Tea Time!

Just finished my last final exam of my college career! Time to celebrate by writing a post about one of my favorite things ever: Afternoon Tea :D These places are all in NYC since I haven't found a nice tea place in Philly yet, but will be visiting The Dandelion Pub sometime this week, so will update with that soon!

SoHo

Harney & Sons (SoHo): Darjeeling tea, vanilla and cheddar & chive scones

Harney & Sons has supposedly been around for three generations now, which is evident by their massive tea collection in their shop in SoHo. Their walls are literally covered in all different types of tea, but the best part of this place is that they have a nice little lounge in the back of their shop where you can sit and enjoy one of their many tea selections. We decided to go as a light brunch one weekend and shared a pot of Darjeeling between the two of us. We also ordered the vanilla and cheddar & chive scones, which were the perfect combination of buttery and crumbly. The vanilla came with the traditional clotted cream and jam, while the savory scones came with a tangy dijon honey mustard spread. Not super filling, but definitely a nice place to stop by if you're ever shopping in the area!

St. Marks

ChikaLicious Dessert Bar: Tea with a chocolate tarte

This is more of a dessert place than for tea, but we had tea here so it counts! Desperate for dessert after dinner one night in the St. Marks area, we stopped by ChikaLicious Dessert Club, but, after finding a line out the door, we walked across the street to its Dessert Bar instead. While the Dessert Club is a small shop with very little seating (much like the Momofuku Milk shops), the Dessert Bar is like a little restaurant. We saw that most people there went for the three-course dessert menu, but seeing as we just finished a very filling dinner, we decided to just order a pot of tea with one of their dessert selections. It was a little disappointing. The tea was fine but the dessert was not only tiny for the price, it also wasn't anything special. I'll probably just stick to buying their other treats to-go from the Dessert Club on the other side of the road. 

Cha-An: Pot of Assam tea with Sakura (cherry blossom) flan and black sesame creme brulee

One of my favorite dessert/tea houses that we frequently visit whenever we're in the area: Cha-An! They recently traded their generic tea cups in for brightly colored Le Creuset sets, which I found to be really random, but I love the brand (my mom cooks with their cast iron dutch ovens all the time) so no complaints there. We usually get the same few items every time we go, which is the green tea and black sesame mochi, but this time, we decided to try something a bit different. The cherry blossom flan was very creamy and light, and the gelatinous texture paired well with the sweet red bean mixture underneath. The black sesame creme brulee was ordered based off of raving Yelp reviews, but I found it to be a bit too heavy and sweet, even though I usually love anything black sesame flavored. It could just be because we were too full after dinner and tea, but I'd probably go for something different next time.

West Village

Bosie Tea Parlor: Darjeeling and Lavender teas with high tea set for two

Bosie Tea Parlor is your quintessential tea shop that offers pages on pages of different types of tea, assorted sandwiches, salads, and baked goods, as well as a small bakery in the front which offers macarons and tea-flavored desserts to-go. I decided to take my mom here when she came to visit the East Coast this spring, but had to warn her that the tea set would be enough food to last us through dinner. It was also surprisingly busy for a Friday afternoon and we were quoted a 30 minute wait to be seated, which must mean that this place has been discovered by all the college crowds (noooooo). 

The tea service for two is $55 total (which is actually much cheaper than the other places in NYC), and gives enough food to probably feed four people. As for the tea, I always order some variety of Darjeeling or Assam because I love drinking it with milk and sugar (reminds me of the homemade milk tea I'd make when I was little), but my mom couldn't resist the Lavender tea, which our server told us was one of her favorites. For those who like the smell/taste of lavender, this is definitely a good choice. It was light and floral, but the flavor was still very intense. We didn't have a chance to ask for any, but I think it'd go really well with a small spoonful of honey. As for all the food... I left completely stuffed, but would go back in a heartbeat for those scones and clotted cream.