19 with the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup

Fourteen of us in the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup enjoyed a Garden Tea today in the lovely backyard of Pardee Home Museum in Oakland, California. It was a heavenly experience! The temperature hovered in the high 70s, the food was plentiful and tasty, and the teacups were kept filled.

The first tier included homemade cheese crackers, mushroom savories, chicken salad in phyllo shells, and three different small sandwiches. Once everyone had finished, the Pardee volunteers cleared away those tiers, replacing each with a plate containing a scone for each guest. These were notable for their dainty size, their straight-from-the-oven warmth, and the generous quantities of clotted cream and strawberry jam in attractive crystal servers.

The meal was completed with a tier of tiny desserts. There were a couple I did not care for, which was probably best since there were FIVE different ones for each guest!

Although Pardee Home Museum is located adjacent to a freeway, this Meetup seemed much quieter and more relaxing than most of our tea venues. After we had finished the tea service, a volunteer tour guide joined us for an introduction to the history of the house, followed by a tour of the main floor, several rooms on the second floor, and best of all–the cupola!

I first discovered Pardee Home Museum several years back during a “tea and tour” at three historic houses in Oakland. I then led my San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup group there in November 2017 for a tea in the Pardee dining room, followed by our first Garden Tea there in August 2018. After today’s superb tea, I’m confident we’ll be returning again in 2020! The Pardee Home Museum afternoon tea is simply the very best there is in the Bay Area….

Ambiance	★★★★★
Service	★★★★★
Food Quality	★★★★★
Food Quantity	★★★★★
Tea Quality	★★★★★
Value for Money	★★★★★
Overall	★★★★★

Afternoon Tea at the Hidden Tea Room in Lodi, CA: 06/08/19 with the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup

Fourteen of us from the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup trekked out to Lodi, California this past Saturday, so we could try out the new-to-us Hidden Tea Room. We had been warned by another member who visited a few weeks before to expect slow service. And that was indeed the case for the first hour–we were served only tea, scones, and sorbet. But things sped up during the second hour of our two-hour seating. And some of us found the slow pace more relaxing, and conducive to chatting with each other.

The highlights of this tea experience were the ambiance, food quality (literally, every item was tasty!), and the completely superb tea!

The inside seating area, which we had requested, is a single medium-sized room with attractive decor, well-spaced tables, and fairly good acoustics. We were comfortably seated at two large round tables with plenty of elbow room in-between us.

After our first two pots of tea were served, the scones arrived still warm, with blackberry jam, lemon curd, and homemade whipped butter. The latter was an unusual choice of scone condiment, but seemed popular with those members who tried it.

A teensy serving of very lemony sorbet appeared at each place after the scones had been consumed.

Two warm and somewhat oversized savories with a few berries started off our second hour. One of the savories was a Quiche Lorraine, which didn’t seem like a good choice since bacon is not an appropriate ingredient to serve a diverse group. The other savory was an excellent Spinach-Feta Puff.

Scone with condiments
Savories

There were just two sandwiches for the next course, which is the smallest number I’ve encountered at an afternoon tea. They were both delicious but a third one would have been a nice-to-have.

One oddity about the service is that the scones arrived on a serving plate, the savories arrived individually plated, and then the sandwiches were on a serving plate again. Our tables were a bit too large for us to be able to comfortably reach the serving plates or the dessert tiers that came later, so I think the overall experience for large groups could be improved by the staff plating the entire meal.

Individual two-sandwich stacks
Snickerdoodles, lemon bars, mini cupcakes

This tea room did a fabulous job with the tea itself! We must have gotten to sample half a dozen different teas at each table. Each pot arrived with the tea leaves removed, after having been carefully steeped with a timer. No warnings to “let it steep for a few minutes.” No teapot refills with hot water. No over-steeping due to the tea leaves having been left in the pot. Every tea was ordered by us, made fresh, and there didn’t seem to be a limit to how many different ones we could try! And the teapots themselves were gorgeous eye candy!

All in all, our Hidden Tea Room afternoon tea was a very good experience, especially for the low price of $29.50, which included tax and gratuity. And for many of us, the trip was our first visit to Lodi. Several members headed to the Historic Lodi Downtown area afterwards, for wine-tasting, shopping, or both!

Ambiance	★★★★★
Service	★★★★
Food Quality	★★★★★
Food Quantity	★★★★
Tea Quality	★★★★★
Value for Money	★★★★★
Overall	4/5

Officers’ Summer Tea Aboard the USS Hornet in Alameda, CA: 06/02/19

A friend and I attended the 11:00 seating of today’s Officers’ Summer Tea aboard the USS Hornet docked in Alameda, California. This was my first ever afternoon tea on board a ship!

I almost didn’t make it to the tea though! Everyone enters the Hornet via the Hangar Deck but the Summer Tea was located one level below on the Lower Deck. On my way there, I suddenly found myself in a tight little hallway with a line of guests in front of me, another line of guests behind me, and my claustrophobia starting to kick in! The slow movement was due to the single file and seriously steep steps with rope railings, which were pretty tricky to navigate. And once I finally made it to the Lower Deck and into the room where the tea was to be served, I was seriously uncomfortable with the low ceilings, total lack of portholes/windows, and general feel of being in a basement, despite the fact that I was still well above the water line. So! My advice to the mobility-challenged is to skip this tea! And my advice to the claustrophobic is to prepare yourself mentally OR with anti-anxiety medication!

Teapots of hot water were the first item to be brought to our table by the cheerful and efficient trio of volunteer waitresses. They then walked around to each guest, presenting a box of assorted tea bags from which one could select the tea desired. The waitresses repeated this process throughout the meal, so one could have more than one type of tea if desired.

Three types of sandwiches were available. Each guest was asked if they wanted one of each, two of one type and one of another type, etc. This was a pleasant attention to diner satisfaction not usually found at large fundraising afternoon teas! The Cucumber Dill sandwich was good; the Tomato & Pesto one, of which I’d had the foresight to order TWO, was fabulous!

The sandwiches were accompanied by a small bowl of a very nice Summer Salad, and a so-so Miniature Asparagus & Peas Quiche.

After all the sandwiches, salad, and quiche had been consumed, a plate of three mini desserts was delivered to each table. The Chocolate Raspberry Mini Cupcake and Strawberry Cream Puff were both outstanding! I’ve rarely encountered a Macaron to my liking and today’s Peach & Elderflower one was no exception, but two desserts were plenty anyway.

Guests for this Summer Tea were welcome to wander around the entire ship, looking at the exhibits, going on docent-led tours, and watching videos about the Hornet’s history. This made the Summer Tea a particularly good value for the $32 price!

Menu on one side, table number on the reverse
Macarons, mini cupcakes, and strawberry cream puffs

Ambiance	★★
Service	★★★★★
Food Quality	★★★★
Food Quantity	★★★★
Tea Quality	★★★★
Value for Money	★★★★★
Overall	4/5

Afternoon Tea Party at the San Jose (CA) Clubhouse: 04/27/19 with the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup

Sandwiches and mini scones with fruit garnish

The 1910 Clubhouse of the We and Our Neighbors club (established in 1892!) was the scene of a delightful afternoon tea today–the first in what it is hoped will be an annual fundraising event for the club. Ten of us from the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup, along with one guest, were in attendance.

Close to sixty guests at this sold-out event were seated in the two largest rooms which were separated by a huge pocket door opening. Every place setting included two party favors–a replica Victorian fan and a small gift box containing three individually wrapped Biscoff cookies, a tiny jar of lemon curd, and a raffle ticket for their drawing for door prizes.

After just a few minutes of introductory comments on the background of the club and house, the tea began with volunteers serving the plate shown above to every guest. The caterer was Paris Baguette rather than a tea room, the latter of which is more the norm at fundraising teas in my experience. This resulted in sandwiches that were overstuffed compared to those typically served by tea rooms. Of course, the flip side of this slight loss of daintiness was that the food seemed far healthier than most afternoon teas provide. Four overstuffed sandwiches plus a puff pastry filled with an herbed cheese spread constituted a good-sized quantity of protein!

The two mini scones were quite small, another plus for the tea’s healthful score. The only scone condiments available besides the tiny jar of lemon curd in each guest’s gift bag were a pat of foil-wrapped butter and a tiny jar of strawberry jam, both of which were part of each guest’s place setting. The lack of clotted cream and having to open one’s gift bag to get lemon curd were both less than ideal, but I was pretty forgiving after that superb quintet of sandwiches!

Each table of six guests was kept supplied with one large china teapot of black tea and another of decaffeinated tea.

The dessert tiers were less impressive than the individual plate of sandwiches and scones. The bottom tier featured overly large pieces of white cake with white frosting; it tasted fine but seemed more suited for a wedding than a tea party! The middle tier contained small fruit pastries, which again, tasted good, but seemed more like breakfast pastries than desserts. And the top tier featured purchased cookies–more Biscoffs plus Lorna Doone shortbread. All in all, the desserts were fine but uninspired.

One of our members was astounded with the quantity and quality of the food, given the $40 price ($41.59 with Eventbrite service charge). This price is in the lower end of our group’s typical afternoon tea costs, which range from $30 to $55.

Overall, this was a lovely afternoon tea fundraiser, particularly given that it was the first one that We and Our Neighbors has put on in recent history! The San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup will certainly be returning for their next tea, at least if the Meetup Organizer can manage to procure tickets in time!

Ambiance	★★★★★
Service	★★★★★
Food Quality	★★★★
Food Quantity	★★★★★
Tea Quality	★★★★
Value for Money	★★★★★
Overall	4.5/5

Easter Tea at the English Rose in Pleasanton, CA: 04/13/19 with the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup

Twenty members of the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup descended upon the English Rose Tea Room in Pleasanton this past Saturday for our first ever Easter-themed tea! This was our third visit to the English Rose in our 4-1/2 years of existence. And our experience did NOT disappoint! The decor was as soothing on the eye as ever; the atmosphere was calming; the food quality and quantity were, for the most part, excellent; the service was superb; we were allowed to order a different tea as each teapot was emptied; and the $49.12 price, which included tax & tip, is pretty typical of Bay area afternoon tea services.

I have just two criticisms of our Easter tea experience. First off, the tea service had very little to tie it into its Easter theme! I heard that one waitress was wearing an Easter-themed apron, there was a decorated styrofoam egg in the artificial floral bouquet on each table, and the color scheme was generally pastel in nature. But that’s hardly enough to label one’s afternoon tea as an Easter tea!

My very favorite type of afternoon tea service is a holiday-themed one! The Halloween (or sometimes, Day of the Dead) one at Fremont’s Tyme for Tea each October is a spectacular experience that is literally different each year! And the Lisa’s Tea Treasures in Campbell has been doing an outstanding job of creating holiday-themed teas for decades! But the English Rose only seems to come up with good ideas for theme teas–they don’t implement those themes in much depth. Our Meetup group experience at the English Rose’s Strawberry Summer Celebration in September 2017 was much the same–the web site’s graphic and blurb were attractive as was our waitress’s apron! But there wasn’t much in the way of strawberries after those!

My other criticism of the English Rose’s Easter Tea was its overly high sugar content. Yes, most afternoon teas are super high carb in composition! But when the sugary taste is present even in the sandwiches, I object! One of the sandwiches was an overly large wrap that tasted more like dessert than some of the items on the dessert tier, which was pointed out to me by one of my table mates before I’d even tasted the sandwich. It was supposedly pear and Stilton, but all I could taste was a seriously sweet date mixture! Don’t get me wrong–I loved the taste! BUT I didn’t feel entitled to the scone or any of the desserts afterwards, because I’d already had what constituted a very large portion of dessert! Tea rooms need to keep their customers’ health in mind if they want us to live long and continue visiting!

The most interesting item in this Easter tea was the egg salad “sandwich.” Egg salad sandwiches seem to be tied with cucumber sandwiches as the most commonly found item in an afternoon tea. But the English Rose managed to make their egg salad sandwich stand out from all the others. First off, it wasn’t actually a sandwich. It was a phyllo shell stuffed with an attractive mound of egg salad! And then for a second surprise, one of the ingredients, which I don’t recall ever tasting in egg salad before, was capers! It was not only the most unique egg salad sandwich I’ve ever been served–it was the most attractive too!

One of our tables before our seating
A fully-loaded set of tiers
The “sandwiches” from bottom tier

Ambiance	★★★★★
Service	★★★★★
Food Quality	★★★★
Food Quantity	★★★★★
Tea Quality	★★★★★
Value for Money	★★★★★
Overall	4/5

My Birthday TeaCation in Victoria, BC: Tea at the Empress, 04/04/19

All good things must come to an end, and so it is for my birthday teacation in Victoria! The grand finale was today’s noontime Tea at the Empress! Highlights of this world-renowned tea, as I experienced it, include:

A view of Victoria’s Inner Harbor on a gorgeously sunny day.
An elegant tea menu consisting of a hinged wooden box with tea leaves in tiny openings behind glass on the left and a corresponding description of each tea on the right.
A tea timer. When one’s tea had steeped for the desired amount of time, one was instructed to remove the large tea bag from the pot and place it in a ceramic dish set on the table for just this purpose.
A candlelit tea warmer.
Live piano music, which included Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”–a favorite of mine–near the end.

The only slight deficiencies were the lack of tablecloths, which made the afternoon tea less elegant than it deserved, and no lemon curd for the scones! (After three afternoon teas this week in Victoria, none of which served lemon curd with the scones, I’m beginning to wonder if lemon curd is perhaps way more popular in California than British Columbia!)

Although Tea at the Empress was a lovely experience, it didn’t strike me as clearly superior to either Butchart Gardens’ OR Abkhazi Garden’s afternoon teas. And it was far more expensive ($78 vs. $41.25 for Butchart and $40 for Abkhazi). So if finances are a concern OR you’re not all that impressed by famous names, you’ll probably be just as happy at Abkhazi or Butchart when visiting Victoria.

A view of the tea staging area from our table
Definitely the fanciest tea menu I’ve ever seen!
Not many afternoon tea services provide a tea timer!
Corners of our tea table which indicated it was once used for card-playing
Me! Looking silly after just one sip of bubbly! British Columbia bubbly, I might add!
Tiers for the two of us

The full menu can be viewed online.

Ambiance	★★★★★
Service	★★★★★
Food Quality	★★★★
Food Quantity	★★★★★
Tea Quality	★★★★
Value for Money	★★★★
Overall	4.75/5

My Birthday TeaCation in Victoria, BC: Abkhazi Garden Teahouse, 04/02/19

It was hard to be impressed with Victoria’s small Abkhazi Garden after having toured the grandiose Butchart Gardens just the day before! BUT the tea house at Abkhazi Garden was another matter! My husband and I enjoyed a charming and tasty afternoon tea, at a window table that offered literally the best possible view of this 1-acre in-town garden.

The menu included both a 4-course and a 5-course afternoon tea. I chose the former and my husband the latter. There were several areas of overlap between the items served but there were also several differences, which seemed curious but rewarding–we each tasted some of each other’s items that weren’t in our own tea.

Highlights of the 4-course tea were the extraordinarily delicious Free-Range organic Egg Salad on rich, whole wheat sandwich and the beyond-cute Smoked Salmon Profiterole with Caramelized Shallot Cream and Dill! The latter looked to be the world’s smallest slider–1″ in diameter max! I managed to make it last two bites, but that took effort!

Two kinds of scones were served with jam and cream (but no lemon curd) as condiments. The scones would have been much more elegant if they had been made about half the size served. Sometimes, less is more–especially on the tea table!

The atmosphere was particularly relaxing for our tea! There was only one other guest when we entered and a different table of guests when we left, which meant the tea room was seriously quiet! But it was filled with sunshine, and classical music was playing at just the right volume in the background. All in all, it was a lovely tea experience!

Below left: Smoked Salmon Profiterole with Caramelized Shallot Cream and Dill

Below right: Smoked Salmon Blini with Crème Fraiche (the extra/first course of the 5-course tea)

The full menu can be viewed online.

Ambiance	★★★★★
Service	★★★★★
Food Quality	★★★★
Food Quantity	★★★★★
Tea Quality	★★★★
Value for Money	★★★★★
Overall	4.75/5

My Birthday TeaCation in Victoria, BC: Butchart Gardens, 04/01/19

The world-famous Butchart Gardens serve afternoon tea in the dining room of the original Butchart House. My husband and I were seated in the sun room addition to this dining room on the first day of my birthday Teacation.

The tea service began with a full-sized English Trifle, which consisted of Chantilly cream, sponge cake, and berry compote served in a glass goblet. It was delicious BUT it was too large and badly mis-timed! Dessert first?!? I’ve never experienced that at afternoon tea! It somewhat dampened my appetite for the sandwiches, savories, scones, and other desserts that followed!

Since I eschew red meat, I donated both my Berryman Farms heritage ham, bell pepper, Parmesan aïoli sandwich and House-made sausage roll, imported mustard savory to my husband. The scone, rest of the sandwiches, and desserts were good but largely unremarkable, other than the omission of lemon curd from the usual trio of scone condiments.

The plenitude was perhaps the best part of this afternoon tea. If one didn’t care for a particular sandwich, savory, or dessert, one could set it down after a single nibble because there was more than enough food to satisfy the heartiest appetite.

The single tastiest item besides the English Trifle was the Teaberry tea! I headed straight to the Butchart Gardens gift shop afterwards in order to purchase some to take home.

All in all, this was a super tea experience! My birthday teacation was off to a great start!

To view the full menu, click on Spring and Summer Afternoon Tea on The Dining Room page of the Butchart Gardens site.

Ambiance	★★★★★
Service	★★★★★
Food Quality	★★★★
Food Quantity	★★★★★
Tea Quality	★★★★★
Value for Money	★★★★★
Overall	4.75/5