One of my favorite not-so-recent food trends is definitely the artistic, fruitful and delicious smoothie bowl.
In Chapel Hill, there’s only one place to go for smoothie bowls: Honeysuckle Tea House. Honeysuckle is nestled on a farm about 15 minutes from UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus and it’s just as beautiful as its name.
The first time I went to Honeysuckle was last semester in the early fall. I’ve been for fun and for studying, but the main reason to go is for the high quality of food, drinks and service.
Because the tea house is completely open-air, they close down in the colder months of the year. Recently, they reopened for the spring season, and of course my friends and I had to go.
The place was the same as I remembered, bustling with kids running around the gardens and college students hanging in Eno hammocks outside. My friend and I both ordered something new off the updated menu: Carolina Blue Skies smoothie bowls. The name was fitting for the beautiful April day.
The smoothie base was blueberries, peach, mango, green tea and banana. It was topped with bee pollen, goji berries, granola, rose petals and a beautiful banana arrangement. I had the perfect combination of smooth, fruity, crunchy and sweet in every spoonful. It was so good, I literally scraped the purple smoothie from the bottom of the bowl.
I also ordered a dirty chai (chai tea with a shot of espresso) latte with soy milk, which was just as excellent.
But with other offerings like 25+ different teas, smoothies, coffee drinks, komuchas and herbal syrups, I know this won’t be my last trip to Honeysuckle before graduation.
HONEYSUCKLE TEA HOUSE: 8871 Pickards Meadow Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27516, (919) 903-9131, honeysuckleteahouse.com. Open Thurs – Sun 9 am – 9 pm. $.
Tar Heel Born & Fed 