Boston Harbor Hotel

Four teapots! I finally found what I was looking for in tea at a restaurant. The restaurant at the Boston Harbor Hotel, where I enjoyed a lovely dinner outside in front of the harbor, has a terrific tea menu, serving, red, white, green, black, and herbal teas. AND, they have the elusive decaf Earl Grey! The tea was served in an individual glass french press pot with loose leaves and it was HOT. There was a slight breeze coming off the harbor and you could see the steam rising off the first cup I poured. The water temperature was just slightly cooler than mouth scaldingly hot, which is the perfect temperature, INMO, and the tea in the pot remained hot through the last cup. Nirvana.

I found decaf Earl Grey!

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in months so why bother now? This blog was started as an experiment and I learned that I didn't really have that much to say about tea, especially compared to some of the other great tea bloggers out there. But, I finally had tea in a restaurant worth mentioning. I truly did shout with glee last night when I found a decaf Earl Grey listed on the tea menu (along with some other great caffeinated choices and some herbals, including a Moroccan mint). Isabella in Dedham, MA gets a 3 1/2 tea pot rating from me for having a loose leaf, decaf, black tea on the menu. They served the tea in an individual ceramic pot too. There's only one thing that keeps Isabella from getting a perfect, 4 tea pot score; the water wasn't hot enough. By the time it got to me at the table, the tea pot was barely even warm to the touch. So close, Isabella, so close.

Why I travel with a tea pot

I traveled for work again last week. We were in Southern California (where the weather was far nicer than it was in NJ) for some focus groups. Since I left the house at 4:30 AM Eastern Time and had a second round of focus groups at 6:00 - 8:00 PM Pacific Time, I brought my tea pot with me to the testing facility. In the afternoon (perhaps when bringing us chocolate chip cookies - AIM rocks!), one of our hosts noticed the tea pot and told us that they would bring hot water for us. So, the next day, assured that water was available, I left my tea pot in the hotel room. Mid-morning when I was ready for the second cup, I went out, pulled out a mug, opened a bag of tea, and got ready to pour water from the carafe they had put out for us. But, before the water hit the mug, I sniffed the water and smelled the telltale signs of a coffee carafe. I put the carafe back down, threw away my tea bag, turned my mug back over and walked back into testing, thankful that I had brought my tea pot all the way across the country and thankful that I had had it the day before when I needed tea so desperately. Some day, people will realize that serving hot water in a container that has had coffee in it makes hot water taste like coffee. If I liked coffee, I'd be drinking it instead!

Italy Final Report

I never did get the converter, but I did okay with tea anyway. Our second morning at Il Guelfo Bianco, I was in desperate need of PG Tips. (For some still-unknown reason, I only slept a few hours the night before.) I brought my tea bag to breakfast and was thrilled to find the the water in the tea pot they handed me was so much hotter than the day before.

That morning, we started a bike trip with Butterfield & Robinson. In our first hotel, the Villa Petrischio, our room had an electric water boiler in it so we had a nice cup of Earl Grey in the afternoon. In the mornings, I had what was offered me in the restaurant, which perplexed me a great deal. Sitting on the bar near an impressive espresso machine were many tins and jars of loose tea, but bags of Twinings came with my tea pot. I am certainly not unhappy with Twinings, but I was a little surprised to be so tantalized by a great selection of loose tea that was never offered to me. Que sera, I suppose.

In our second hotel, I had a great cup of tea. It wasn't the tea itself that was unusal, but the situation and how welcome the tea was. I had come down with a cold by this part of the trip and in the evening before dinner, while the rain poured in sheets outside of the building, the hotel clerk heard that I was sick and offered me a cup of tea. What a welcome treat! It was one of the best cups of Twinings Earl Grey that I have enjoyed! Thank you, Villa Cicolina, for your thoughtfulness!

In our third hotel room at Casa Bianca, we had a suite with a small kitchen. There was no electric water boiler, but there was a pan and a stove and I made good use of both. I had afternoon tea both days after biking and a strong cup of PG Tips each morning. For those of you who have been on a bike trip before, it won't surprise you to hear how needed a strong cup of tea is on the 5th and 6th days of biking.

So, as it turns out, the tea pot took up unnecessary space in the suitcase because the tea options were better in Italy than I expected and were also more consistent than I have found them in the U.S. I did have a great cup of cappuccino in Italy (when in Rome...), but the Italians demonstrated that it isn't just about the coffee there;I never had a bad cup of tea either. Grazie mille!

Buenasera!

My dh and I are in Tuscany on vacation this week, traveling with a tea pot, of course. Actually, I hadn't intended to bring it, but my dh encouraged it for, as he says, "self-preservation." Unfortunately, the converters I grabbed at the last moment that came with my Palm Pilot aren't the right ones for Italy. So, I have a tantalizing selection of tea and an electric water boiler that aren't doing me much good today. This morning, I was thrilled to see some Twinings English Breakfast being served at our hotel (Il Guelfo Bianco). The water wasn't quite hote enough, but who cares! I was just happy to have a little tea in the morning. Now, I just need to find a converter!

Reviews - East Hampton, NY

Last weekend, my dh and I went to East Hampton, NY to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. The Hamptons is way too far to travel for the weekend from New Jersey and really isn't my scene, but we did have some wonderful tea that I wanted to mention.

We stayed at the Mill House Inn, which was delightful. The breakfast was unbelievable. Really. Second only to my Aunt Pixie's cinnamon rolls. But, I am here to talk about tea and the Mill House offered a decent selection. Everything was in a bag, which is not ideal, but I recognize that I live in a coffee drinker's country so I can't be too particular. What I did appreciate was the selection of Tazo teas (including my much-needed Awake) and a selection of other teas (I can't remember the brand) that included decaf Earl Grey. So, I had a cup of Awake in the morning and a cup of decaf E.G. in the afternoon with several yummy cookies that are always out in a cookie jar on the sideboard. Four tea pots.

Next, we stopped in at the Golden Pear Cafe for iced tea. Four tea pots here too because they offered a Paradise iced tea that was so good we bought a box to bring home.

Finally, I must mention the tea at the 1770 House where we went for dinner. I'll admit that I chose the restaurant based partly on the recommendations of friends, but primarily because of the tea selection I saw on the menu on their Web site. And, I was not disappointed. The 1770 House ranks my highest ranking so far, an almost-perfect 4.5 tea pots. If they add a decaf Earl Grey to the menu (which we did mention to our fantastic server) they'll have the highest 5 tea pot ranking sewn up. The 1770 House serves Harney and Sons teas with water that is scaldingly hot in a silver tea pot with silver tea service. Their tea menu includes a decaf black tea, a green tea option, several herbals, and other caffeinated blacks, including an Earl Grey. Thus far, it was, without a doubt, the best tea quality, selection, and service that I have encountered in a restaurant. (The food's amazing too. I had some gnocchi underneath an unbelievably moist chicken breast that rivals the gnocchi we had at this small, restaurant with no sign in the Marais in Paris.) It's a shame we won't be spending very much time in East Hampton.

I can almost hang up my blogging hat!

Thanks to an online tea group I joined, I learned about a site that has reviews of tea houses all over the country. If you want the list of tea spots in your state, or in a state you plan to visit, some of which have reviews from fellow tea lovers, check out Tea Guide. They just cover tea houses, cafes, and B&Bs that serve tea so, if I find a site with reviews of the tea offerings of local restaurants too, I can hang up my blogging hat!