It’s a Boston reflex to speed the day by grabbing a cup of Dunkin’ to go. But sometimes it’s better to engage in a ruminative pot of tea, a few scones, and successive tiers of finger sandwiches and sweet bites. Few places anywhere observe the tea ceremony with such a sense of occasion as Boston’s landmark hotel, The Newbury. Served in the Street Bar facing the Public Garden, the hotel’s afternoon tea demonstrates the timelessness of tradition.
Originally opened in 1927 as the Ritz-Carlton, The Newbury seemed a perfect spot for us to launch the new year. Like the month of January, it captures the spirit of the Roman god Janus — looking both to the past and the future.
Done right, a formal afternoon tea is perhaps the most ceremonial of meals and most beholden to tradition. The Newbury injects a note of whimsy with porcelain teapots, cups, and plates featuring the mama mallard and her ducklings from Boston’s beloved children’s classic, Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey. The tea set establishes the tone of relaxed formality that The Newbury gets exactly right.
It’s all about pacing. Instead of delivering a single tiered tray of sandwiches, scones, and sweets, The Newbury serves tea in courses, creating a building sense of anticipation. It starts with an amuse-bouche — currently a tasty crostini spread with caramelized apple under a shower of shavings of Great Hill blue cheese and finely minced chives.
Successive courses — sandwiches, then scones with lemon curd and Devonshire cream, and finally a flurry of dessert bites — modulate the experience. There’s time to savor the small details of the preparation and the service. The teapots came with a triple hourglass to measure steeping time for three, four, or five minutes. The striped detail of the English cucumber sandwiches was achieved by overlapping almost impossibly thin slices with just the edge of the peel showing to create the stripes. The jidori egg salad was topped by a pungent sliver of black truffle. The red velvet cake rectangle was topped by raspberry frosting piped like ribbon candy. Even the chocolate-dipped strawberries were further enhanced by a sprinkling of Demarara sugar crystals. It might be gilding the lily, but such gestures are the hallmark of luxurious presentation. We certainly got the sense that each bite was very carefully crafted by a kitchen artisan.
Nor did the exceptional quality cut into abundance. Two and one-half hours after we were seated, we were back on the street with a discreet black bag full of leftover goodies to enjoy later at home.
The Newbury (1 Newbury Street, Boston; 617-536-5700; thenewburyboston.com) anchors the corner of Arlington and Newbury streets where Back Bay meets the Public Garden. The Street Bar entrance is on Arlington. Reservations are essential for Afternoon Tea. Tea will be offered into the spring, but reservation dates are only shown for 30 days at a time.