The first time I remember going to tea was when my mom took my cousin and I when we were little (I was probably 7 or 8), and we went to "tea at the Ritz". To me, it's the ultimate fancy fun girls afternoon...you get to dress up, go to these gorgeous old hotels, sip tea from beautiful China, and eat adorable little sandwiches and pastries! At that age at the Ritz, I ordered hot chocolate instead of tea...and let me tell you I still remember how it tasted! Like melted chocolate bars in my cup...amazing.
Now that I am older and LOVE tea (as does my mom...she hate coffee actually)...it's become a fun thing for us to do together. When I suggested it for this weekend she thought it would be even better to get all her sisters and their daughters and my grandmother to all go together! I made a reservation for 16 people at the Park Plaza Hotel (where I took mom for Mother's Day this year).
Unfortunately my grandmother has been feeling sick all week, so she was unable to join in :(
We still had a great time though...
Afternoon Tea at the Park Plaza Hotel
The tea area is at the end of the large lobby which was beautifully decorated for Christmas (click on the picture to see it better)
Their tea service is done in 4 courses...starting with a seasonal cocktail, Holiday Nog
This was egg nog, with a little tea infused Cognac....AMAZING!!!Then they brought out the first tea, Autumn Reverie...all their teas are specially created for the hotel and they even have an on site Tea Sommelier, one of only a handful in the world.
(beautiful china!)
With the first tea came an incredible scone with devonshire cream and jam
There's nothing like a warm scone with those two accompaniments...so good.The next tea was, Boston First Night, and this came with a tower of sandwiches and pastries. Two of my younger cousins got the children's tea which was very similar but with different sandwiches...
Children's Tea
And the regular tea...this was my mom's and my treat tower to share
The bottom sandwiches were: egg salad, chicken salad, smoked salmon, and a tea rubbed pork tenderloin (amazing).The pastries: choc. dipped strawberries, truffles, apple spice cake, pumpkin spice cake, and a petit four (the blue one!).
All of these little treats were starting to make me very full...luckily they let you wrap up any leftovers, and they place your food in tin foil with a twist!
It is the "Swan Cafe" after all!The final tea was the Swan's Grey, which came out with our tea infused creme brulee...creamy and so amazing...I scraped my little cup clean!
We then just sat and chatted for a while, sipping tea, and enjoying the atmosphere
Part of the group...me with some of my cousins on the right and two aunts on the left!
I have such a fun family and feel very lucky!We are definitely going to do this again so that my grandmother can come...she would of LOVED this. She collects tea cups and is very into this stuff.
Hopefully I can continue having tea reviews every so often, because there are a bunch of other places I want to try in the city.
This was the Park Plaza Hotel, and I would highly recommend it for tea.
Another great tea I went to a couple times was at L'espalier, however I can't comment on how tea would be at their new location. The restaurant used to be located in a gorgeous brownstone right off of Newbury Street...and now it's moved to the new Mandarin Orient Hotel, and I've heard it's much more modern looking. I'm sure the tea is still delicious, but there was nothing like the old atmosphere.
Everyone should experience high tea at some point :)
