Afternoon Tea With SST@3

Second Sunday Tea at 3 is a group that meets once a month for afternoon tea, usually on the second Sunday.

In November, we went to Crown & Crumpet's Tea Stop Cafe on Post Street, in the New People building across from Japan Town. There are more substantial items available, but we all had the afternoon tea.

The full tea tray before we demolished it

Sandwiches served with salad

Scones and Crumpets, of course

An assortment of sweets for dessert

The full menu is available online

The Famous Teapot Clock

A steaming cuppa

Separate Tea Menu

On January 8 we went to Lovejoy's, now under new management, but still the same excellent tea service. The menu is available online.

J.K., Cynthia, Sue, Sierra, Susi, Candice 

Tea for One  

High Tea for four

The Queen's Tea includes everything on the High Tea menu, plus a crumpet and a petit four. Scone and crumpet are too much for some of us, but the petits fours can be ordered separately. When we were almost finished, our waiter brought us a tray of crumpets because they had made too many and didn't want them to go to waste. We somehow managed to polish them off!

Close-up of the Checkerboard Shortbread Tea Biscuit

Top Tier For One

 

Everybody's teapot is different

Lovejoy's is known for
its mis-matched china

Decaf chocolate truffle tea
with milk and sugar

Sandwich and Crumpet

     

The walls are festooned with tea towels and thank-you
notes from children who enjoyed the tea service

Our May outing was to Imperial Tea Court at San Francisco's Ferry Building. Cynthia, Susi and Sierra took the ferry over from the East Bay. It was a nice, sunny day, so I walked from home. Cynthia had arrived early to check out Dandelion Chocolate's new Ferry Building location, but unfortunately they had a water leak and had to close the kiosk. I went by after our tea experience and they were open. I was no longer hungry enough for a Frozen Hot Chocolate, but I did buy some bars to take home.

If you prefer a cold drink with your tea snacks, there are Iced Tea and Ginger Ale sections on the menu.

Hot tea is served in a heavy red teapot, with a white porcelain cup.

The menu includes both Dim Sum and Entrees. The Shrimp Dumplings are served with a bowl of dipping sauce.

Shrimp Dumplings, seasoned with Jasmine Green Tea

There are more substantial entrees for larger appetites.

Teahouse Spicy Noodles

Fresh Steamed Buns and Tea Egg

Close Up of peeled Tea Egg

Vegetarian Steamed Bun

Cross Section of Vegetarian Steamed Bun

Pork Buns

Home-Style Curry

Imperial Tea Court is a delightful experience. You can sit at the outside edge, as we did, and watch the crowds go by, or move inside for a more private tea.

English Rose Tearoom

Second Sunday Tea at 3 had to move to the third Saturday in February this year due to Valentine's Day falling on the second Sunday of the month, so we decided to change the day as well so we could visit The English Rose Tearoom in Pleasanton, which isn't open on Sundays. This tearoom features an inviting tea themed garden area, gift shop corner and loose leaf teas for sale.

Our beautifully set tables were waiting for us right by the sunny front window. There were six of us that day, so two of the tiny tables were pushed together for the group. The Tearoom encourages diners to experience as many teas as they want, but due to the small size of the tables, limits the selections to two pots on the table at a time. However, these can be swapped out at any time, even if they're not quite empty.

Housemade Lemon Curd, Jelly, and Clotted Cream Yummy!

The tea delicacies were tasty and so generous that some of us couldn't finish them, even though we sat there from 3:00 until 5:30, eating and tasting many different teas. The owner and staff are very accommodating, checking in frequently to ask if we needed our tea pots topped off or wished to change to a new pot. Informal and fun, this tearoom is ready for all comers, large groups or single guests just craving a cuppa. They even offer a tea sample with cookie just for stopping in their storefront.

Standard three tier tea tray full of deliciousness. (gift shop in background)

 The platters were arranged so that each person's selections were together

sweets and scones

fancy savories and fruit

Sammies galore including a pastry cup with goat cheese and honey

Chocolate Caramel Brownie Tea,
with sugar and cream

In addition to delicious beverages and tasty food, we were encouraged to stay after we finished the food and taste even more teas. The English Rose Tearoom has an extensive list of teas for customers to peruse for tasting. Angela most preferred the Creme Brulee, and of course J. K. loved the Chocolate Caramel Brownie. Both are flavored black teas. Other types sampled were Herbal Peppermint, Genmaicha, Partridge in a Pear Tea and Indian Chai just to name a few!

Katia's Russian Tea Room

Second Sunday Tea at 3 met at Katia's Russian Tea Room for a very different afternoon tea. J.K. was worried about having to choose her savories from a totally tempting list, but fortunately that was taken care of in advance by the group's leader. Tea Time has enjoyed several outing with the SST@3 group and this time was a great experience as well.

The food was all delicious, and there was plenty of it. We started with bread and butter on the tables.

Russian Bread and Butter with a sprig of dill

The bread was quickly followed by Eggplant Caviar to spread on it.

Next we had Salmon Roe Blini.

Blini : delicate crepes, brushed lightly with sour cream
and filled with smoked salmon

The Blini were followed by Pel'meni.

Pel'meni : Tender, round, beef filled dumplings sauteed and 
served with a light curry sauce.

And of course there was tea, served in podstakanniki (silver glass holders). My Russian-born elders drank their Swee-Touch-Nee tea from glasses, without the holders. Herbal tea bags were available for those wanted a caffeine free beverage. Sugar, lemon and milk were ready to doctor up your drink as you desired. 

Our last savory was Potato Vareniki.

Potato vareniki : crescent shaped dumplings, filled with potatoes, 
steamed until they look like fat little pillows. Served with caramelized onions.

And then there was dessert! The first item was syrniki, fried cheese patties.

The Chocolate Walnut Meringue Torte was a big hit. Fresh fruit and mint were a lovely and tasty garnish on the dessert platters.

And of course Napoleons are always popular with any nationality. All the food was in perfect portions for family style sharing, and what our group didn't eat was available to be taken home! Our sweet waitress told us that Katia may consider retiring in the next year, so hurry up and make your reservations to try their tea offerings. Or if you're craving Pel'meni, stop in for dinner. Just make sure to try dessert!