The Boston Teacup

L'Espalier at The Mandarin Oriental

2009-04-10T03:19:00.012-04:00

774 Boylston Street
Boston MA 02199
(617) 262-3023

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In late 2008 Boston's beloved L'Espalier moved over to the new Mandarin Oriental Hotel to be their flagship 5 star restaurant. They left behind history and charm in the form of their Back Bay brownstone and moved up to the sleek jetset of one of the world's premiere hotel chains. With Tom back in town for February this shift of their Fantasy Tea Party provided The Boston Teacup with at least one more tea to try ('at least?' you say... read on).

Now if you recall, weekend afternoon tea at L'Espalier was one of our of favorites, with impeccable service and undeniably good food (old review here). With more room in the new kitchen and more space for the waiters could this possibly improve to an even higher level? And how about the atmosphere and tea? Will the 2008 model make-up for losing the idiosyncratic charming romance of the 19th-century original?

As in the old digs, we both ordered 'Red Riding Hood's Basket' ($36) - your choice of tea plus a selection of petit fours, pastries and canapes. We had one regular and one with vegetarian substitutions and picked our choices from a basic list of 7 posh teas. The menus were whisked away soon to be replaced by white teapots and three rounds of bite-sized creations, ending of course, with the classic L'Espalier swan.

From our table we could gaze down through glass walls to Boylston Street below, or pan our eyes around the room and gawp at our fellow diners taking the tasting menu or the equally interesting modern chandeliers. On our exit we were able to wander through the refined 21st century maze that is the new hotel and much to our disturbance found ANOTHER TEA going on by the fire and sofas of the Mandarin Lobby. Damn! A new tea that the Boston Teacup hasn't yet reviewed!

Tom...
I'll jump straight to it, I've not left an afternoon tea feeling so failed. What had been one of my favorite afternoons in 2007 became a hefty 2009 disappointment. To lose the setting of the Gloucester Street Brownstone is unfortunate, but to lose the service, the atmosphere and the tea is careless. As a positive, the decor was at least a step up from that seen at the rival modern hotel, The Ritz Carlton. The food as well, is still top class but it didn't feel world class like before. Sigh.
The whole experience felt detached and awkward. We were the only table having tea and I felt like a second class citizen to those around me getting full introductions to everything on their tasting menu. What was I nibbling on? I had no clue! And with the menu long taken away how could I tell that I just broken my own moral stance and accidentally eaten foie gras? I was not a happy bunny when I later found out. The tea was also a major let down, no longer baby-sat meticulously at the back of the room but left in a plain white pot on your table to stew. It was just a small mistake but I should also mention that I was initially served the cold left-overs of someone else's pot. Not quite L'Espalier service, is it?

Upon spying the new tea going down in the comfy and warm Mandarin Lobby downstairs, I was left to wonder whether L'Espalier should really bother to serve their Fantasy Tea Party any more.

Hana...
Was it the chipped teapot that left me heartbroken? Was it the lackluster service that left me dissatisfied? Was it the reply of "if more hot water would be fine," when I asked for a new pot of tea that left me disappointed? These may all seem like minor details. But isn't afternoon tea all about details? I'm having tea at L'Espalier, no less.

What you get at L'Espalier's tea is a small white pot of tea, which is cute, but will run out after 2-3 cups. Aside from the buffet style tea at the Atheneum Library, I can't recall a place I've been to that doesn't introduce us to our tea treats. Even the tea buffet had labels and more personality than this.

Overall, compared to other tea venues, I felt L'Espalier lacks the breezy feel of the Boston Harbor Hotel, the warm and cozy atmosphere from The Taj, and the old world charm of its old location. This is yet another modern, stainless steel accent, white table clothes with white ceramic dishes and white napkins restaurant.

Scores...
Tea - 75%
Food - 85%
Service - 60%
Ambiance - 80%
Average - 75%

Travels of Boston Teacup

2009-02-27T18:40:00.011-05:00

As well as tasting teas and crunching on cakes all across Boston, the Boston Teacup has also managed to try a few well-known services around the world. Although we were unable to review these offerings as the delightful duo you know, our individual experiences are worth reporting, so that you can compare how the Hub's finest compares with the international legends.

First up, is The Peninsula... but sadly not the famous Peninsula of Kowloon, instead this was The Peninsula Beverly Hills. This discreet luxurious hotel is found just behind the famous Rodeo Drive strip of high-end fashion stores and provides a great place to relax and refresh between ridiculous splurges on thousand dollar T-shirts. Afternoon tea is taken on embroidered sofas at the back of the hotel atrium, with a harpist present and fresh L.A. daylight pouring through the glass. As you indulge in the excellent pastries and sandwiches you’ll be sharing the room with a revolving-door of movie execs coming in for deals over quick drinks. Eavesdrop for Hollywood gossip!

The Peninsula have rightly taken everything seriously here, after all, their brand is synonymous with afternoon tea. The food and presentation was top class and the lovely teacosies around the silver pots was a wonderful touch. The tea selection could be extended but they couldn’t do much to improve on the stellar service. It really is a recommendable afternoon, on par with Boston’s best and making a nice change to dine on soft sofas. It would be tough to choose between here and The Taj , but I think The Taj would win.

Next on the list is The Oriental. No, not Boston’s Mandarin Oriental but the original Oriental which has resided for 100+ years on the river banks of Thailand's capital, Bangkok. It is now part of the Mandarin Oriental chain but the hotel, and especially its afternoon tea, is far older and grander than almost any other hotel in Southeast Asia.

Tea is taken in the author’s lounge, a beautiful restored wing of the original hotel, famed for distinguished literary guests, its sun-drenched atrium and adjoining guest library room. Has anyone you know had tea and stayed here? Try Graham Greene, Noel Coward, Joseph Conrad and even Prince Charles and Diana!

In terms of ambiance it couldn’t get any better. The beautiful orchid filled room, the pianist, huge comfortable wicker chairs and outside a riverside garden with talking Mynah birds. Servers were friendly Thai ladies who behaved far more relaxed than most people serving tea at hotels like this. They persuaded me to dine on the Thai tea set, which had Thai-inspired sandwiches, scones and cakes that were much more interesting than the norm, but slightly too sweet for my tastes and didn’t go so well with the average tea on offer. The feel of the whole afternoon made up for it though, this is definitely an amazing place to have tea, to relax and never leave.

And finally on the list is the UK Tea Council number 1 pick for afternoon tea in London, The Lanesborough Hotel, where a menu curated by London’s first tea-sommelier is served in the central conservatory away from the hustle of Hyde Park Corner outside. This is high-end award-winning afternoon tea, noted for its luxury, top service and outstanding in its tea selection. It’s definitely somewhere great to take your sister for a treat.

The tea menu is indeed interesting and well-chosen but not quite as diverse as at the Park Plaza in Boston (where a tea sommelier has been in place for years!). Still, every drop is brewed to perfection and it goes so well with some of the best sandwiches and sweets to ever have had the fortune to meet my mouth. Why doesn’t coronation chicken appear in more sandwiches in the US? Beyond the wonderful tea, the fabulous food and the elegant room with its piano, polished silver and art noveau chandeliers there was something that made this really the best of the best (yes, better than any in Boston) and that was the service. Our young French waiter was a level above perfect – attentive yet discreet, a showman yet humble, and with a sweet smile that made you feel as royal as the family who live literally just across the road.

All Good Things...

2008-07-30T18:34:00.006-04:00

...come to an end.

Yes, sadly Tom left Boston to go 5 hours over the Atlantic back to the fabled shores of tea and crumpets and thus your fearless team of tea-testers has been split to move on to bigger things. Hana is now flexing her culinary talents at the wonderful Pink Cat's Bakery and Tom is just making another mug of Earl Grey and thinking about seeing the world.

Before our sad farewells, we went out for one last afternoon tea together in June. Where would we go? Take a look at that side bar of percentages on the right, and it's not rocket science to guess it would be back to The Taj Lounge. And yes, one year on from our original review it was still a delight to be pampered like the royalty we deserve to be. The menu was slightly changed from before but the experience was still elegant class at Boston's very best.

Holding back the tears we looked back on our year sampling teas on your behalf. Yes, there are some regrets... Why could we never get round to writing reviews of the quick-stop tea shops? Will anyone else ever sum up what bubble tea is all about? Should we have even bothered with the Inn at Harvard? But those few regrets were countered with the pride of having held our own tea-tasting party, having secured access to the wonder of the Athenaeum, and of course having reviewed all of afternoon teas on offer in this town. Well done to us and our worthy project.

And now for the conclusion - the final verdict. Five of the afternoon teas stood out way beyond the others and would be our recommendations to everyone.
* The Taj Lounge for five star luxury
* L'Espalier for culinary majesty
* The Athenaeum for time-travel experimentation
* Upstairs On The Square for funky originality
* The Boston Harbor Hotel for sun-drenched relaxation

We hope we help you enjoy your Sunday afternoons for years to come. Thanks for reading and much love for you and your tea-loving tastebuds. Tom and Hana

P.S. Feel free to keep sending comments and emails to us. We'll still be here to help.

Boston Athenaeum

2008-05-02T08:30:00.008-04:00

10 1/2 Beacon Street
Boston MA 02108
(617) 227-0270

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Our hard work paid off! After sampling the ten afternoon teas on offer around Boston we received an invitation to take the most exclusive tea of all. Boston Athenaeum is a members-only club, a library, a museum and a veritable institution all rolled into one. Founded in 1807 and moved to the wonderful address of 10 and 1/2 Beacon in 1849, it is one of America's oldest libraries and is full of priceless histories and biographies (and even one book bound in human skin!) It reaches 5 floors high with sculptures, antiques and reading rooms overlooking the famous Granary Burying Ground below. Its collections are vast and much of the earlier artwork of the Athenaeum went on to form the basis of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. For over 200 years it's provided a meeting place for Boston's intelligentsia and is world-renowned for events such as concerts and lectures.

Afternoon tea was known to be a daily tradition at the Athenaeum during its early years. Since 1984 it has been revived as a service put on to treat members and their guests on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month. Like most things at the Athenaeum, it's a little unique. You stand outside the Long Room at 3 pm and then one-by-one pay the $20 charge ($8 for 5-and-under) and file in to find yourself a nice table looking out over the graves of patriots like Sam Adams and Paul Revere. The food is presented on a central buffet table that you help yourself too and at the end of the table a generous volunteer serves you a choice of two teas that are on the brew. You can go up as often as you like to get more food and tea (both are regularly replenished) and you can browse around the room with its Qing-dynasty vases and busts of famous minds like Ben Franklin. There is even a stash of sherry you can help yourself to. No phones or cameras though, and a bags are checked in at the Athenaeum entrance too (hence these photos have been provided by the staff).

While many of the people taking the afternoon tea here are regulars, the teas themselves are always different. The staff take a huge pride and invest a lot of effort into coming up with something new every 2 weeks. Often the menus will be themed based on lectures taking place at the Athenaeum that week - in the first few months of 2008 there's been a Roget's Thesaurus-themed menu and then there was the fantastic Jonathan Swift-themed menu that we were lucky enough to taste.

With such great ideas and a great setting, the teas are understandably popular and should be booked well in advance. If you're not lucky enough to know a member who can take you as their guest then consider becoming a member - it's $115 per person if you're under 41 (twice as much for those above) and gives you access to so much, as well as putting your name up with past members like John Quincy Adams and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Tom...
Wow, a much larger introduction than our other afternoon tea reviews, but the uniqueness of this place and their tea needs to be told. It's so mesmerizing and incredibly Harry Potter-esque here - the room is spellbinding and you are surrounded by historical antiques... and I don't just mean the other diners. I really love spending time in places with history and the Athenaeum is not short on that. Where else can you sip sherry from cut glass while tourists gather around ancient graves below?

It took me a while to get used to the buffet-style service and the themed menu idea but once I was over the initial shock of jostling for position with hardened geriatric regulars it was a breeze. As a Brit abroad, I've never felt more at home than in this old room with my tea, having to fend-off George Bernard Shaw-lookalike diners three times my age but ten times more eager than me to grab the scones and curd. It was just like a village wedding.

Although beautifully served, the two tea choices (English Breakfast and Hu-Kwa) were very limiting and not really brewed too well. The setting, the relaxed feel and the food more than made up for it. The idea of a fully-researched themed menu blew me away once I got it. After speaking to the lovely staff we found out that one dish - the sensational hot chocolate Madeira drink - was from a 300 year-old Spanish recipe that they'd looked up after diligently researching what kind of drink Jonathan Swift enjoyed in London in the 1700s. Not only was it gorgeous (I had 3) but it was a real conversation piece and that's what I loved more than anything.

Hana...
Afternoon tea is "hard" work indeed, Tom. ^-^

I have a dilemma with this place. On the one hand, like Tom, I absolutely love the setting of the historic Boston Athenaeum for afternoon tea. Yet on the other hand, it is so exclusive- tea is only available for library members. I understand that it is something special for the members. If more people are to come, only to patronize their afternoon tea, the staff might have a work overload and loyal tea members might feel un-eased. That is the reason why I felt so happy to be able to take part in this secret afternoon tea (of sorts). It was a wonderful experience - the overall tea, as well as the welcoming staff.

The buffet-style tea here actually worked to my advantage. It was because I love sweets and I don't eat meats. I was very excited at having seconds and thirds of the sweet desserts, definitely more than eating the savory pieces! As I got some food, and then some tea, I noticed the silver antique teapots - very, very classy. But it's not just that, there was more... the white linen table clothes, the modern sparkling plates, and real silverware, even down to the delightful to read menu.

So alongside with the Taj (for traditional aristocratic afternoon tea), Upstairs on the Square (for girly, funky tea), and the Boston Harbor Hotel (for seaside relaxation tea), this is the Boston Athenaeum's tea, comprising in its own uniqueness. Where else can I sip some tea, drink some chocolate, and have a shot of sherry alongside the Revolutionary heroes that now lay beneath the Earth?! At the Boston Athenaeum Library. Cheers!

The Gallery, Ritz-Carlton Boston Common

2008-04-19T11:04:00.009-04:00

2 Avery St
Boston MA 02111
(617) 574-7100

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Finished in 2008, the new Boston Common location was a bold move for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. After 80 years across the park in their original building by the Public Gardens, Ritz-Carlton upped sticks and headed for a new modern building in the less fashionable downtown area. Behind they left their established majesty to become the new Taj Hotel and ahead they forged a new slick luxury hotel with an urban feel. Royalty can stay at The Taj, Boston Common Ritz-Carlton is after the movie stars and sports teams.

One of the last editions to the new Ritz-Carlton was its afternoon tea. Not only is the Ritz name synonymous with afternoon tea but at the old location it was both a showpiece and a tradition of the hotel. With the Taj continuing the old tea across the parks with more than capable hands, the new Ritz-Carlton has a lot to live up to.

Tea is on Saturdays and Sundays with sittings at 1:00, 1:30, 3:00 and 3:30 pm. It is held in The Gallery - a comfortable lounge area at the back of the modern lobby with a centerpiece fireplace and art from the hotel's million dollar collection. The typical afternoon tea costs $32 and consists of scones with cream and lemon curd, followed by an assortment of luxury finger sandwiches and then finally English biscuits, fruit tartlets and mignardises (small sweets). For $13 more you can also add champagne and strawberries and there are also vegetarian alternatives, as well as a $20 version for 12-and-unders. There are 12 teas to chose from covering classic and scented black teas, green teas and tisanes (herbal teas). The menu proudly proclaims that all the teas served are Mighty Leaf teas.

Hana...
The Ritz Carlton, known for afternoon tea, was one of the places that I'd been eagerly wanting to try. I had high hopes for it. During the course of our tea, the food was very elegantly presented (to go along with its modern interior design). The fact that they have 2 types of afternoon tea - one regular and one for vegetarian, gets high mark in my book. However, with the inclusion of caviar on small pre-made open face sandwiches and getting two of the same kind (from the vegetarian side), my feelings for this place were reduced to sub-average. Actually, the sandwiches seemed quite small. What I remembered most from this tea experience is not their tea sandwiches unfortunately, but only their lovely scone. It was so rich, buttery, and heavenly on a cold winter day.

Afternoon tea here was good, but it was definitely not excellent, in my opinion. The interior is very modern in every way. However, I find the tea area too open to the lobby, where people go in and out. There is no distinct separator, except for the presence of a carpet. A fireplace keeps you warm if you happen to be sitting near it. If you happen to get a table on the other side of the lounge, you are not so lucky as burst of cold air will come each time someone enter the hotel. It was a nice place to try out, but a memorable one? Not really.

Tom...
As soon as we sat down and were handed the menu I was a little perturbed seeing the endorsement for Mighty Leaf teas. They make great teabag teas but it was the first time I'd seen a brand you could can get at your local Whole Foods so prominently revealed on a $32 menu. It wouldn't shock me if most hotels get their teas through a commercial brand but to mention it seemed odd. Certainly it's a far cry from the expert-picked tea menu and personal tea collection at Swan's Cafe down the road.

The food and tea were beautifully presented. Everything fitted in with the modern luxury feel - the cuts of the bread, the plates, cups and teapots - all modern and elegant. There were some classic touches too - the silver service tray with its Ritz-Carlton lion on top, and the candle-powered teapot warmers on which our pots were rested. The staff were attentive to start with and the seemingly innocent questions as to why we were exchanging gifts culminated in a surprise final course - a handful of their decadent chocolates garnished with an orchid and with Happy Birthday written out on the plate in drizzled chocolate. A nice touch, it was just a shame that the staff were entirely absent when we were looking to pay up and move on.

Swans Cafe at The Boston Park Plaza Hotel

2008-02-14T09:25:00.006-05:00

50 Park Plaza
Boston MA 02116
(617) 426-2000

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The Park Plaza Hotel is an impressive sprawling complex just off Boston Common between Downtown and Back Bay. It has nearly 1000 rooms and contains 5 restaurants and one tea-wielding cafe - Swans. The hotel is grand but does not cater to the luxury or high-end business clientele that The Taj or Four Seasons attracts. The "city within a city" that this hotel has become is now a haven for tour groups, conferences and functions. Just a few minutes spent in the expansive grand lobby will see all sorts of life going by.

The cafe itself is a raised area at the back of the lobby, underneath impressive chandeliers and complete with flowers and a central grand piano. A formal afternoon tea is served here daily from 3 to 5 pm and, if booked in advance, can double-up as a personal tea-tasting session with Boston’s only tea sommelier – Cynthia Gold. The typical afternoon tea menu starts with a shot of tea-infused port, then moves on to scones, sandwiches and cakes and ends with a tea-infused Crème Brulee. The sandwiches offered can, if desired, be all-vegetarian and even all-seafood, instead of the usual range. The food is complimented with an unparalleled menu of teas, many of which are exclusively served at Swans within the USA. These range from signature blends – Swans Earl Grey for example, to rare harvests of lesser-known tea varieties and over the course of the occasion you are generously allowed to change your choice of brew multiple times so you can taste a fair section of their selection. The tea tasting session is more formal, with the food deliveries punctuating the tasting of a diverse range of teas, each individually selected and fully-introduced by Cynthia Gold, with more than a few from her private collection, such as the valuable before and after-aging Pu-erh teas that she has personally brought back from China.

Hana...
One great thing about having afternoon tea at the Park Plaza is that they offer a private tea tasting. This is great for the tea connoisseur. However, aside from that, I think the whole afternoon tea is fairly sub-average. Having been here twice too. Yes, they do offer an excellent variety of tea, but they need to step it up on their food accompaniment.

It's very thoughtful to have a vegetarian option, but the open face "sandwiches" (tapas on toasts) were very bland and felt too heavy-handed on the oil. The mini cakes were cute with flower fondant decorations, but were way too sweet. It was not enjoyable. The scone was actually a rock cake, ok-tasting, and was actually rock hard. I think I just prefer regular buttery soft scones with my tea over that. The atmosphere needs a little updating too - plastic plants, mirrored wall, and dated tea wares. Although the cafe is partially sectioned off in the hotel lobby, I did not enjoy the afternoon tea as much with all the commotions of people checking in and out.

At $30, it is expensive. I'd most definitely prefer other locations where the food is good and the ambiance is excellent, even with a semi-limited tea selection.

Tom...
Although I was disappointed with most of the food and jointly amused and bemused by the automated piano and the crowds of group tours flooding in and out of the lobby, I did enjoy our first afternoon tea here a lot. More than anything, I think this was due to the fantastic tea menu and the hotel’s desire to let us taste as many as possible. It certainly allowed us to protract our dining for longer than most afternoon teas, and the port and crème brulee dishes added a little extra - even if neither were advisable culinary adventures.

Our second visit - for the tea tasting - was a muddled departure from the usual relaxing afternoon tea that we take. This time opportunity to relax and chat was limited by the continual introductions by Cynthia and often tea was not present when cakes or sandwiches were making eating less enjoyable. The waiter helping her out was rather hopeless, a feature easily identified when he referred to our meal incorrectly as ‘high tea’ (oops!). Cynthia herself took some sort of dislike to me and quite amusingly insisted that I hated all the teas and wasn’t a tea drinker, even though I lapped every one of them up until empty. Having said all that, the education she gave was fantastic and I felt privileged to share some of her excellent tea collection as well as the best from the menu. If you want to learn more about tea and sample some exotic blends then this is a great way to start. However, if you just want to taste some excellent teas and relax with friends then it’s better just to get the standard afternoon tea.

Weekly Dig Tea Tasting

2008-01-24T11:14:00.000-05:00

Boston's best freebie magazine - The Weekly Dig - has a great article this week (January 23rd, 2008) about tea tasting around town. It's really worth checking out, you can read it all here.

Their journalist Minh T. Luong sampled tea at Whittard, Timeless Teas, Kaji Aso and at Swans Cafe. Our reviews of Whittard and Timeless are here. We're yet to try the Japanese tea ceremony at Kaji Aso and our Swans Cafe review is just being polished off right now.

UPDATE: We've heard that Minh has a blog too, with even more details. Here is the link to that - minnieeatworld. It's another good read.

Boston Globe

2007-12-27T13:21:00.000-05:00

Boston's top newspaper - The Globe - just had an excellent article about the afternoon tea options in Boston. It was written, of all people, by British director Peter Hewitt (who did Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey!) and chronicles his attempts to have a good cuppa with his visiting crew of stars - Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman, William H. Macy, and Marcia Gay Harden.

It's a great read, here it is:
Peter Hewitt article

The Globe's food editor was also kind enough to give us a mention on Boston.com
Here is our fame!: Boston Teacup on boston.com

Novel Cafe at The Boston Public Library

2007-12-26T21:51:00.003-05:00

Boston Public Library
700 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 385-5660

Official Website

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Novel is the restaurant within the Boston Public Library. It's a gem of a location for afternoon tea; in a light-drenched ballroom within the original renaissance-style library building. This is not just any library of course, but America's first large public library, the current third largest in the country and the very first to allow books to be borrowed. It's a historic landmark and is packed with priceless art, architecture and rare books. Of particular note are the murals by John Singer Sargent, first edition folios of Shakespeare's works, and the romanesque cloister and courtyard. It's worth reading up on the Wikipedia entry before a visit here - there is so much to appreciate.

To get to Novel, you enter the library's fantastic entrance on Copley Sq and then pass round to Sebastians cafe in the map room. Novel is attached but essentially has its own room, with windows letting light in from Boylston St on one side and from the library courtyard on the other. The room has a high ceiling furnished with a giant gothic light, around the walls are original oil paintings and amongst the tables are bookshelves and piles of classical tomes.

Tea is served on weekdays only from 2.30 to 4.00 pm with a typical spread of scones, finger sandwiches and small cakes. There is a good choice of teas, including two exclusive blends for the Boston Public Library and the full afternoon tea is cheaper than many of the hotel teas elsewhere in Boston. The unique opportunity to rest with tea and snacks for an afternoon in this wonderful location is definitely a 'Novel-Tea' (sorry).

Tom...
Do I need to mention how great a location this place is? You feel the history and intellect around you. Turn to your right and pick up a book from the pile next to your table - Proust. Look up and see the paintings hanging on the walls - is that one a Sargent? I love a good setting for tea and this meets the match. As for the tea and food, both were impressive without being exceptional. I was happy to see some interesting tea options, such as the excellent signature Indian Nimbu blend but the shine was slightly taken off when the pots were just left with us unwarmed resulting in bitter stewed tea after a half hour or so. I expect that with more attentive service this could have been avoided, but our server was largely missing and excusably so considering the large room only contained four diners. Perhaps a second visit at a busier time should be on the cards - in summer as well, so we can make use of the tables in that gorgeous courtyard.

Hana...
Do you think having afternoon tea in the library is weird? It may be, but I think it's a perfect place for a study date. You can spend hours studying for an exam in one of the beautiful rooms and then go down for tea with your group of friends or a special someone. Doesn't it sound so much better than going to Starbucks and getting a grande-double mocha-skimmed cappuccino and feeding of a giant muffin? True, it is more expensive than a coffee shop, but I think after four or five grueling final exams, a treat to afternoon tea is well worth it.

I don't mind the lackluster service, but I do miss the traditional cucumber sandwich. My only complaint would be that they were kind of skimpy on the sweets. The cranberry breads were very good, however. What also adds to the ambiance here is the music too. No live pianist or harpist, but the lovely melody would definitely put you in a cheerful mood.

Our First Tea Party

2007-10-24T01:20:00.000-04:00

In October 2007, we were kindly invited to put together a tea menu for a one-off event at the Nile Lounge Hookah Bar in Allston, MA. The event was hosted by our friends at Yelp and gave us our first shot at being tea hosts.

Ligaya, the Yelp community manager for Boston, joined us at our favorite tea store - Tea Zone - to pick out a unique combination of teas that would go well with fruity hookahs and give our crowd plenty to talk about. With the help of the always brilliant staff, we sniffed and sniffed until we'd narrowed it down the exotic Vanilla Rooibos, the nose-buster Organic Jasmine Green Tea and the luxurious Cream Earl Grey. But what about an Oolong and what about a mint tea to go with the hookah lounge vibe? Well, the first one was already taken care of - Tom's sister had come up trumps with a gift of real monkey-picked tea that was too good not to share - and the second, the mint tea, gave us a chance to experiment... we mixed up our very own blend of peppermint, chrysanthemum and lemon grass and christened it Pharaoh of Boston tea.

A few days later we sat down with our selection, put on our best thinking caps and moistened our taste-buds - it was time to write up the menu. This was not as easy as it sounds. Tea Zone had given us tasting notes but we wanted to be original and write what we got out of the teas, not what we were supposed to get. In the end, we struggled through and were happy with our words. It's difficult to both decide on the exact description of the taste and aroma of a few boiled leaves, but when you have something down that you agree on, it's a geekily proud moment.

What we came up with is on this site!... Tea menu at Nile Lounge

So, on to the event...
The Nile Hookah Lounge was a great spot for this. We brought along 5 teapots - one for each tea - and these were filled with piping hot tea and left on the 5 tables for the Yelp guests to help themselves to. Despite the abundance of excellent free Tiger beer, the tea was lapped up by the crowd with such gusto that Nile had to pull out their reserve tea cups. Tom and the Nile staff worked behind the scenes to boil up vats of hot water and keep the teapots and their bagged treasures as full as possible.

The Yelp mint blend and the monkey-picked tea were great talking points but it was the Cream Earl Grey and the Jasmine Green Tea that were the big hits and stole the show. Seems like the crowd have good taste, we loved these too.

The event itself was a huge bag of fun. The Nile Lounge is really worth checking out, especially as we left behind huge quantities of our teas with them to serve for the next month or so. Their hookahs are excellent and sipping a tea with one whilst watching one of the talented locals perform is a great evening in anyone's book.

More Events Pictures:

-- You can see Yelp's take on the event at their blog here.

-- And please also visit Tea Zone's blog too to learn about tea.

-- Finally - check out the glowing reviews for the whole evening by other Yelp members too here...

Nile Lounge Tea Event Menu

2007-10-23T21:41:00.000-04:00

1. Cream Earl Grey (Sri Lanka) - Flowery vanilla scent with a rich creamy flavor and a luxurious feel. Just like someone smuggled some ice cream into your tea.

Ceylon black tea with blue cornflowers, bergamot and natural oils.

2. Organic Green Tea - Jasmine Gold Dragon (Jiangxi, China) - Powerful jasmine scent with a smooth full-bodied flavor and invigorating aftertaste. Makes you crave for dim-sum in the heart of China.

High-altitude green tea picked in the middle of the night to capture the scent of full blossom.

3. Vanilla Rooibos (South Africa)- Caramel earthy scent with a dark flavor and a big vanilla aftertaste. Feels like walking through dry woodlands in Fall.

Naturally decaffeinated red bush tea from the South-Western Cape of Africa.

4. Monkey-Picked Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong Tea (Fujian, China) Ma Nau Mi Ti Kuan Yin - Nutty scent with a mild toasty flavor and a faint sweet aftertaste. Someone baked their nut-cookies for a little too long!

A fine oolong that grows wild on precipous mountain-faces. This particular tea is from the only remaining small village in the world where the tradition of training monkeys to collect the leaves still exists. No monkeys were harmed in collecting this tea. One was spanked.

5. Yelper-picked Pharoh of Boston Tea (USA) - Herbal scent with a refreshing spiced flavor and a long mint aftertaste. Like nibbling on candy submerged at a hot springs.

A one-off blend perfect for the hookah-loving elite reviewer - chrysanthemum flowers in peppermint and lemongrass.

Tea menu created for Boston Yelp by Tom E and Hana T of The Boston Teacup.
Tea 4 is exclusively supplied by Edible UK - Check them out here.
Teas 1 to 3 are available at Tea Zone, Somerville, MA.
Tea 5 is a blend exclusively created for tonight from teas available at Tea Zone.

Where to buy tea in Boston

2007-10-17T08:11:00.000-04:00

Taking afternoon tea at a hotel or restaurant isn't something most people can afford to do everyday. Well fear not, because Boston has recently added several shops that sell a great variety of tea and all the things associated with tea-drinking. These are places to stock-up at for your own tea-drinking pleasure, or to splash-out at prior to hosting your own tea party. So far, we've found 5 main shops worth a mention, but we will update and add detail to this page as we find more.

Tea Zone

Yelp Reviews, Official Website
Tea Zone is our favorite tea supplies store in Boston. Out in Somerville, a short walk from the Porter Square MBTA station, this independent shop is filled to the brim with amazing teas. The young owners have created a welcoming atmosphere and have on display almost a hundred teas that are purchased from the best importers in North America. Each tea has a shelf spot to it's own with a glass sample jar that you can open to catch the aroma. Your choice of tea is sold by dry weight and the staff are always happy to brew any of them up as a hot tea or an ice tea for you. They'll even show how best to do it yourself, which is useful when you return home and need that perfect tea fix.

Apart from being able to stop by here to get an amazing cup of any tea for a great price, Tea Zone is also great for tea accessories and there are plenty of gift ideas to browse. Where Tea Zone really comes up to another level, is if you are organising a tea party or designing a tea menu. It's quick and easy to choose several teas, they are weighed-out for you on the spot and handed over in sealed foil packs. You can (as we did) even design your own blend from many of the teas and herbs available. The owners are knowledgeable, their service is at bargain prices and their website is chock-full of information.

Timeless Teas

Timeless Teas on Newbury St is the oldest of the current bunch of tea supplies shops in Boston. It occupies the third floor above the popular Cafe L'Aroma and is run by the same family. They specialize in teas from the Indian subcontinent, especially from Sri Lanka. This makes a nice change from the China-dominated tea scene in the USA, and the staff take pride in this.

The store is packed full of loose-leaf tea in jars with plenty of variety and they stock a good number of tea-related gadgets, especially from Bodum. Where Timeless really excels is on three fronts: the wonderful teapot selection, the bargain flower teas (about a dollar a flower) and regular tea seminars where you can be thoroughly educated in all things tea.

It's also worth pointing out that you can buy tea here and then ask for hot water, bags and cups downstairs at Cafe L'Aroma if you can't wait to enjoy your purchase.

Whittard of Chelsea

In early 2007, Newbury St, Boston became the USA's first location for the English chain Whittard. Whittard of Chelsea has over a hundred stores in the UK and Japan and specializes in gift sets, fine teas, hot chocolates and that other drink that begins with the letter C. It’s perfect for Newbury St and also for the second location in Quincy Market as the stores are just as much for kitchen novelties and gifts for mom as they are for tea. Prices run high here, but this isn’t a store for your basic tea fix, it’s a high-end shop with convivial staff that often treat customers to an impromptu taste-test or two.

It’s not possible to get a drink of tea here, except for the free samples always on offer at the back of the store. These are usually sweetened cold herbal mixes that are the luxurious answer to the bottled Lipton soft drinks you can get in any 7-11. What you can get are teapots and teacups adorned with English rose patterns, loose-leaf tea in box sets with images of London and some fantastically good tea bags and loose-leaf varieties. If you really want to drink tea like a typical Englishman, head to Whittard to get a box-set of teabag varieties from around the world and enjoy excellent tea on the quick without the hassle of loose leaves. Particularly recommended are the English-style teas (Whittard Original and Earl Grey stand-out) as well as the famous white hot chocolate mix, which isn’t actually tea in anyway, shape of form but is definitely worth a mention.

Teavana

With a great spot in the Prudential Shopping Mall (and also a smaller branch out of town at Burlington Mall), Teavana never fails to pull in customers with money to spend on gifts or self-indulgence. It’s an American chain with a focus on the Asian-aspects of tea – karma, zen, ceremonial drinking – but also with an eye on those who want to impress but haven’t found the right places to buy. Tea is sold loose-leaf and weighed-out by the black-clad staff from the cabinets behind. Like Whittard, some flavored cold herbal blends are usually offered as samples in the store, especially to those browsing the three-figure-dollar cast-iron Fujian teapot section.

Knowing what to buy at Teavana is a daunting task for the bargain-hunter or someone new to the leaf. The teas on offer are presented in a lavish brochure and can run up to a high cost. The brochure is filled with tasting notes and factoids about each tea which go a little way to justifying their price. A good option to help you choose is to buy a cup of tea from their bar area, where a paper-cup of any available tea can be bought hot or iced for the same price, regardless of whether it costs 5 times the others in the usual menu. But be warned – The Boston Teacup has never had a good experience at Teavana, with poor excuses been offered by the staff when cups of high-end tea were ordered and then declined.

Cardullo's

Cardullo's is the international food store with a prime spot in Harvard Sq. As well as all your favorite chocolates and cheeses from around the world (and edible crickets!) they also have a substantial tea section at the rear. At first glance this just seems an extension to the coffee area, but if you look again it’s actually the home to the best range of teabags in New England. Not only are there classic English bags like Twinnings and PG but there are lots of other brands including The Boston Teacup’s current favorite, Mighty Leaf, who use silken bags and full loose leaves within.

Cardullo’s imports all its stuff from all over America and Europe and also has to deal with Harvard Sq rental prices and satisfying local bums with a big TV in the window showing the current Red Sox or Pats game. So with that in mind, it’s obvious that this is not the bargain-basement place to buy tea but it’s convenient and handsomely stocked none-the-less. It also has a wonderful abundance of eccentric staff and Hob-Nobs – the classic biscuit (cookie) to enjoy with a mug of Assam or English Breakfast.

Other venues

Good loose leaf tea and teabags have been spotted at Whole Foods branches and Harvest Market in Central Sq, Cambridge (both excellent for herbal teas). Asian teas are in abundance at the Super 88 Asian supermarkets dotted around town and Indian teas are at bargain prices at Shalimar Spices again in Central Sq, Cambridge. The tea café, Tealuxe also sells a lot of teas – even the very brand of Indian tea that was ceremoniously dumped into Boston Harbor by revolutionaries back in 1773.

L'Espalier

2007-10-11T23:37:00.000-04:00

30 Gloucester Street
Boston MA 02115
(617) 262-3023

Official Website

Yelp Reviews

Google Map

L'Espalier is the quintessential 5-star $$$ French restaurant of Boston, with a rich elegance, daily marriage proposals, a titanic wine list and most importantly, a much-lauded chef - Frank McClelland. It currently occupies a luxurious Back Bay brownstone town house just between Newbury St and Commonwealth Ave, but will move in 2008 to the nearby Mandarin Oriental hotel. The restaurant and chef win multitudes of awards for their cuisine and undoubtedly make a good living from fine expensive dining. As well as their French-New England lunch and dinners they also offer wine-tasting nights, cheese tasting sessions and - most importantly for us - a Saturday afternoon 'Fantasy Tea'.

It may seem quite strange for a French restaurant to take on the English ritual of afternoon tea, but McClelland - a New Hampshire native - is a big fan of the Boston Teacup's favorite pastime and has admirably given it a go. The tea service begins from 2 to 3 pm every Saturday and booking is as essential as dressing to impress. Through the wrought-iron gate into the restaurant, it's up a small flight of stairs to the first floor dining room where tea is served. About 8 or so small tables fit into this old beautiful high-ceiling front room that dates back 100 years or so.

There are two tea service choices offered: 'Make Way For The Ducklings' ($27) - your choice of tea plus a selection of petit fours and pastries - and 'Red Riding Hood's Basket' ($36), which adds tea sandwiches and canapes. For 15 dollars further, a glass of fine champagne can be served with either. Vegetarian substitutions can be requested. The tea choice is a typical 8 or so varieties and your cup is refilled from teapots carried by the staff rather than leaving them on your table. The accompanying food includes lobster salad, cucumber and cream cheese sandwich, strawberry terrine and the classic L'Espalier swan. As you might expect, presentation is given a lot of thought here.

Tom...
I was so glad to hear that L'Espalier served afternoon tea as it gave me an affordable chance to experience dining in Boston's most luxurious restaurant. L'Espalier has a great reputation in New England, so it was exciting to put our afternoon tea pedigree up against McClelland's excellence. He came out well of course, with service and food probably being the best we've experienced so far. Tea was perfectly served and tasted fine, but the selection didn't include anything too exciting.

The room was beautiful and elegantly decorated but felt slightly formal. Fortunately, the surrounding tables filled with attractive girls treating themselves to birthday celebrations more than made up for it. At least for me, maybe not for Hana. L'Espalier definitely is something to do for a special occasion with your significant other or best friends - the food is stunning and the service is first class. For me, the full experience is slightly behind an afternoon spent in a traditional hotel lounge, but it's not far off.

Hana...
What sets L'Espalier apart from all the other afternoon tea venues for me is that it is very accommodating. They were able to come up with a vegetarian tea menu, an excellent one, without any troubles or complaints despite being a French restaurant. I was able to taste their watermelon soup from their regular menu. The food was beautifully presented, especially with an espresso-creme filled swan pastry. A great way for a guy to pop the question to his lady would be to put the ring on the swan's neck and surprise the girl. I know I'd definitely say yes, but in any case, I'd definitely finish all the dessert.

Unlike other afternoon teas, the tea here is served by a waitress making rounds and refilling your teacups instead of you pouring the tea yourself. The advantage to this is that you'll always get perfectly brewed hot tea each and every time, instead of letting the tea steep over time. I felt that L'Espalier is a great place to check out for afternoon tea, but not a great place to bring friends and catch up on conversations over tea. The tables are slightly close together, so you'd have to speak in a hush-hush tone. In addition, unlike the Taj, the room did not feel warm and comfortable to be in. Perhaps it was because of the posh clientele.

The Lounge at the Taj Hotel

2007-09-30T23:55:00.000-04:00

15 Arlington St. (2nd Floor)
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 598 5255

Official Website

Yelp Reviews

Google Map

First off, let's get the most important thing out of the way - the Taj is the new name for Boston's historic Grand Dame: The Ritz-Carlton. In 2006, the Ritz-Carlton group sold off their first ever asset to India-based Taj Hotels. Ritz-Carlton themselves moved across Boston Common to newer, less austere accommodation and left Boston's most famous hotel in the hands of this relatively new luxury hotel chain. The present arrangement is quite confusing, with a new Ritz-Carlton only a short walk away from the hotel that almost everyone still refers to as the Ritz Carlton.

Once inside, it becomes clear that the Taj is still very much the Ritz in style, grandeur and attitude. This is where you would expect to get a great afternoon tea, with top-notch service and surrounded by expensive antiques and living ones too. They've been serving here since 1927! Tea at the Ritz... it's the classic phrase. It doesn't quite sound as good to say Tea at the Taj, but rest assured that Indians are tea lovers through and through.

Afternoon tea is served on Wednesday to Sunday at 2 pm and 4 pm sittings, and it's wise to make a booking. It is served on the first floor, so enter through the front door and take the grand spiral staircase up to the high-ceilinged lounge adorned with traditional artwork and bedecked with antique furniture. A harpist plays and the window seats look out over Newbury St below and the Gardens across Arlington St.

There are two menus: The Churchill, which consists of tea, orange scones with cream and a selection of sweet pastries for $20, and The Edelweiss, which adds a set of luxury finger sandwiches for a further $8. To each menu a refreshing glass of excellent champagne can be added for $12 more. The tea menu consists of nine typical teas and nothing too adventurous. The tea is served from pots kept warm on your table using traditional paraffin heaters, and only the finest chinaware is used.

Hana...
Up until this point, this is my favorite place to have afternoon tea, and is definitely the place where I'd treat a friend to afternoon tea. I love it here. Beautiful drapes, comfortable chairs, and relaxed lighting make the room feel warm and cozy. It is fancy, yet not uptight. The decor rounds out beautifully with great artworks and chandeliers, paying attention to every detail. This carries through to their chinaware and food presentations as well.

Sitting in front of a 3-tiered silver platter of sweets, I was in a daze. The smell of scones, the scent of chocolate opera cakes, the sugary profiteroles and lemon tartlets, this is how heaven should smell like! Or maybe, you will already be on cloud nine because there is an actual harpist playing. Whether enjoying the tea here on a chilly day or a warm summer afternoon, you should really dress up, because it is quite an experience, despite no longer being the Ritz.

Tom...
Wow - this was a great Sunday afternoon. The service, food and tea here were excellent and the atmosphere was beyond excellent. The cucumber sandwich (the classic tea companion) looked amazing and every bite was refreshing joy. I loved the way the teapots were warmed on flame heaters and it was a nice touch to have Indian designs on the chinaware.

Believe it or not, I'd started that day playing soccer in a mudbath game and had to quickly scrub myself down and slide into a suit for the dining. I was glad I did, because we were given one of the best seats overlooking Newbury St and the rest of the clientele looked very wealthy. There was even one aged lady who looked straight from her Manhattan penthouse - a walking, talking Gary Larson cliche.

My favorite memory was our waiter - an elderly man with a welcoming style and warm confidence that suggested he'd been part of the afternoon tea operation for decades. No doubt the Taj had decided to keep more than just the room when they took over The Ritz's tea.

Inn at Harvard Square

2007-09-13T21:41:00.000-04:00

1201 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 491-2222

Official Website

Yelp Reviews (Hana's is amazing!)

Google Map

The Inn at Harvard Square is Harvard's own hotel. A place for conferences, visiting parents and the businessmen who are trying to charm the brainiacs over the road. Whilst Harvard can boast having some of the finest minds and finest buildings in the world, it's hotel is far from a luxury masterpiece and instead has a more utilitarian feel to it. It certainly doesn't come across as a romantic hotel or a high-end destination so it actually came as quite a surprise to see "Tea in the Atrium" loudly proclaimed at the top of the dining section of their website. But that's enough for us, our booking was made and we were there on a summer Saturday afternoon.

Tea is served in the atrium - the light-filled four-storey neo-renaissance (think Venice) centerpiece of the hotel. At the ground level this pretty atrium contains the lounge and the dining tables for lunch, dinner and tea. Some art work and statues are also present but the walls on the levels above are somewhat bare. There is no music in the atrium, leaving it to only echo the sounds of the lounge's TV.

Tea is served everyday for 20 dollars per head. It consists of a small selection of the usual teas (and coffee is offered too - NO!!) with some typical tea sandwiches, scones, jam, lemon curd, fresh berries and gourmet cookies.

Tom...
It was pretty obvious once we were seated here that we were the first people to have ever asked for afternoon tea. We were even awkwardly asked if they could take some photos of us for their own website. Their camera battery was dead though. Little did they know that we were secret critics and wouldn't be giving them a favorable review.

The tea selection was nothing special - a little mudane, but the china cups that the tea was served in were gorgeous and refills were always coming. The atrium is potentially a great place to have tea, but as we were the only people there it really had no atmosphere at all and quickly the classical decorations began to look trite and embarassing.

I really wasn't impressed with the food selection. Dull sandwiches on bread that had been left out too long and large portions of cookies that had probably been bought round the corner at the last minute. Cookies! Coffee! This should be afternoon tea, not Starbucks. With the lack of any other tea-takers on a saturday, the staff asking if they can take a photo and the poor food offerings I think it may well have been their first ever attempt at serving afternoon tea (despite advertising it on their website). It was not a good first time for me.

Hana...
Being the Boston Teacup, we were truly excited to find another site that serve afternoon tea. From the descriptions on their website, this place sounds like it has potential. However, it was anything but. What they call "gourmet cookies" were actually chocolate chip cookies, and we were offered way too many of them. It was perphaps to cover up for the missing cakes that would usually come with afternoon tea event.

The service was very poor and unprofessional from the beginning. Once arrived and announced we were there for afternoon tea, we were told to seat ourselves, despite being not busy at all. Where? Which table? It was confusing. Furthermore, the food was brought out right away, obviously being prepared well in advanced. It was the same wishy-washy service when it comes to asking for our tea selection, without giving us a menu. In the end, so while we were having afternoon tea, our server was watching TV, going out for a smoke, chatting with other staff, and never really cared to come back and check on us. We all had a relaxing summer day.

Upstairs On The Square

2007-07-09T00:37:00.000-04:00

91 Winthrop Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 864-1933

Official Website

Yelp Reviews

Google Map

Afternoon Tea is usually the reserve of expensive hotels and specialist tea rooms; rarely does anyone else enter the ring. Occasionally restaurants throw their hat in and although many soon follow with the towel, a few winners sneak through to claim glory. The key is to be something different and preferably somewhere different as well. There’s no sense in a restaurant being just a Xerox copy of what you can get in name-drop hotels. So this is the challenge for Upstairs… be unique, be anti-hotel but still be afternoon tea.

Upstairs was originally a pet-project restaurant run by enterprising ladies above the now-gone Hasty Pudding Theatre. When that lease ended, a move to Winthrop Park was in order and the little restaurant grabbed a splendid two-storey spot right in the middle of the Harvard Square area. The mark of genius was to then deck this prime location out head-to toe in extravagance that borders on camp. The annex overlooking the square in which tea is served is a great example of this – zebra-print carpet, pink and gold furniture and antique mirrors galore - all with a great view down the short flight of stairs to the academic and eccentric life below. No hotel competes on this level. Upstairs stand out from the usual crowd by sticking their tongue firmly in their cheek and whistling you away to some fairytale Alice-in-Wonderland otherworld.

Afternoon tea is served from 3 til 5 pm, Thursday to Saturday and consists of a tea of your choice plus savories and sweets. As of May 2007 it costs $25 (add $7 for a glass of bubbly). The tea is poured from antique silver teapots and the food, served on a three-tiered silver stand, is a break from the norm with alternative breads like focaccia featuring highly and a prominent role for bacon-wrapped dates ('devils on horseback'). Interestingly, for $18 you can instead get a peppermint afternoon tea - mint tea, mint chocolate, mint parfait and mint brownie. Go here to impress a date. It'll make you look cultured without making making you feel stuffed up.

Hana…
I was wowed so much by Upstairs the first time that I brought a friend here to celebrate her birthday, and introduce her to afternoon tea. On the second visit, I found out that their tea treats rotate on different days, which is nice. They are also flexible with changing the food to leave out something you don't like, say if you want more sweets than savouries or go vegetarian. Ask them to go through the list of what they have for that day's afternoon tea treats. Don't be deterred by the pink wall because it adds a touch of whimsy to atmosphere, to counter-balance with what is otherwise a traditional [old?] activity. I love the light fixtures especially.

As for criticism, I suppose it would be that they ran out of teapots the second time I went, and were trying to find more of them. There was also a small party in the room, which was a bit noisy, so it wasn't as enjoyable as the first time. Both times, the service was friendly and let you hang out and have a relaxing conversation with your friends. I also appreciate the nice touch of giving us chocolate mints at the end, a lovely way to end a tea meal.

Tom…
Unlike Hana I only went to Upstairs the once, but I’ve been desperate to get back for a second bite at this cherry. The zebra room really sets a great tone from the start, just one glance at the floor tells you that Upstairs are not going to be going down the traditional route. No, Upstairs want to take you somewhere fun and funky. And so off to your fantastical pink palace it is.

Like the décor, the food veers wildly away from the traditional and in this case it’s a welcome change - I loved them all. The light lemon sponge cake and the mozzarella and tomato focaccia sandwich were the standouts for me.

If I have to criticize Upstairs, I’d say they need to work on adding a more imaginative tea selection to their menu as their current list doesn’t offer many eye-openers, but that's just a minor point. The random collection of antique silver teapots at least provides some funky eye candy that complements the overall ambiance. And I’d also welcome anyone coming here to dress to funk-press as Upstairs is not a tea for the suit and tie oldies, this is for the hip kids of the younger generation - the anti-establishment afternoon tea.

inTRIGUE Café at The Boston Harbor Hotel

2007-07-05T19:36:00.000-04:00

70 Rowes Wharf
(at Atlantic Ave)
Boston, MA 02110
(617) 856-7744

Official Website

Yelp Reviews

Google Map

London's Ritz probably has only one real rival when it comes to locations inextricably linked to tea, and that's Boston harbor. Just as 'Tea at Ritz' is a phrase most of the English-speaking world is familiar with, so is 'The Boston Tea Party'. With this is mind, you feel it's not just a good idea for the Harbor Hotel to be serving afternoon tea, it's also a duty of national and historical significance.

The 1990s neo-renaissance Boston Harbor Hotel sensibly serves its tea in a sunlight-doused cafe section overlooking the harbor. And if the view of those murky waters isn't enough to remind you of the historic past, the hotel lobby area also features many interesting illustrations, maps and documents from the best of the harbor's trading days. The cafe itself is more relaxed, with some recent local oil paintings on the walls, a soft carpet and a mixture of sofas, tables and chairs. Quite unexplained is why it's called inTRIGUE.

Afternoon tea is served every day between 2.30 and 4.30 pm, but it really comes into it's own at the weekend when a talented pianist provides relaxing musical accompaniment. The tea selection and food selection are the absolute norm, although there are a couple of interesting blends and profiterole cakes make a welcome appearance. The afternoon tea is relatively cheap for Boston's hotels - as of May 2007, it costs only $18 for the standard, plus extra if you have (a very generous) glass of champagne. The hotel fully encourages you to book ahead, and so do I. This allows them to decorate your table with rose petals before you arrive, whether for a romantic encounter or not.

Tom...
I really liked the afternoon tea set-up here, and this was the first tea that was good enough to see me return for a second go. The location really makes an impression and although the view can be obscured a little, just being able to glimpse the harbor beats a million other views in Boston. The room is kind of a bit 1990s but gets lots of natural light. When you add this to the piano playing and the rose petals you have to commend the Harbor Hotel for setting the mood nicely (although it may be awkward if it's a business meeting).

The tea and food was nothing special, but they didn't get anything wrong either. On my second visit it didn't impress as much, I guess there is only as many chocolate-covered strawberries as you can handle. Service lacked on both visits. The second time they seemed quite put out at us arriving an hour after we'd booked for. Okay, that is late, but they do say that inTRIGUE is a 'timeless place'. Annoyingly, that time the lovely pianist was also missing. It really makes a difference.

Hana...
There's something about the water that is just so relaxing. Maybe it gives you a serene and calming feeling. That was how I felt when I had the afternoon tea here at the waterfront. There were a variety of sweet and savory treats, of which I liked best were the strawberries and cream and a raspberry mousse cake. An open-face egg sandwich was also good, but no traditional cucumber sandwich. Also, the desserts were not that overwhelmingly sweet, just right to have with tea.

I don't think the room is that outdated. It doesn't try to be sleek and modern, nor does it try to be very ornate and furbished. It's simple and airy, and a good environment for having a relaxing afternoon tea with a friend, not to mention a good value too. Yes, so afternoon tea here is good all around. However, I do think it'll even better if we get to have tea on the patio in the back, to really enjoy the view.

Julien Bar & Lounge at the Langham Hotel

2007-06-25T09:15:00.000-04:00

250 Franklin St
Boston, MA 02110
(617) 956-8751

Official Website

Yelp Reviews

Google Map

Afternoon Teas will always be associated with London hotels and the Langham chain is no exception. London's Langham Hotel was Europe's first Grand Hotel and England's first building with an elevator. It's bang opposite the BBC in the West End, not far behind Top Shop and is now considered one of the world's best hotels to celebrity spot. Suffice to say the London hotel does a mean Afternoon Tea and has done for 140 years, but is the standard kept up throughout this little HK-based hotel chain? What about Boston's very own Langham? We'll have to see.

The front half of the Boston's Langham Hotel occupies the former Federal Reserve Bank, an austere thick-walled building that provides this executive hotel with a touch of history. The hotel was previously Le Meridien and perhaps they are to blame for the horrible high-rise section at the rear that is so incongruous with the front. Fortunately, The Julien Bar is in the front. In fact the bar is in a gorgeous old room with a fantastic ceiling - a very special location. Incredibly, however, this is not where afternoon tea is served! No, and it's not even served in the equally beautiful Julien Room. Instead, afternoon tea at The Langham Hotel is served on a mezzanine level just outside the Julien Bar between the old half of the hotel and the poor modern extension. As long as it's not too busy, you'll be seated by the ancient windows and the view out onto the Post Office Square Gardens should hopefully distract from the walkway behind you that links the bar to the conference areas.

Afternoon tea is proudly served every day between 3.00 and 4.30 pm. You can get your tea with just scones and pastries, you can add sandwiches to this, or you can even up the ante further and include a glass of champagne and a full desert. As of June 2007, it runs to $18 for the basic tea and $36 for the works. Additionally, the typical list of tea choices can be upgraded to one of a few rare teas (eg. Dragon Pearl Jasmine) for $2 more and for $5 extra you can get one of two 'high art' teas, which are handpicked flowers pressed with tea that open up in hot water. Obviously, The Boston Teacup went for that!

Hana...
Afternoon tea at the Langham was a disappointment for three main reasons: food, tea, and ambiance. While the food’s not as extreme as inedible, it was not really superb or decadent either, but rather average tasting across the board. Portions were generous, but quality was lacking. The traditional cucumber sandwiches did not have that crisp and fresh taste to it, more of heavy and dry one (probably from being out in the air). I did like the mascarpone cheese that went with the scones, as well as the rum dessert that they offered.

Teas were served in ceramic wares. But having chosen the high art tea that they offer, it would make more sense that the teapot was transparent, so that we can see the flower inside. As for the décor, it was lackluster with the poorly lit room and white curtains on top of white walls framing the small windows. It was neither warm and inviting, nor sleek and modern. Overall, my real disappointment with the Langham is that it doesn’t carry through with all that it wants to do. It doesn't pay attention to the details. They gave a lot of food, but it was average; they offered high art teas, but these were poorly presented; they were being fancy with white linen tablecloths, but then paired it with brown wicker-backed chairs.

Tom...
I had high hopes for the Langham - it's the only hotel in Boston that claims English roots, and so you'd expect them to put in the extra effort into their afternoon tea. Sadly, it didn't quite work out. It felt like the management had been told from above that afternoon tea was a big deal, but that in reality they didn't really care. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case, and I can see why. This hotel is firmly in Boston's financial district and largely caters for high-end business people rather than tea-loving aristocrats. In fact, I doubt there's much call for the afternoon tea, it was quite empty whilst we were there and the (much more opulent) Julien Bar next door was doing a far better trade. Basically, I get the feeling that serving tea, especially every day, is simply a token gesture to mark the hotel as a 'Langham'.

The high art tea, although costly, had a great taste. It's a shame I didn't get to try any of the other teas, but I was impressed that the Langham served this rare treat. It's not that common in Boston and it's worth seeing if you get the chance. For me the food was quite good. The smoked salmon sandwiches were on a sweetened bread which made for a lovely change, and it felt quite Scottish. Hana wouldn't know - she's a vegetarian weirdo. Haha.

Bristol Lounge at The Four Seasons Hotel

2007-06-22T00:06:00.000-04:00

200 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02216
(617) 351-2037

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The famous Four Seasons Hotel Chain is a luxury Canadian operation that focuses on high-end business clients. It regularly picks up awards and most people in Boston have a high regard for their relatively new hotel perched on the edge of Boston Common. The ground floor is dominated by The Bristol Lounge, a large modern lounge room with floor to ceiling windows looking out on Boylston St and the Common beyond. Afternoon tea is served to customers at tables by the windows, whilst couches and armchairs further into the lounge are more for casual visitors, business deals and those using the bar at the back. The Bristol Lounge even calls itself "Boston's Living Room" with seating for up to 165!

Afternoon tea is served every day between 3.00 and 4.30 pm and offers a traditional afternoon tea with or without champagne. There are 12 teas to choose from but none stand-out as adventurous, just the classics. The tea starts with scones and tea bread with jam, cream and lemon curd, and is then followed by typical, but well-presented light sandwiches and pastries. Without champagne, your looking at under 30 dollars per person as of 2007.

This afternoon tea marked the first ever meeting for Tom and Hana, and so began The Boston Teacup blog!

Tom...
This was my first afternoon tea in Boston and although I had a relaxing and enjoyable time with Hana, I left quite disappointed. Although we arrived well-presented we were treated with slight disdain at not having a reservation, even though it was mid-week. And once seated, our server was somewhat patronising. The tea range was nothing special and *shock horror* was served in the plain modern steel tea pots that you see everywhere. No elegance, no style. The food was very good. Although not particularly adventurous or generous it was done well. I really remember the beautiful semi-circle cut egg sandwich. It seemed a crime to eat it. But I did. Arrest me.

For me the real let down was the ambiance. Everything was modern in an early 1990s way with no charm or style. It never felt cosy or welcoming, the view doesn't really stretch out over Boylston St to the Common and you are constantly surrounded by business people doing their deals and networking. To me it felt like an Airport Lounge. And not being a businessman, I felt unwelcome.

Hana...
I love tea and I love food, and I was very excited to experience afternoon tea for the first time, with a true Brit no less. It is one of those affordable luxuries more of us can enjoy. However, the Bristol Lounge was a real downer. Aside from the nearly non-existent decor, there wasn't any relaxing melody played during tea time. The food, though decadent, was much on the small size. I know, I know, tea treats are supposed to be small, but this food is quite miniscule at top dollar. Food, tea, and ambiance together are what make an afternoon tea great.

It would be great to have afternoon tea breaks everyday from work, wouldn't it? Having tea with scones and Devon cream, which I am really loving. But don't be fooled because Devon cream has a minimum of 50-80% butterfat. It would've been better if the food they served on was a real 3-tiered silver tray, to be traditional, instead of removable plates on a stand. However, I do like the fact that they put in new teas, instead of refilling it with hot water.

Afternoon Tea

2007-06-16T20:01:00.000-04:00

History of Afternoon Tea
Legend has it that Anna Maria Stanhope, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, England invented the afternoon tea. In the early 1800s, dinner in high society was not served until 8 or 9 o'clock at night, and often finding herself hungry, the Duchess would order a tray of tea with bread and butter between meals. She soon began inviting friends to join her for an additional afternoon meal and the affair became a popular thing amongst the upper class. Along with tea, there would be small sandwiches, assorted sweets and scones with clotted creams or preserves. Afternoon tea was quickly picked up by the middle classes as the cost of tea leaves fell and the ritual became an economical way of entertaining friends.

Afternoon Tea vs. High Tea
When people think of English tea ceremonies, it is afternoon tea, or low tea, that they are envisioning, rather than high tea. Afternoon tea is a light meal served in the late afternoon, usually around 4 o'clock and taken in the sitting room on low tables. High tea, on the other hand is an early evening meal, served around 6 o'clock and replacing both afternoon tea and dinner as the main post-lunch meal. It is common in working class settings and is usually referred to as 'tea', even if beer or cola is the beverage of choice!

Tea in the Afternoon Today
The English custom of a tea break between 3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon is still alive and thriving today, both in it's homeland and around the world. Everyday in Britain, most businesses find time mid-afternoon for workers to gather with snacks and cups of tea to discuss work, reality TV or perhaps do a crossword or suduko. These tea breaks, or tea times, are also popular in Australia and the other countries of the former British Empire. In fact, even in a cricket match the play will be suspended mid-afternoon to allow the players to enjoy a cup or two with snacks like tuna sandwiches or Batenburg cake.

Afternoon Tea as a Dining Experience
An afternoon visit to a tea room or hotel lounge has become one of the quintessential treats offered in Britain and around the world. Tea rooms and tea gardens tend to offer variations of Cream Tea - tea with scones, jam and Devonshire clotted cream. This is usually enjoyed with a pot of black tea and in a beautiful rural setting like the Granchester Orchards or Watersmeet.

Hotel afternoon teas tend to be a more elaborate and luxurious affair, adding several extra courses to the basic cream tea and increasingly offering champagne and strawberries as a starter. The usual arrangment is for the cream tea to be brought after the optional champagne starter and this then followed up by savouries (including the notorious cucumber sandwich) and sweet pastries. Hotel afternoon teas also usually offer a wide variety of teas from around the world and sometimes background music is provided by a harpist or pianist. Hotels compete to provide the best presentation, service and setting and many of the world's most famous hotels have now become synonymous with afternoon tea - The Ritz and Savoy in London, Raffles in Singapore and Hong Kong's Peninsula are notable examples. Elaborate hotel-style afternoon teas are also often offered by classy restaurants and sometimes even by upscale department stores!

About Us

2007-05-27T21:03:00.001-04:00

The Boston Teacup is a weblog for those who want to enjoy tea to it's fullest in the Boston area. It was founded in May 2007 by two friends with a common interest in relaxed dining, conversation, tea and cakes. The authors, Hana T and Tom E, met on the online review site Yelp.com and soon embarked on a crusade to find the best afternoon tea experience in Boston.

The Boston Teacup is intended to help both locals and visitors to Boston find out more about the historical link between the city and tea, and where to go to get the best of this wonderful drink. We believe that Boston should be The Tea Capital of America - it has the history, many places to get elegant afternoon teas and a plethora of traditional and bubble tea shops and suppliers.

Tom E - 30
I moved from England to Boston in 2006 and just like most ex-pats, I immediately developed an unhealthy obsession with tea and the British rituals surrounding it. A form of home-sickness? Maybe. Colonial patriotism? Most definitely!

Fortunately Boston has not disappointed, and with a little exploration and help from Hana I've managed to find the best places to enjoy tea as it should be and tea as it can also be. As a typical Englishman my regular tea is simply a mug of English Breakfast with a dash of milk and perhaps a snack.

Hana T - 23

My fondest memory of tea is when at every Vietnamese New Year, there would be lots of cakes and cookies and I would eat them while sipping on a cup of hot jasmine tea. As a kid, I could not wait until all the ceremonial offerings were done so I could eat all the treats and have a sugar high. It's silly to admit it, but I still do it now, just less extreme.

The allure of tea and sweets led to the search for the best places to have afternoon tea in Boston. Before this, my knowledge of tea was quite limited, and I'd always stick to the same familiarity of tea. Since the search began, accompanied by my friend Tom, I've tried many more different and interesting variety of teas, as well as learning about them too.