TeaHaus owner Lisa McDonald sits in the expanded space at her downtown Ann Arbor business. In addition to serving a light menu on a daily basis, the space allows McDonald to book private events for alcohol-free parties such as wedding showers, baby showers and birthday parties.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

Having a cup of tea just got a whole lot tastier.

TeaHaus, 204 N. 4th Ave. in Ann Arbor, has taken over the former Cake Nouveau space next door to add seating and a take-out counter featuring decadent European-style cakes.

“We were borrowing the Cake Nouveau space to offer a full English tea service once a month and selling out two to three months in advance,” said TeaHaus owner Lisa McDonald. “When Cake Nouveau moved to Packard to expand, I knew I also needed more space but didn’t want to have to move.”

McDonald says she is lucky to have a landlord who likes her business and agreed to put a 6-foot-by-9-foot hole in the shared wall, effectively doubling her space to roughly 1,600 square feet.

In addition to serving a light menu on a daily basis, the space allows McDonald to book private events for what they call “alcohol-free” cocktail parties such as wedding showers, baby showers and birthday parties. She already has a few English tea services booked, as well as a Celtic Harp concert on Sept. 24 featuring one of the top harpists in the U.S. The space will also work well for the open tea tastings and educational tea seminars McDonald holds as well as tea clubs and poetry groups that meet there.

The entire space is available for parties of 20 people or more; smaller groups can pull a curtain across a section for privacy.

McDonald opened TeaHaus a little over two and half years ago, after working in Europe as a business consultant for 14 years. While living abroad, she became a tea sommelier as a hobby.

“What I missed most when I moved back were the bakeries and really good tea,” she says. “I also have two children, which weren’t conducive to business consulting, so I took my skills and opened the TeaHaus.” In fact, McDonald’s second son was born just five days before the store opened. In addition to the added seating and bakery, McDonald will expand the retail product line. “We already carry almost 200 different types of tea, but I may bring in a larger variety of tea accessories. Since only 4 percent of tea in the world is English I have focused on tea ware that is more Scandinavian and Asian design, but I probably will bring in more of the English frilly tea pots now.”

McDonald says she doesn’t feel competition from other tea rooms like Crazy Wisdom.

“Our tea room is not a laptop café where people will sit for hours. It will be more for private events or a place where people can take a moment for a cup of tea and a nice piece of cake.”

The TeaHaus is open Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 12-4 p.m. Private events may be booked by calling 734-622-0460.

Laura Blodgett is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com.