Photo: Emily J. Davis
Afternoon tea Edina style.
Tea is making a comeback with modern enhancements, at the Westin’s Prelude Bar & Lounge. The menu varies with the season but expertly sourced teas from Rishi and true Brit scones are cornerstones. Finger food sets a leisurely pace for eating. There’s time to ponder and be pampered. Kick back and let your holiday spirit set sail on a more tranquil course.
Better still, spread the joy of tea this holiday season. An afternoon tea accompanied by a gift makes an ideal present. The gift gives two ways. First, as a present in a neat box containing a clear glass mug, brewing tea pot and Rishi Tea samples; and second, as an invitation to schedule tea for two. ($120. Stop by the Westin to purchase and pick up the gift. No online orders due to breakable contents.)
“We thought this would be a fun kind of gift for mother and daughter, or granddaughter and grandmother—a way that they can have that gift to open on Christmas Day but then also have that experience together and those memories,” director of operations Andrew Avila says.
Come hungry. Multiple courses with an unlimited flow of tea is filling for any appetite. An updated twist on traditional afternoon tea calls for goat cheese instead of cream cheese in the cucumber sandwiches and smoked salmon served in a pastry cup rather than bread. Familiar tea foods are turned on their heads with this modern bent.
“Because it’s finger food you’re automatically a little bit more relaxed then when you’re sitting at a regular dinner table,” Avila says. “We’re changing people’s perceptions of tea as being stuffy and fine dining, to being a bit more relaxed casual dining.”
