Tea Party (Not that Kind)

Where to Have Afternoon Tea in Seattle

From kid-free sophistication to on-site hats and fascinators. With lots of champagne in between.

By Naomi Tomky and Allecia Vermillion November 18, 2024

Afternoon tea at Cedar and Elm is a great excuse to fit some fancy snacks in between lunch and dinner.

Image: Courtesy The Lodge at St. Edward

Few better excuses exist for eating elegant snacks and multiple desserts in the middle of the day than afternoon tea. The menu at Ravenna’s Queen Mary Tea Room helpfully describes it as a meal designed for “high-society ladies” looking to fill “the void between lunch and dinner,” which makes it a fun holiday tradition, special outing with kids, or great way to catch up with friends who want to steer away from alcohol. (This is not so true of high tea, which is a heartier, later meal, though the two are commonly conflated in the US.)

Some of the city’s best-known afternoon teas require a bit of planning, such as Cafe Flora’s series of seasonally themed vegetarian tea service (holiday, spring, Halloween) and Hotel Sorrento’s monthly “more Italian than English” version. But there are plenty of places ready for you to raise those pinkies and bring on the clotted cream on a regular basis.

Queen Mary Tea Room

Ravenna

It’s easy to look at the aggressively floral decor and shelves overstuffed with Anglophilia and make certain judgments about Seattle’s oldest continuously operating teahouse. But anyone who writes off the Queen Mary as a grandmotherly hangout for chintz fanatics misses out on truly impressive service and tons of spilt knowledge about tea. The beverage menu (black tea! flavored black tea! oolong! green!) is more thorough than a high-end wine list, and servers can advise on flavor profiles and which blends benefit from milk. Tiny hourglasses help ensure your pot steeps for the proper amount of time. Queen Mary’s kitchen pulls off an entire brunch and lunch menu, plus an afternoon tea service loaded with tiny cookies, fruit with chantilly cream, and classic finger sandwiches. A kids version swaps in cocoa and tiny PB&Js. Servers circulate with samples of unusual teas like strawberry-pepper or root beer rooibos...all definitely for sale at the sibling tea shop down the street.

Colorful multitier towers of treats with live music make tea time feel fancy at Cedar and Elm.

Image: Courtesy The Lodge at St. Edward

Cedar and Elm

Kenmore

Few spaces are better suited to afternoon tea than the dining room inside the Lodge at Saint Edward. Once a seminary dining hall, it’s now an opulent period piece set with arched windows, tall ceilings, and potted palms that suggest an Edwardian drawing room. Afternoon tea happens on Thursdays and Fridays: Mellow live music forms a backdrop as tables dip into a sophisticated spread of tea-driven bites. Multitier towers come arranged with deviled eggs, flaxseed crumpets, macarons, and bite-size roast potatoes dressed with pancetta and crème fraiche. Each tea sandwich and savory toast has the sort of interesting flavor profile you’d expect from this kitchen. Servers offer a variety of different flavors from Milwaukee-based Rishi Tea, though don’t expect a lot of guidance on whether your selection would benefit from cream or sugar. This tea service isn’t geared toward kids (most people partake of champagne) but it is a supremely pleasant way to celebrate or catch up with a group of friends, large or small.

Tea-takers at the Fairmont Olympic get personal towers of snacks, and the assured service of a hotel that's done tea service forever.

Image: Courtesy Fairmont Olympic Hotel

Fairmont Olympic

Downtown

Tea is a longtime tradition at the downtown hotel. After a lengthy renovation, tea service now happens Friday through Sunday in the lounge area of the lobby's extremely handsome Olympic Bar, where armchairs and love seats deliver a more relaxed feel. Each tower of sweets, sandwiches, and savory bites reflect the polished fare inside the George restaurant just up the stairs. Your selection from the dozen loose-leaf tea offerings gets steeped in the pot, so the outcome is finessed, but not overly complicated. The bookshelf-heavy atmosphere skews decidedly adult, but the Fairmont has a tea menu for kids that trades crab profiteroles for cake pops (and even tea for cocoa or lemonade). Reservations open one month in advance and book up fast.

Polished dessert expert FogRose Atelier makes tea time a thoroughly modern affair.

FogRose Atelier

Kirkland

White marble tabletops set with polished gold utensils at this downtown Kirkland dessert specialist give afternoon tea an elegant, modern spin that draws in couples on mid-day dates, tweens feeling quite grown up, and upscale baby showers. The plush powder blue chairs make for comfortable seating during the 90-minute session featuring unlimited cuppas from the menu of 10 teas and a three-tiered tower of treats. FogRose’s signature orange scone sits at the top, with a seafood-heavy savory selection at the bottom. The heart of the meal, though, are the seasonal sweets in between, like London fog macarons, pumpkin cheesecake cream puffs, and caramel apple mousse cake.

Coffee & Tea, Fairmont Olympic Hotel

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