I’m a little embarrassed to say that I don’t think I had ever been inside the Boston Public Library until very recently. You’ve probably seen photos on Instagram of the Reading Room and the courtyard, but did you know that there is a restaurant inside? Tucked inside the library is The Courtyard Restaurant, a beautiful room where you can enjoy afternoon tea. How very adult, don’t you think? My fellow “ladies of leisure” (#GoLocalBoston) headed out to do some research there.

I’ve always thought that tea comes with a a hefty price tag, $39 for tea and finger sandwiches? I usually walk away hungry and I don’t even like tea. So the adult me heads into this meeting with an open mind. I get a hot chocolate instead of tea, because again, adulting. The room is spacious, open, light and airy. I love the color scheme and not so secretly wish I had a room in my house like this. They present you with a real book, and tucked inside is this tea menu on the left.

Our tower arrives with both sweet and savory goodies. While never a fan of finger sandwiches, these didn’t blow my mind, but were certainly fancy enough to make this feel like you’re celebrating a special occasion (oh wait, it’s just Monday). Side note: what do you think they do with all the crusts that they cut off these sandwiches? I digress. So the wild mushroom butter on Pain de Mie was one of my favorites, as well as the roasted ham and sharp cheddar. Such a lovely presentation. The top tier was adorned with plain and currant scones, fruit preserves, Devonshire double cream and lemon curd. Now we are talking. The scones were perfect, not too sweet, and the lemon curd just made me swoon. The lemon poppy seed cake was a hit, as were the raspberry thumbprints. The macarons came in assorted flavors and were a little out of the ordinary!

Service was decent and there were only a few other people there besides our group. Head over and have yourself a spot of tea and treat yourself to some tasty treats (make sure to eat with your pinky up for good measure )

The Courtyard Restaurant and the Boston Public Library

700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

www.thecateredaffair.com/bpl/restaurant-cafe/the-courtyard-restaurant

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The ebar is located on the first floor of the mall, attached to the entrance of Nordstrom’s. It’s a specialty coffee shop (similar to Starbucks) where you can grab a cold drink and a snack. There are tables in the mall area, just outside the restaurant, where you can sit and enjoy your coffee.

Not feeling like coffee, I ordered a strawberry lemonade, that was both sweet and tart and hit the spot after a day of shopping. Note that this restaurant is different than the cafe that is upstairs in the store on the 2nd floor.

Nordstrom ebar

290 Speen Street, Natick MA (located in the Natick Collection)

http://restaurants.nordstrom.com

Monday – Saturday 8:30am – 9pm

Sunday 10am-6pm

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Last week I was invited to preview the new holiday collection at Davids Tea. They have a location right in Downtown Crossing where you can not only pick up some tea, but grab a cup to go. I personally recommend the eggnog latte and plan to go back one morning and try the matcha latte (I didn’t want to be up all night so I went with the eggnog latter instead).

I’m a novice when it comes to tea, so it was great to be able to go in and have the great people there tell me everything I need to know!

Along the back wall they have tons of tea – did you know that there is such a thing as kosher tea? DAVIDsTEA also has fair trade and organic tea! They have caffeinated teas and decaffeinated (something for everyone) – the teas are naturally decaffeinated, they don’t decaffeinate their teas that already have caffeine. You can buy the tea loose from the cans by weight or in tins like the ones below.

They have pre-filled tins of their most popular flavors for $14.50

How great are these seasonal cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes? Also on the table are the new candles that come in delicious scents like Blueberry Jam, Forever Nuts and Santa’s Secret ($19.50). On the far right are the tea filled mittens: the red is Santa’s Secret, the blue is egg nog and the green (not pictured) is sleigh ride tea filled ($9.50).

In addition to tea, the store carries a great selection of travel mugs, tea sets, accessories and delicious treats. Above are the chocolate covered pretzels ($14.50) and the pop perfections ($14.50)

They have fun little gift sets, perfect for the tea lover in your life. (Top left) The 12 teas of Christmas ($29.50); (top right) The 8 days of Tea ($19.50); (bottom) The Christmas Morning Collection ($19.50),The Green Collection ($19.50) The Nutcracker Collection ($19.50), The Black Tea Collection ($19.50)

I had the opportunity to check out a bunch of great teas! What is great about DAVIDsTEA is that if you can’t get into the store, all the things you need to know are on their website. You can find out how much tea to use per cup, water temperature and steeping time (along with allergen information). The eggnog is a green rooibos tea with white chocolate chips, with meringue powder.

Sleigh Ride (back for a limited time) has the flavors of apple, hibiscus blossoms, pineapple, papaya, beetroot, cinnamon, raisins, coconut, roasted almonds , and popped rice.

Cocomint Cream (a new flavor) has apple, coconut, sweet blackberry leaves, peppermint, spearmint, and natural coconut flavoring.

Bubbie’s Baklava (I just love the name!!) is oolong tea, with roasted chicory root, pineapple, papaya, cinnamon, walnuts, apple, ginger, roasted almonds, cardamom, rose pepper, pistachios, and rose blossom.

I had a chance to sample the chocolate macaroon flavor: it’s black tea, with toasted coconut, coconut, pecans, cacao nibs, and rock cane sugar.

The organic vanilla chai is a black tea, flavored with cinnamon, licorice root, ginger, vanilla. With natural vanilla and cream flavoring.

How cute is this? Santa’s Secret is a black tea, with peppermint and cute candy cane sprinkles.

DAVIDsTEA

Downtown Crossing – 298 Washington Street, Boston, MA

http://www.davidstea.com

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The adults at the table had the royal tea ($40) that comes with: A Glass of Kir Royal, scones and tea bread, strawberry jam, lemon curd and Devonshire cream, selection of tea sandwiches and pastries, served with a pot of brewed tea of choice.

They have a delicious selection of teas:

The scones were by far our favorite – really light and delicious – good with both the jam and the lemon curd.

I’ve never been a huge fan of tea sandwiches. Included on today’s plate was a shrimp salad sandwich, a chicken salad sandwich and a tomato, mozzarella and basil pesto sandwich.

For dessert there was a boston creme pie puff, a lemon tart and a spice cake of sorts.

Not pictured was the children’s Georgetown cupcake tea ($16):

Each offering is served with hot chocolate or juice.

Lava Fudge Cupcake with Vanilla Frosting, Fudge Star and Rainbow Baubles
Boston Creme Cupcake with Whipped Ganache Frosting and Green Sparkling Sanding Sugar
Lemon Blossom Cupcake with Lemon Frosting, Yellow Fondant Flower

We had a lovely afternoon – certainly a fun thing to do for a special occasion!

Four Seasons Bristol Lounge

200 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
http://www.fourseasons.com/boston/dining/afternoon_tea/

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They have a lovely selection of tea in the following flavors:

The Langham tea blends
The Langham breakfast, Palm Court exotic, Silk road or English flower
***
Harney & Sons teas
White tea, White peach, Green tea
Japanese sencha
Lung ching, Jasmine dragon pearl, Tropical green, Pomegranate oolong, Black tea, Darjeeling
English breakfast, Earl grey, supreme, Boston, Pu’erh, Lapsang souchong
*
Decaffeinated earl grey, Herbal infusions, Chamomile, Peppermint, Mint verbena

The tea sandwiches included the following:

House smoked salmon mousseline on Boston brown bread
Chicken, tomato and spring onion salad on sour dough bread
Pink grapefruit crab and dill salad in a phyllo tart
English cucumber and pimento, cheese brioche

They served traditional cream scones with Devonshire clotted cream, strawberry jam and lemon curd.

For dessert, a pink almond macaron pop.

Valrhona chocolate dipped strawberry, peppermint buttercream chocolate cupcake, raspberry mousse tartlet.

Disclosure: The Langham provided me with complimentary tea service for me and a guest.

The Reserve at the Langham

250 Franklin Street

Boston, MA

Visit their website here and make a reservation with Open Table here.

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