Tea Time - The Tea Kitchen

Tea Guides

Tea Spots You Need to Visit in Los Angeles

November 21, 2022

In 1840, the Duchess of Bedford shared her guilty secret of enjoying tea and snacks a few hours before dinner, setting a trend that would evolve to become a tradition that we still love to enjoy today. Decadent teas, flutes of Champagne and pretty pastries are a served, while tasty finger foods and potent cocktails company them. This may shock the Duchess of Bedford if she was still here today. If you’re looking for a place to enjoy this experience here in Los Angeles, continue reading.

What is Afternoon Tea?

Afternoon Tea is a tea-related ritual, introduced in Britain in the early 1840’s. It evolved as a mini meal to stem the hunger and anticipation of an evening meal at 8pm. It is composed of sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, sweet pastries and cakes. Interestingly, scones were not a common feature of early Afternoon Tea and were only introduced in the twentieth century! The most common teas that were served during afternoon tea were Earl Grey Tea, Assam Tea and Herbal Chamomile Tea.

Afternoon Tea was initially used as a private social event for women who climbed the upper echelons of society. These receptions could have as many as two hundred guests with an open ‘at home’ invitation to visit between 4pm and 7pm, during which they could come and go as they pleased; this was the genesis of the Afternoon Tea as we know it. Today, Afternoon Tea is usually enjoyed as an occasional indulgence or to celebrate a special event, such as a birthday, a pre-wedding party, or baby shower with a group of friends.

Now that you have the history of Afternoon Tea, we thought you might want to check out a tea room in our backyard of Los Angeles. Here are some cool spots we found just for you.

1. Rose & Blanc Tea Room

Starting at just $38 per person, the Rose & Blanc tea room is a great spot for afternoon tea. They pride themselves on having a serious tea drinking culture with teas from around the world. If you’re looking to pair your teas with delicious bites like their spinach quiche, egg and apple pesto croissant sandwiches, macaroons, scones, and more, this is the spot for you! Right now, they only take reservations on Friday’s and Saturday’s. They tend to book up rather quick so make your reservation in advance!

2. The Peninsula Beverly Hills

We could not make a list of the best tea spots here in LA without including the iconic Peninsula in Beverly Hills. It doesn’t get any more luxurious than afternoon tea at the Living Room inside the Peninsula Beverly Hills. Prices here are a bit more steep, starting at $115 per person which includes finger sandwiches, pastries, and scones with clotted cream, along with an option for free-flowing champagne by Laurent Perrier. To add to the delicious food and champagne, you will be accompanied by a classical harpist and pianist. How dreamy does that sound?

3. The T Room

The T Room is one of the most affordable options to enjoy a spot of afternoon tea in LA. Located in Montrose, the family-run operation offers tea service for $28 that includes lingonberry chicken sandwiches, warm scones, and plenty of pastries. They have a long list of teas to try so you can come back often and try them all!

4. The Wayfarer Downtown Los Angeles

If you’re looking for a tea room that is whimsical and unique, this is your spot. The Alice in Wonderland-themed tea service (yes, you read that right!) is decked out in mood lighting, plush couches, and even has a Zoltar fortune telling machine and vintage pinball game. It’s located in the basement of the Wayfarer hotel and it sure you leave you wanting more! The tea service starts at $45 per person and includes standard sweet and savory offerings. Best of all are the boozy tea infusions, like the Curiouser & Curiouser made with chai tea and rum.

5. Hello Kitty Grand Cafe

This tea spot is located in Orange County which may seem far (LA people, IYKYK) but this spot is worth the drive! Located in a speakeasy-like space hidden behind the Grand Cafe, this is every Hello Kitty lovers dream spot. It’s decked out with plush pink booths and an onslaught of sweets and savories including a smoked salmon sandwich on a pretzel croissant and a goblet of fresh fruit with coconut cream. Tea is priced at $60 per person at this spot. Don’t forget to make a reservation before making the drive out there!

6. Rose Tree Cottage

Sitting just east of LA is the Rose Tree Cottage. The name alone could make us want to give it a try. This tea house is one of the most charming in town. The menu consists of cucumber sandwiches, scones with Devonshire clotted cream, and sticky toffee pudding all served by a suited butler. The dress code here is enforced so be sure to dress up for this one.

You could even check out many of our loose leaf tea collections at The Tea Kitchen and host a little Afternoon Tea Party in the comfort of your own home. With many flavored loose leaf teas or black teas to try out, you could try a few host some friends to a tea party everyone will enjoy!

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Tea Gifts

Bake This For Your Tea Obsessed Mom for Mothers Day

April 18, 2022

With Mother’s Day around the corner, what better way to show your love for her than with something you made yourself? We all love our Mom and Mother’s day is the perfect time to show her how much we actually love and care for her, and most importantly appreciate her. This sweet and simple earl grey tea cake is the perfect treat for your mom on this special day. It’s easy to pull together and is so delicious she will think you had it professionally made.

This earl grey cake is so elevated yet so easy to make. Making the tea infusion for this cake is as simple as steeping your tea in milk before adding it to the cake mix. All you need to do is steep your loose leaf tea in whole milk. Once steeped, you strain and add to your cake mixture. Viola! The tea flavor lends itself perfectly to a simple vanilla cake. The best part? You probably have all the ingredients in your kitchen right now! The flavor is light, sweet and perfect for breakfast, or lunch or really any time. Because cake needs no excuse does it?

How to Make The Cake

Making this cake is just like making any other cake with the acceptation of steeping your tea before adding in your milk! We used a bundt pan but if you do not have one of those lying around, one 9-inch round will work, too!

Ingredients

1/2 cup of butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs (at room temperature)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups of flour
4 tsp of baking powder
1 cup of whole milk
2 tbsp of loose leaf Earl Grey
Powdered sugar as topping

How to prepare

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare a Bundt pan by buttering the pan and lightly dusting with flour. Set aside.
Heat up the 1 cup of milk (you can simply microwave your milk or put it in a pan on low heat), then add the tea leaves to the hot milk and let steep at least 10 minutes. Strain the milk and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the eggs, one at a time.
Then add vanilla, and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, and baking powder.
To the butter mix, add 1/3 of the flour mix, then 1/2 of the tea milk. Repeat until all combined.
Pour into the prepared Bundt pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Once the cake has baked, let it cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, then turn the cake out onto a plate, and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Don’t have earl grey laying around? This recipe can easily have substitutions for the type of tea used! Our recommendations are lavender, chamomile or any citrus-y flavor teas like cinnamon orange spice.

Not in the mood for baking? We have you covered. Here are some simple ideas that you can do to pair with tea time!

Tea sandwiches

Dainty finger food is a staple at tea parties from Victorian style to modern. You can make your own sandwich fillings and serve them in triangles of crustless bread. Fillings may include chicken salad, salmon, curried egg salad, and turkey!

Jam-filled biscuits

Get store-bought jam-filled biscuits in flavors like strawberry, marmalade, and cherry. Then, serve them in pretty silver trays.

Mini fruit tarts

Tea time food offerings without the presence of sweets are unthinkable. When it comes to sweets, mini fruit tarts are a fabulous offering to snack on!

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Tea History & Culture

20 Tea Quotes for Tea Lovers

August 2, 2021

“There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be diminished by a nice cup of tea.”
-Bernard Paul Heroux

“You, me, and a cup of tea.”
Unknown

“But indeed, I would rather have nothing but tea.”
Jane Austen

“A cup of tea is a cup of peace.”
Sen Sshitsu VX

“Wherever you are drinking your tea, whether at work, ina café or at home, it is wonderful to allow enough time to appreciate it.”
Thich Nhat Hannh

“Have a cup of positive-tea.”
Unknown

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
C.S. Lewis

“Teatime is a chance to slow down, pull back, and appreciate our surroundings.”
Letitia Baldridge

“Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book.”
Bill Watterson

“Making tea is a ritual that stops the world from falling in on you.”
Jonathan Stroud

“Some people will tell you there is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“A cup of tea solves everything.”
Unknown

“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.”
Henry James

“There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life.”
Lin Yutang

“Better to be deprived of food for three days, than tea for one.”
Ancient Chinese proverb

“I am in no way interested in immortality, but only in the taste of tea.”
Lu T’ung

“A great idea should always be left to steep like loose tea leaves in a teapot for a while to make sure that the tea will be strong enough and the idea truly is a great one.”
Phoebe Stone

“Tea should be taken in solitude.”
C.S. Lewis

“The spirit of the tea beverage is one of peace, comfort, and refinement.”
Arthur Gray

“The ‘art of tea’ is a spiritual force for us to share.”
Alexandra Stoddard

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Tea History & Culture

Artwork Every Tea Lover Should Know

January 11, 2017

To the avid tea-drinker, your cup of tea may be a personal work of art. Maybe the sunlight hits your saucer just right in the morning, or perhaps the clinking of the teaspoon in your mug is the perfect aria in your quiet house at the end of a long day. Well, to the world’s most famous artists, tea has proven a worthy subject again and again. As a political commodity, economic link, and social lubricant, tea has always been so much more than just a beverage. How fitting, then, that it provide inspiration to prolific painters and sculptors throughout history. Here are three of our favorite works of art starring the world’s most consumed beverage:

**1) Le Gouter (or Tea Time or Woman With a Teaspoon)**

Jean Metzinger, 1911

Known as “The Mona Lisa of Cubism,” this 1911 oil painting on cardboard hails from French artist Jean Metzinger. It depicts a naked woman holding a teaspoon above her teacup. Metzinger is a prominent name in the cubist movement. He co-wrote Du Cubisme with Albert Gleizes, a theoretical book on cubism, and ran in the same circles as Guillaume Apollinaire, Georges Braque, and notable influence Pablo Picasso. You can visit this painting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

2) Object (or Luncheon in Fur)

Meret Oppenheim, 1936

23-year-old Swiss artist Meret Oppenheimer created this gazelle fur-covered teacup, spoon, and saucer in 1936. She decorated the teacup after a conversation with Pablo Picasso at a Parisian café during which Picasso commented on her fur-covered bracelet. She offhandedly said that you could cover any ordinary object with fur and turn it into a work of art, even the plain tea cup in front of her. After the rendezvous, she did just that. The work became a major hallmark of the surrealist movement, a movement defined by the unity of the conscious and unconscious worlds, where the sense of the rational world meets the irrationality of the dream world. Surrealism founder Andre Breton featured the piece in a surrealist exhibit of objects, where, according to NPR, it evoked a plethora of contradictory reactions:

“This being the age of Freud, a gastro-sexual interpretation was inescapable: the spoon was phallic, the cup vaginal, the hair pubic. For some, the tongue-shaped spoon brought to mind unpleasant sensations of a furry tongue. Others experienced unease at seeing a graceful item of the tea table transformed into something decadent and animalistic; some gagged at the thought of getting a hair or damp tea leaves in their mouth; still others wanted to stroke it.”

To some, covering an object associated with femininity with something as masculine as an animal pelt sexualized it. You can visit this teacup see if you agree at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

3) The Tea Cup

Jackson Pollack, 1946

When you think of Jackson Pollack, you probably think of his famous “drip” paintings, made by pouring paint on canvas. But after his drip period, Pollack launched into a figurative period during which he painted more recognizable people and shapes. The Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland debuted a show called “The Fugurative Pollack” last year that included this 1946 painting, “The Tea Cup.” Can you spot it?

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