As Two for Tea-goers, we started out the semester with an "enlightening" visit to a Buddhist teahouse. As the year comes to its close, we decided it was "high" time for a classic British tea. Not high tea, mind you, but afternoon tea.
What better location to stage our own Boston Tea Party than at the Novel tea room at the Boston Public Library?
Though we ordered for two, our teas came stacked together on one two-tiered silver tray. While a traditional tea would include mini-sandwiches (watercress, cucumber and... fish paste?), we decided to save $5 by ordering the sweet tea. Rather than be adventurous with our selections, we went with some old favorites. Soon enough, pots of Earl Grey and English Breakfast were steeping at the table. As the teas were loose-leaf, the pots came with individual strainers. Some of us (Charlotte) had trouble with this idea and kept pouring the tea, with leaves, straight into the cup. Winston takes his tea with milk and one lump, while Charlotte takes hers black.
The tray came fully loaded: miniature cream puffs and chocolate cakes on the top, two warm tea breads, strawberry and kiwi scones and mixed berries on the lower tray. On the side was an assortment of raspberry jam, clotted cream and homemade lemon curd.
Winston is a huge fan of lemon curd. In case you're unfamiliar with it, lemon curd is kind of like a jam, but it's smooth, creamy (almost custard-like) and spreadable rather than gelatinous. It's as sweet as it is tart, and it goes perfectly on scones and bread. The library's homemade batch was pretty impressive, especially considering that finding good lemon curd this side of the Atlantic can be a challenge.
Charlotte is equally, if not five times more, passionate about raspberry jam than Winston is about lemon curd. It all traces back to her English grandmother who, when Charlotte was little, fed her slice after slice of bread smothered in raspberry jam. She's so hooked that even after being told that the jam was not homemade, she asked what brand they use (as if she'd recognize gourmet jam names?). The waitress's accent made it hard to catch the actual name, but we gathered that this particular raspberry jam came from a New York farm.
Don't worry: Despite our respective curd and jam obsessions, we didn't neglect the clotted cream. In fact, we had a somewhat heated discussion about it. Winston casually commented that this clotted cream was firmer and more butter-like than he was used to, to which Charlotte retorted that clotted cream is supposed to be thick and heavy.
We did both manage, however, to agree that the scones had an excellent consistency. Kiwi was an unusual but appreciated choice, and it went well with the strawberries. They weren't dry, and they crumbled rather than flaking when you tore into them. We alternated bites smothered with jam, curd, clotted cream and a combination of the three. Sadly, before we knew it, we'd devoured the two scones they'd given us.
It may only have been afternoon tea, but the sun streaming through the French doors certainly gave us a bit of a high. It's a fantastic feeling being tucked away from the city in this ballroom-like tearoom, hidden within the Boston Public Library's art, architecture and book collection.
We both love seeking out a good cup wherever we find ourselves, and the BPL tea fits the bill. It's classy, fun and an easy "must" before leaving Tufts, right up there with Duck Tours and the Freedom Trail.
Winston Berkman is a sophomore majoring in international relations; Charlotte Bourdillon is a sophomore who has not declared a major. They can be reached at Winston.Berkman@tufts.edu and Charlotte.Bourdillon@tufts.edu, respectively.
