Our Origins

The initial inspiration for what would become Cozy Tea grew from the imagination of a very young Harshika Patel, born in Jinja, Uganda in East Africa in 1958. Making mud cookies from the rich, rust-colored Ugandan soil was one of her favorite play-time activities as a little girl. She remembers helping her mother in the kitchen from an early age preparing ingredients for traditional Indian dishes, sparking her passion for cooking early on.

Shika would be assigned small tasks, closely observing how each dish came together. It wasn’t long before she was trusted to cook on the stove while her mother kept a watchful eye. Every afternoon around four o’clock she would help brew chai which involved boiling water with sugar, dry spices, fresh ginger, loose black Assam tea, and whole cow’s milk.

Life in Uganda was simple but happy until early August of 1972. At this time, Idi Amin, the military dictator of Uganda, had ordered all Asians to leave the country within 90 days. Shika’s father lined up for hours outside the British High Commission to obtain the paperwork necessary to secure tickets for a flight to England. In October of that same year her family left Uganda permanently for England with just a bag of clothes and 1000 Ugandan shillings (£50).

The family arrived in England on October 15th, 1972 on a very cold, blustery day wearing only summer clothing. After spending two weeks in a refugee camp in Honiton, Devon, they were contacted by an Englishman named Nick. He was an ex-colleague of Shika’s father from Uganda, and offered to put the family up in a spare cottage his parents’ owned in Chipperfield, Hertfordshire until her father found a job. They accepted the offer gratefully.

That evening they had supper at Nick’s parent’s house next door to the cottage. The meal consisted of savory small triangles of bread and butter sandwiches, steaming hot tea, fresh fruit trifle, rhubarb and apple crumble and of course, warm currant scones with cream and jam! This was Shika’s very first introduction to traditional British fare and she was completely awe-inspired!

Shortly after, her father secured a job and the family moved to Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire. There were a couple of local ladies, namely Mrs. Finlayson and Mrs. Sedgewick, who were very hospitable and invited Shika into their homes to enjoy tea and scones and help them as they baked. Mrs. Sedgewick even gifted Shika her very first cookbooks! These experiences laid the foundation for her as she developed a passion for baking.

Cozy Tea in Historic Five Points

Shika met her husband Kish in London and they were married in 1986. They have three sons and the family moved to Jacksonville, Florida in 1995.

In 2008 Shika finally secured a location for her very first tearoom at 1029 Park Street in the historic Five Points neighborhood of Jacksonville. After an immense amount of back-breaking work by the family, Cozy Tea opened its doors for business on Friday November 21st, 2008. The timing was perfect because the 6th annual Riverside Wine Festival took place in Five Points the next day, bringing a lot of new visitors to the tearoom! The business continued to grow through positive reviews in the local media and word of mouth from customers who were excited about a new and unique tearoom in the Five Points area.

Shika felt inspired to share her Indian heritage and cuisine which she had learnt over time from cooking with her mother in Uganda and England. Shortly after opening, Cozy Tea introduced Indian Dinner nights on the first Friday of every month, which consisted of an extensive authentic Indian three course meal where customers could bring in their own beer or wine. Chai and dessert were offered as the final course, concluding a delicious dinner. These exclusive and extremely popular dinners stayed fully booked throughout the life of Cozy Tea at 1029 Park Street!