Tuesday Tea and Tomes: Taking Tea from TeaTime Magazine features 18 US tea venues (we've only been to 3!)

Taking Tea features 18 "notable tea rooms" in the US. We've been to three!

"Taking Tea:  Favorite Recipes from Noteable Tearooms", a TeaTime Magazine publication,  features "bios" of eighteen tea venues in the U.S.  along with some of their favorite recipes. Of the nine hotels and nine tearooms included, we've been to three (all hotels) and, in their order from earliest to latest, spanning twenty years:  The Drake Hotel (1999), Royal Park Hotel (2012) and Willard  Intercontinental (2019). 

Something special just for me!

Publications purchased on sale from Hoffman Media

This "great book" is from Hoffman Media (publishers of eleven food and shelter  magazines, including TeaTime, Southern Living and Victoria). I bought it along with "European treasures" when HM ran one its periodic and fabulous price-cutting deals. My package arrived last week and, as Winthrop from the Music Man sings when the Wells Fargo Wagon drops off its mystery parcels, it contained "something special just for me"!

This weekend, I did a deep dive into the pages of Taking Tea and while it inspired me to add more to my "wish list" of tea rooms to visit, I also had a wonderful time reminiscing about the three I had been to - and, to my surprise - those trips spanned exactly twenty years. 

At the Drake Hotel with my sister-in-law, Cara. One of my first fancy, fancy teas.

Starting in chronological order, The Drake Hotel (page 15), was one of my first very, very fancy teas (pre-blogging!)  and I was accompanied by my sister-in-law, Cara, who, at the time was living in Chicago. I remember I loved everything about it:  the luxurious setting of the Palm Court with the mammoth urn fountain at its core, filled with fresh flowers toppling over its side, the divine tea fare served on three-tiered trays, and, yes, even the ornate powder rooms added to the elegant affair!

I also remember how much fun we had, all dressed up and treating ourselves to such a posh affair.  I think I may have some yet-to-be-located pictures stashed away of our time inside,  but I did find this photo of Cara outside The Drake before we entered. A great memory and an experience that launched two decades of tea room passion for this afternoon-tea-obsessed blog writer.

Mary Kuhn, Royal Park's Tea Hostess serves  afternoon tea in the Gallery Room

A little over a decade later, I experienced, for the first time (I've been back on other occasions), afternoon tea at the Royal Park Hotel (page 91) in 2012, with daughter and tea-biz partner, Rachel, and good friend and  BTS team member, Pam. By this time, I was a tea blogger, and penned this account of our first visit. Fit for a Queen (or Three!): Afternoon Tea at the Royal Park Hotel.

This tony hotel is practically in our back yard, resting just a stone's throw from Main Street in downtown Rochester, Michigan.

Pam and Rachel toast with sparkling juice to a wonderful tea time.

Taking Tea defines our experience at Royal Park, well, to a "tea".  Tea hostess, Mary Kuhn, greeted us as soon as we walked into the grand hotel's lobby and escorted us to the library while our tea table was being prepared. Once our spot in the Gallery Room - which overlooks the picturesque Paint Creek stream - opened up, Mary directed us to our designated table and explained both the tea and tea fare offerings.  

Drinking Earl Grey at Royal Park

We kicked off our tea time with a sparkling juice toast and kicked back for an afternoon of delightful ambiance, delicious sweets  and dedicated customer service. Taking Tea quotes Mary, "Visitors arrive as guests, stay as friends and they leave as family."  

The Willard Hotel in Washington D.C., home to famous lobby and tea spot, Peacock Alley

And, twenty years after The Drake, we found ourselves at the Willard InterContinental (page 115), or more commonly referred to as "The Willard" in Washington D.C. We were there less than a year ago, and I made short mention of it in last year's blog: Afternoon Tea and More! in Washington D.C.

Although my husband, Chris and I were at The Willard in August, Taking Tea informs us that aside from the hotel's "regular" afternoon tea, they also offer "Cherry Blossom Tea" during the National Cherry Blossom Festival (mid-March through mid-April) and "Holiday Afternoon Tea" in December. That only means one thing - we must go back!

(Stay tuned this week for a full feature on Afternoon Tea at the Willard.)

Taking Tea is a most enjoyable book, filled with beautiful photographs of tea venues and tea fare as well as all those tempting recipes. It will inspire you to visit as well as create. 

Here are the other fifteen tea venues featured in Taking Tea: 

Camilla's Sin Tea Parlor (PA), The English Rose (TN), The Grand America Hotel (UT), Heirlooms Tea Room (MN), Lady Bedford's Tea Parlor (NC), O. Henry Hotel (NC), Paris in a Cup (CA), Park Hyatt Aviara Resort (CA), The Peabody Hotel (TN), Queen Mary Tea Room (WA), Rose Tree Cottage (CA), The St. James Tearoom (NM), Taj Boston, (MA), Teaberry's Tearoom (NJ) and The Windsor Court Hotel (LA).

Have you been to any of these? You may have some great memories of them as well!

BTS' highly recommends Taking Tea: Favorite Recipes from Notable Tearooms.  Order it today for "something special" just for you!