Gourmet & Healthy in Royal Oak

Dragonfly Artisan Tea Cottage’s tearoom wouldn’t be out of place in a Victorian dollhouse: delicate fine china teapots, fresh flowers, and doilies dot lace-covered pink tablecloths. Vines creep up mint-green walls and heavy wooden columns, and sunlight pours through picture windows. This ultra-dainty tearoom is ideal for afternoons spent sipping black, green, and herbal teas and nibbling freshly baked scones and finger sandwiches. It also serves up heartier housemade dishes that often feature organic, local ingredients, including vegetarian black-bean burgers and gluten-free fig, spinach, and gorgonzola pizzas.

In addition to hosting daily tea parties, Dragonfly Artisan Tea Cottage serves as a welcoming community hub where acoustic musicians gather to serenade patrons. Local artists display jewelry and paintings in the front room and, on some evenings, even attract craftsters and lost kittens by teaching knitting classes on the front porch.

With more than 3,000 products in stock and learned clerks, Organic America infuses would-be green thumbs with the supplies and skills to bolster indoor and outdoor gardens. The staff, which includes professional farmers and retired Swamp Things, educates clientele with seminars and in-store conversation. Weekly workshops detail the essential techniques necessary for successful organic or hydroponic harvests, including crop rotation and biological pest control. Behind the store's low-slung façade, verdant displays show the life cycle of healthy plants as they mature from seeds to flowers and eventually to parade floats.

The knowledgeable staff at BetterHealth Market helps visitors to navigate a vast inventory of products for natural and nutritious living ranging from aromatherapy oils to gluten-free cookies. Natural, organic, and raw groceries from brands such as Amy's Kitchen and Nature's Path keep home cooking flavorful and wholesome, and a range of supplements, vitamins, and minerals helps to ease health issues, increase energy, or incinerate burritos that have overstayed their welcome. A wide variety of teas and coffees offers options such as fair-trade beans and yerba mate to healthfully wash down each nourishing morsel.

A development center resting on 16 acres of land, Tilian Farm works with local farmers and community members to propagate both a prolific harvest and increased awareness of the importance of community-supported agriculture, also known as a CSA. Working in conjunction with local farm owners to develop their business models, Tilian Farm's volunteers strive to positively impact the surrounding areas by improving health along with increasing the availability of fresh, local produce year-round. Sharing the bounty of their harvest, they offer CSA memberships for locals, wherein each week members will receive a box of fresh, in-season produce, such as lettuce in the spring, cucumbers in the summer, and scarecrows in the fall.

Every person on staff at Xtreme Nutrition also works as a personal trainer, allowing them to provide seasoned advice and share patrons’ excitement for fitness. The shelves brim with bottles and jars, their colorful silhouettes emblazoned with brands including Hyper FX, Excellean, and Elite Gourmet. Engineered specifically for demographics such as bodybuilders, teens, men, women, or seniors, the supplements deliver infusions of vitamins, probiotics, and protein. Patrons can take nutritional sips at an onsite smoothie bar or attend Zumba classes led by the store's multi-talented staff and spinning classes led by whoever brings the loudest bicycle horn.