “You meet a lot of nice people.”

A family affair

Sarah originally started coming up to Silver Plume in 1955. Her parents bought a weekend-getaway house in the town and later opened an antique business.

It was nine years later in that store that Sarah met Wilson, her future husband.

In the mid-‘80s, Sarah and Wilson took over the shop on a part-time basis.

When the antique business starting becoming less profitable, they decided they needed something new.

“That’s why we put in the Tea Room,” Wilson said.

Sarah admits they don’t know exactly how long they’ve been doing the Tea Room side of their business but said it started as a buffet-style Christmas tea and expanded from there.

“We made everything at home and carried everything in, tried to keep water hot on (a potbellied) stove. We had no heat in here and no bathrooms,” Sarah said. “That was our first tea, and then we probably did that for a couple of years.”

Sarah said one of their sons advised that they should expand and make the teas a more legitimate business.

“And so we put in a kitchen and got licensed and put in a bathroom and a furnace,” Sarah said.

A resurgence in tea rooms

Sarah said that starting a tea room was something she had been interested in doing since she was little — and was in part based on her own memories of the tea rooms that once existed in Denver.

The concept of the tea room has become increasingly popular in recent years, and the Silver Plume Tea Room was one of the first of this new generation in Colorado.

“Actually tea rooms are very popular right now, although we were kind of like on the threshold of it, I think,” Sarah said. “I’ve always kind of dreamed of doing (it).”

Sarah said the Silver Plume Tea Room, which experiences large crowds during the summer and holiday months, owes much of its popularity to word of mouth.

“We have good food — everything we (have) is pretty much made right here …,” Sarah said.

She likes the creativity that goes into the food and it’s presentation, as well as the people she gets to meet.

“It’s relaxing (here) — kind of forget the hurried world around you that you live in every day,” Sarah said.

“You just don’t get the atmosphere that you get in here.”

The Silver Plume Tea Room is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, with Wednesdays added in June. For information, call 303-569-2368.

Contact Ian Neligh at couranteditor@evergreenco.com, and check www.clearcreekcourant.com for updates and breaking news.