Every time we travel I strive to thoroughly explore the tea options in that area. As it turns out, Georgetown has a lot to offer!
1. Ladurée
I’ve had the pleasure of visiting this French tea room in Paris, London, and New York. Now I can add Washington DC to the list. The M street location has a cozy dining room and encourages reservations. Their specialty is macarons, but they also offer a menu of sweets and savories along with their signature tea blends. After Steve and I snuggled kittens at The Kitten Lounge (go here for the details), we enjoyed a pot of Othello black tea and some sweet treats.
How could we resist the French toast?
For desert (ha!) we shared the Ispahan — macaron, rose petal cream, fresh raspberry and lychee. (Yes, that’s a rose petal on top.) It was magical.
See all U.S. Laudurée locations. You can also find them in France, of course, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Russia!
2. Lady Camellia
The next day, after visiting a small and quirky stationery/tea shop, Just Paper and Tea, and soaking up the atmosphere at The Lantern (see more here), I decided to drop by Lady Camellia for tea.
They strongly suggest reservations, but since it was earlyish on a week day, and just me, I decided to take a chance. They kindly seated me right away. This tea room is small and scores high on the cozy scale. The servers are attentive and both the tea and food were delicious.
I asked for something that wasn’t really on the menu: one scone (with cream and jam) and two tea sandwiches. They were happy to indulge me, and I got a little more sandwich than expected! I really liked this place — so bright and pleasant.
3. Ching Ching Cha
I saw this one recommended so many times during my research that I was very keen to see it, and it turned out to be a refreshing detour from my usual tea (over)indulgences.
Again, I went at 11:00ish, so there wasn’t much of a crowd. One can sit at a regular table with chairs or choose a low table with cushions on the floor (which seems to be a favorite for families with smaller children). The menu of teas and food is extensive, and they offer a “Tea Meal’ with three vegetables, a featured dish with jasmine rice, and a bowl of soup. Knowing I would have lunch later, I ordered almond cookies and mochi (rice cake filled with green tea ice cream), along with the Alisha Oolong–“floral touch of orchid, robust in body yet sweet with a marvelous bouquet.”
The process of steeping the Oolong was somewhat complicated, and the shop’s owner kindly demonstrated for me. A pot of water is kept hot on the burner. First you rinse the leaves a few times with the hot water, dumping this water into the pottery jug (see above) that stands next to the teapot. Once the leaves are rinsed they begin to open, and at that point you can re-steep those leaves practically all day long. (See the unfurled leaves in this photo on Instagram.) After steeping for a minute or so, you pour the tea into the “teapot” (the thing that looks like a large creamer) and then pour from that into the wee cup. So relaxing and no sugar or caffeine overload from the tea. (Oolong has some caffeine, but not anywhere near as much as black tea.) I could have sipped all day–sadly, there was packing to do back at the hotel. I did a little browsing in their shop before I left and hope to feature my purchase in a future blog post.
That wraps up my tour of Georgetown tea rooms. Stay tuned for June’s “Tea and a Book”!
