235 W 12TH STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10014
Website: http://www.the-tea-set.com/
Can be found on twitter @TheTeaSetNY
MilitiaJim and I were only spending the afternoon in Manhattan, so we were only spending a small amount of time in each location. Two of MilitiaJim’s friends joined us for our trip around the city after we had sushi for lunch.
Our third and last stop of the night was at The Tea Set. We arrived, and the place was sadly empty of customers. When I first walked in there was a beautiful and colorful wall of tea tins on shelves in front of a lovely exposed brick wall. Sadly the picture of this did not come out well. If we were getting something to go we could have easily gone up to the counter and placed our order and waited in hat area without being in any patrons’ way.
The intimate and cozy store is great for sitting and chatting with friends.
I took the table near the window, where the Hanukkah menorah was there, a nice try though not done properly. I took the bench seating against the wall that had many pillows, and ordered a bottle of Champaign and two pound cakes. They make their whipped cream fresh and serve the pound cake with a strawberry. It was moist and delicious.
The menu was a little vague:
- Champagne Bottle... $59
- Champagne Bottle Pommery... $85
- Champagne Bottle Pommery Rose... $125
- Champagne Bottle Krug..... $325
Not that I know champagne well but for a champagne bar you would think there would be a list of today’s Champaign choices? For those who know what kinds they like (drier for example?)
So, we ended up with 2 bottles of Champaign. I think if it has just been the two of us I would have gotten one bottle and perhaps tried their tea and Champaign cocktail.
After all the drinking I got us 4 mugs of mango black tea. We’re large mango fans. The tea was served them in large double walled mugs with the laser cut infusers. There were more than enough leaves and you could steep them as long as you wished (I like this!). I also caused a bit of confusion asking to purchase a tin of mango, and have them steep up the same tea as it was not on the menu. I would think all teas for sale should be on the menu? We came to a compromise of them steeping up some from the sampler and not pillaging from my tin.
The tea was a nice translucent reddish brown color and tasted like sweet dried mango pieces in a medium bodied black tea. It was not as good as the thepuriTea mango black we adore so much but a good second place.
Overall the staff was helpful, and stayed out of our way while we chatted, drank, ate and had a great time! We never felt rushed.
I think next time we are in New York I might wish to do a brunch there with a mimosa and then some tea.
I had purchased a Fantasy Mango Souvenir, the shopping bag was a very unique bag made of recycled newsprint and twine! I do love when the bags are special.
Through the nice I got to have a quick chat with the owner, and the waiter. Both of them were very helpful and happy.
The owner stopped over to offer me a tin of berry or plum tea, I choose plum and was gifted a tin of the Topped Fresh Plum Pleasure! I can’t wait to try some. (If I get home on time tonight I can have it then.) An unnecessary and very kind gesture on his part.
The bill with tip came to a bit over 200$, more than I was planning to spend, but we also had twice as many people as I planned for. Keep in mind this is an expensive area, the price seems in line with the area. The tea was high quality, the Champaign was nice (not an expert), and the food was good. Nothing at all to complain about, I recommend you stop in.
Other people’s reviews:
Yelp
Steepster
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