MWF Seeking DEG

What do I want from restaurants and cafes? Decaf Earl Grey. My frustration about tea stems largely from an inability to find a cup of decaf black tea to have after dinner in a restaurant or with my dessert in a cafe. As a coffee drinker, the decaf alternative to your normal beverage is ubiquitous. But, if you are a tea drinker, "decaf" generally means choosing between an herbal tea and a tea of inferior quality to the caffeinated teas offered. Why is this? If you are a restaurateur and you offer me caffeinated Earl Grey, why not offer me decaf Earl Grey too?

This diatribe introduces the first of my restaurant reviews. In May, my husband and I celebrated our anniversary with an amazing meal at Scalini Fedeli in Chatham, New Jersey. The food, the service, and the atmosphere were all perfect, but the meal ended in disappointment with the tea. On my teapot scale, Scalini Fedeli receives four pots (The scale ranges from one pot, which designates a tea bag of poor quality "dust" grade tea tossed in a coffee mug of lukewarm water, to five pots, which designates a tea service offering a range of high quality, loose tea served in a teapot of boiling hot water.) Scalini Fedeli rates highly for their preparation of the tea by serving boiling water in a small ceramic teapot. They offered a medium-quality black tea in bags, but they lose teapot points for selection. For decaf options, they offered a standard range of herbals (peppermint, chamomile, etc.), but only one, low-grade decaf black tea. My scrumptious lemon tart would have been vastly improved by a little decaf Earl Grey.