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Five Etiquette Tips for Hotel High Teas

November 3, 2009 at 1:08 PM | by Jennifer Kester | 2 Comments

Hotel teas look so inviting, with refined guests sipping chamomile and nibbling on delicate finger sandwiches. But if you're worried that people will gasp you if don't point your pinky the right way while holding a tea cup, don't fret.

We recently went to the Four Seasons Chicago to glean some tea tips so that you won't look like a teatime newbie, or even worse, an uncouth pig.

1. Dress the part.
Okay, you don't have to don white gloves to attend high teas, but dress up. We spotted two ladies in jeans, and while no one shot them disapproving looks, they stood out among the skirts, lady pants and suits in the room.

2. Don't get drunk.
If you choose to get a glass of champagne before your tea, which everyone did in our room except for the jeans-wearing delinquents, try to pad your stomach with some alcohol-soaking food before you arrive. Otherwise, the bubbly will hit your empty stomach quickly and your tipsy party will get a little rowdy and loud, much to the chagrin of the murmuring tea drinkers.

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Denver's Oxford Hotel Hosts December Tea For Dolls

October 27, 2009 at 9:42 AM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

It used to be that you go into an American Girl store (one of the few) and get afternoon tea in the store's little restaurant with your doll. We're pretty sure that doesn't exist anymore, so how about reliving those old glory days at Denver's Oxford Hotel, which hosts an annual "Doll's Tea Party" for moms and dads, daughters and their dolls.

This year's special day will be December 6, and we recommend making reservations soon. Of course the hotel is offering a hotel package for guests who may not live in Denver, or just want to prolong the experience as a family event. The combination with a night at the hotel begins at only $200 and includes one adult and one child's ticket to the tea, stay in a superior room, and milk and cookies delivered at turn-down.

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A 'Spooktacular' Afternoon Tea Sets The Metropolitan London Apart

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Old Park Lane, London, United Kingdom, W1K 1LB
October 6, 2009 at 2:58 PM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

When you're in London, and you appreciate hotels you want to have a true London experience, you naturally zero in on a proper afternoon tea service. There's more than few options of course, but thankfully during October the Metropolitan London Hotel has made the decision for us with their Halloween-special service.

Called "Scream Tea Spooktacular" (a hokey name, but it works), the limited-time menu includes more than just pumpkin cupcakes, but treats decored an illustrator of the macabre, Rob Flowers. As usual, the Metropolitan tea service will focus on low-calorie items and a wide range of tea choices. The Spooktacular tea service is every day from 3 to 6pm, beginning October 26 and runs until November 11, for those who want to extend the Halloween fun.

On October 29, the hotel will break out beyond tea with a huge Halloween party DJed by the Broken Hearts, who also provide the background music for the Spooktacular teas. No word on whether halloween costumes are welcome at afternoon tea, but the party will of course be full of costumes revelers.

[Image courtesy Metropolitan London]

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Let The Fashionistas Eat (Low-Cal) Cake At The Met

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: 19 Old Park Lane, London, United Kingdom, W1K 1LB
September 10, 2009 at 11:52 AM | by juliab | 0 Comments

We’re confused by the fash pack. Not only do they seem to be attempting to show their mortal side with The September Issue, but now they’re trying to convince us that they eat, too. And not just eat – but eat fun stuff.

To celebrate London Fashion Week (18-23 September), the swanky Metropolitan has gone and got Lulu Guinness to create a special afternoon tea menu. Expect cupcakes and cookies inspired by the signature LG look – ie lots of kitsch, lips, and oversized roses.

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Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park Tickles Your Olfactories With Jo Malone Tea

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  Site Where: 66 Knightsbridge, London, United Kingdom, SW1X 7LA
August 26, 2009 at 9:21 AM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

When temperatures finally drop and tourist head into London's Hyde Park water bottle-free, where is the best place to cuddle up with a cup of tea and revel in the sweet end of summer? If you say the window seat of your hotel suite, you'd be correct, but we'd also accept the answer of the Jo Malone Teatime at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park.

Available only in September in both their Park Restaurant and Park Terrace (pictured above), the Jo Malone tea celebrates the release of the Vanilla and Anise Cologne from the famous and very chic perfumery. The menu inspired by the frangrance has got us salivating like we never expected something perfume-related would; expect "Honey and Vanilla Glazed Madeleines, Clementine and Vanilla Fairy Cakes, Black Fig with Wildflower Honey and Mascarpone Mousse and Wild Fennel Scented Apple Tartelettes."

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The Dorchester London Hosts A Tea Party In British Airways' Skies

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  Site Where: 53 Park Lane, London, United Kingdom, W1A 2HJ
June 26, 2009 at 9:11 AM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

It seems like afternoon tea has been picking up heat in London again, now that the classic hotels are updating their menus and places like Covent Garden are taking it outside and literally dancing around it. Among the top hotels for tea is the classic and celeb favorite Dorchester, which is now extending its famous tea service up into the skies.

Beginning in August, The Dorchester's complete formal afternoon tea with champagne will be found on the traytables of First Class seats on transatlantic flights with British Airways. The airline originally began serving tea in the 1940s on its Stratocruiser plane, but then that baby took twenty hours to cross the ocean, so tea was definitely in order. These days, when flights are less than 7 hours on the same route, only those paying through the nose for First Class get to enjoy the dainty cakes. Back on the ground, the same champagne tea can be had at the hotel for 47 GBP ($77) per person.

[Photo: lady_helena]

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Escape A Fussy Hotel High Tea With Vintage Fun At Covent Garden

Where: Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom
June 24, 2009 at 3:07 PM | by JetSetCD | 1 Comment

If you're lucky enough to be in London tomorrow, and are perhaps in the mood for a little stylish high tea, we recommend heading over to Covent Garden's First Ever Vintage Tea Party from 5pm to 7pm. It will take the concept of formal hotel tea and move into the space of the Covent piazza, complete with classic crockery, ‘20’s themed music a gypsy tea-reader, and vintage accessories with which to adorn yourself.

It's the cheapest high tea we've heard of, with tea and cakes for only £5 and Prosecco cocktails and cakes for £8, and the event will be followed up with a traditional Tea Dance lead by ladies in full 1920’s attire, schooled in the art of the Lindy Hop and the Waltz. Hotels don't exactly welcome you getting up and dancing after indulging in their proper tea times, so we say take advantage of this all-out festival.

[Photo: London Evening Standard]

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Prosecco, Petit Fours and a Pool at Berlin's Hotel de Rome

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  Site Where: Behrenstrasse 37, Berlin, Germany, 10117
June 1, 2009 at 8:57 AM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

By now it's probably obvious that no matter what world city in which we find ourselves, we will be willing to sniff out a great hotel tea service. If we're not staying at the tippy-top 5-star hotels, oftentimes a drink in the bar of one or indulging in some afternoon tea is the way to go to still have access to the luxury experience. Our recent visit to Berlin is no exception, and we found ourselves headed to the rooftop bar at the iconic Hotel de Rome.

Just off the main drag of Unter den Linden street, the Hotel de Rome sits at the back of a tourist-filled square, but the busloads have come to see the platz's sunken memorial to the Nazi book burning and not the stately hotel only steps away. For this reason, the Hotel de Rome is pleasantly quiet, and its rooftop bar seemed to sit just as many locals as visitors.

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It's Hot Time For Tea Al Fresco At The Goring

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  Site Where: Beeston Place, London, United Kingdom, SW1W 0JW
May 14, 2009 at 12:00 PM | by juliab | 0 Comments

Two weeks ago, the Met Office declared that Britain was in for a scorcher of a summer. Great for the holidaymakers among us, but for those of us who have to work through it in London, the temperatures (up to 40 degrees has been predicted) are not such welcome news.

But here's something to make us feel a little brighter. The Goring hotel (in mega-posh Belgravia, local of the royals and all that) is launching a special Country Garden Tea from next Tuesday until the end of August.

On the menu: your usual scones and sarnies (guineafowl and wild mushroom, anyone?) but also things like lavender crème brulee, elderflower and strawberry tartlet, and apple jelly and blackberry foam with crumble. Yum.

And how's this for a setting? Said tea is taken on the terrace overlooking the garden – or rather the largest private hotel garden in central London. That, plus the new Summer Sting champagne cocktail with apple juice and nettle cordial, will do us nicely.

The tea is available May 19th to August 31st, and costs £32.50. Make your reservations now.

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Join the West End’s 1415th Birthday Party at the Westbury Mayfair

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  Site Where: Bond Street, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom, W1S 2YF
May 8, 2009 at 3:00 PM | by juliab | 0 Comments

There's nothing like a nice afternoon tea at a London hotel. Nothing like a good cocktail, either. So we will be heading out next weekend to the Westbury Mayfair Hotel to partake in the West End Birthday Tea.

It's a bit of a tenuous celebration, to he honest: New West End Company, which runs the area around Oxford and Regent Streets, reckons it's the 1415th birthday of its retailers. There hasn't been a Selfridges since the Dark Ages, natch – they've just added together the ages of each of the shops (for those who really care, Hamley's is the oldest, at a grand 250 years old).

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Just Say 'La-Tea-Spa' at the Four Seasons Chicago

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  Site Where: 120 E. Delaware Place [map], Chicago, IL, United States, 60611
April 29, 2009 at 10:01 AM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

Since we're old hats when it comes to Afternoon Tea service in Chicago hotels, new menus or packages to jazz up the offerings never fail to excite us. That's why the spring season is so awesome, as it promises all kinds of fun new tea flourishes and Mother's Day deals like the Four Seasons' "La-Tea-Spa" package.

Beginning on May 4 and lasting through Labor Day, the "La-Tea-Spa" combo melds two of our favorite things—proper tea service and a good massage—for a deal designed for two. Take your mother, your daughter, your significant other or just your best friend and reserve tea and a spa treatment and get the second tea and spa treatment at half-off. We'll let the Four Seasons break down the savings for you: "applicable treatments begin at $135 and tea is $32 per person, excluding tax and gratuity. With La-Tea-Spa, your second spa treatment could cost $67.50 and your second tea, just $16, excluding tax and gratuity."

As tea mavens, we do have one solid recommendation for those opting for this offer: take tea after your treatment. Post-rubdown or facial, there is nothing more luxurious than to continue to be waited on while sitting back in a plush chair and leisurely sipping tea. For reservations, call the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago at 312-280-8800.

[Photo: Four Seasons Chicago]

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Ritz-Carlton Boston Common Lures Us With Cupcakes

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  Site Where: 10 Avery St [map], Boston, MA, United States, 02111
April 22, 2009 at 12:17 PM | by JetSetCD | 1 Comment

Summer may still be a ways off, but it's never too early to book a hotel high tea reservation, especially when there are cupcakes involved. Launching a tea menu to set itself apart from other hotels with silver service is the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common, who will serve up "Cupcake Tea in The Gallery" from May 16 through June 27 only.

At about half the price of other hotel teas, the cupcake offering will run only $20 for adults and $16 for children. Brush your sweet tooth good before indulging, because the tea service includes your choice of teas along with a flight of five gourmet cupcakes and your choice of toppings. What are these five chosen flavors, anyway? Only the best for the Ritz-Carlton: tiramisu, boston cream pie, lemon meringue, black forest and irish coffee. We'll take a tiramisu topped with Oreo crumbs and toasted coconut, thank you very much.

Score reservations for the Cupcake Tea at the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common by calling them at 617-574-7176.

[Photo: Ritz-Carlton Boston Common]