Alice's Tea Cup

I'm a sucker of restaurants that serve loose tea in tea pots - Public, ChikaLicious, Tealuxe in Boston, just to name a few - so it's no surprise that I love Alice's Tea Cup. There's a lack of places for enjoying afternoon tea in NYC, especially one with a relaxed vibe. Alice's Tea Cup fills that void with 3 locations in the city, and is one of my favorite places to enjoy tea and light fare.


The place oozes Alice in Wonderland and everything whimsical - from its vast merchandise selection of Alice in Wonderland tea pots and pastel color fairy wings in the front of the store, painted murals, China plates and tea cups, and tea pots with anti-drip guards of butterflies and birds. And just look how cute our carrot cake was, topped with a tiny carrot decoration! It's no wonder that it attracts tons of mothers who bring their kids to experience real tea parties. Screaming kids aside, I love devouring their many delicious varieties of loose tea, scones and tea sandwiches.


My favorite item on their menu is their "Madhatter," which comes with a pot of tea (you choose from a giant tea list), scones (freshly baked with different selections daily), tea sandwiches, cookies and cake. Their fresh baked scones on one particular day featured Pumpkin, Blackberry Lemon, Chocolate and Cherry, Strawberry Banana, to the savory Ham and Cheese. On my last visit, my friends and I agreed that Blackberry Lemon and Strawberry Banana were the best of the bunch. Just don't expect the traditional English scones here - the ones at Alice's Tea Cup have more moisture than the dry crumbly biscuit-like scones.

And did I mention their tea sandwiches? My favorite is their Lapsang Souchong Smoked Chicken Breast...the freshness and sweetness of sliced apples paired with the smokiness of the chicken, combined with the tartness and earthiness of the goat cheese is just perfect. I can go on and on about this place, but I'll save it for my next visit.