Now Open: The smallest teahouse in Kansas City

​The venerable Temple Slug shop turns 40 years old in April (and was better-known in the 1970s as a hippie head shop than its current incarnation as a stylish futon dealer). The folks who own it also own the little farmhouse at 4309 Jefferson Street, but it’s taken eight years to turn the building from a tiny rental home into a combination teahouse and coffee house called The Teahouse & Coffeepot.

The inspiration behind the business was tea-lover Keith Buchanan, the stepson of Temple Slug’s owner, who naturally prefers tea to coffee: the British-born Buchanan is half English, half-Chinese and all about converting coffee-loving Americans into tea enthusiasts.

“We can’t convert a coffee drinker if you can’t get them into the door,” says Buchanan, explaining why the cozy little venue sells both French press coffees and teas.

​Getting customers into the door doesn’t seem to be a big problem — but getting too many through the door might be. The Teahouse and Coffeepot is very, very small. There are two petite rooms on the first floor with barely a handful of tables. The walls are painted a bright pistachio green and the windows are big and sunny, so it doesn’t seem cramped, although barista and tea brewer (and musician)

Nick Holt’s idea of hosting a regular open-mic night in the building seems too fantastic to be possible.