Address: 55 West 44th Street Zipcode: 10036 The fashionable City Club hotel, with its high-profile roster of clients who grace the society pages, is an appropriate home for SalonTea, a stately, old-fashioned tea salon where the stylish, moneyed crowd comes to sip fragrant teas, admire each other’s attire, and swap stories about their summer in the Hamptons. Partaking in the ritual of afternoon tea may be distinctly British, but SalonTea owner Tracy Stern believes that tea time should be reintroduced into the busy lives of New Yorkers. The intimate, twelve-seat salon, with stuffed armchairs and glass bowls filled with imported loose tea blends (all hand-picked and -rolled), is a soothing sanctuary away from Midtown’s hustle and bustle. When you need a breather from it all, come here to while away the afternoon over a warm cup of chai or jasmine and fresh chocolate chip scones. If you’re feeling decadent, savor an Earl Grey-infused truffle or two (or three). Tea seatings are Thursday to Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
