The Teapot, a recent addition to Phoenix’s historic Roosevelt neighborhood, is striving to be downtown’s new child-friendly coffee shop.
The business, created by Real London Bus Company owner Jonathan Pring and wife, Raelynn Pring, opened in March in a restored 1906 house on Fifth Avenue.
The trendy interior is family friendly with rustic details and a front and back garden for relaxing. The backyard features a two-story customized playset, with a spiral tube slide and rock-climbing wall. Picnic tables and lounge chairs surround the play area on either side of the grassy area.
The couple, thinking about their 3-year-old son Leyland, decided to create their own coffee shop after realizing there aren’t very many kid-friendly coffee shops in the area.
“One day we thought maybe we should make a space that’s like a cool coffee shop, that doesn’t look all kiddie, but has toys for kids to keep them entertained,” Raelynn said.
Jonathan is from Wimbledon, a small city southwest of London, England. He said he hopes to incorporate his roots into the food choices offered. The menu features classic English items: scones, flapjacks and crumpets. He said one of their specialties is the English scone with clotted cream and strawberry preserves.
Raelynn’s mother bakes the homemade pastries and quiches that change daily, and her father helps out too.
They cater to children with an assortment of milk and juices as well as snacks such as string cheese, fruit cups and Goldfish crackers. Besides coffee, they offer a wide selection of Two Leaves and a Bud organic teas and, according to the Prings, the homemade Green Peach Iced Tea is a crowd-pleaser.
The pair named the shop The Teapot because they wanted a cute and simple name that a child would recognize.
Customer JJ Spreitzer likes bringing her 11-month-old son, and said her child can play in the grass without worrying about pets or trash. Spreitzer hopes other places open in the area that keep families in mind when designing the layout.
“The kids all play together, regardless if they really know each other or not,” Spreitzer said. “It’s just a great atmosphere.”
The shop appeals to more than families. Felicia Butts, a neighborhood resident, said she visits The Teapot two to three times a week for her drip coffee.
“I call it my ‘coffice’ because I’m a real estate agent for the area, so I work from here,” Butts said.
She said being surrounded by the children doesn’t deter her from staying at The Teapot because, as a mother of grown children, she knows what it’s like to be surrounded by kids.
Butts said The Teapot is just the latest example of how downtown Phoenix is maturing and becoming appealing to people of all ages.
Contact the reporter at Mila.Suzich@asu.edu.
