A Nice Cup of Tea

My friend Alex is moving down to LA at the end of the month and he wanted to get a group of friends to go have tea one more time before he left.  I've never had a chance to go to the previous times tea had been planned so I was very excited and had high expectations since everyone who had gone just raved about their food.

 

 

The Queen Mary Tea Room is located near the Univeristy of Washington and is apparently the oldest independent tea room in America.  It is adorable.  It is a bit compact in the dining area (trying to get in and out of your seat can be a challenge) but wasn't that big of a concern or detractor.  I had to take pictures of everything (didn't get any of the dining area itself, sadly).  There were four of us - two of us got Afternoon Tea while the other two got entrees.

Everyone got their own pot of tea and took turns sampling them all  I got White Peach Blossom as I like to go with fruit flavored teas (and peach is a favorite of mine). It was very light and subtle and I really enjoyed it.

  

 

 

The food was very good.  I think my favorite item was the fruit sorbet trio (mango, raspberry, and lemon I think) which also came with shortbread.  There was a good mix of sweet and savory (though I enjoyed the sweets more).  Their cranberry orange scone was very good (and fresh from the oven) as was the lemon blueberry tea cake.  The only thing I couldn't stomache was the Q.M. smoked salmon crostini (it was a mousse and a little went a long way) - definitely the thing I liked least.  I also tried Alex's tortellini which was quite good.  I also got a piece of the chocolate creme cake.

After we finished, we headed down to their tea emporium which offered all their teas, as well as cups, pots, various tea accesorries and nicknack stuff.  I bought a small bag of Apricot Peach Decaf, a flavored black tea which smells divine. They had a pot of their Alice's Wonderland Rooibos tea to sample.

I can't wait to find an excuse to go back.