I thought I was into tea. That is, until I met Salontea owner Tracy Stern, who not only takes her custom blends with her wherever she goes and uses them as an ingredient in various recipes (tea eggs or chai pancakes, anyone?), but she even bathes with the stuff.

The tea enthusiast’s obsession began as a child as she gallivanted across Europe with her antique collector parents, acquiring her own pots and cups along the way. Various teas in her line have a specific beautifying mission in mind, such as the “Toxic Beauty”, a low caffeine green tea blend with ginkgo, nettle, blackberry, St. John’s wart, mistletoe and lemongrass, ingredients intended to provide the necessary antioxidants to forgive a hectic lifestyle. And a line of spa products also incorporate tea in everything from eye pads to body scrubs to foot treatments. Ah, beauty and food. Exactly what we like best.

As part of the New York City Wine & Food Festival, Stern threw a high tea party at the Soho House library to promote her book, Tea Party. It turned out to be an aphrodisiac filled meal meant to seduce your senses: Ginger scones and clotted cream, salmon and crème fraiche sandwiches, a blueberry soup shot, and the perfect cap, her own brand of chocolate chai (aptly dubbed “The Lover”) with a bite-sized truffle infused with the very same blend. Did I forget to mention the equally seductive burlesque act by Grace Gotham that involved a giant teacup? Though personally, the food itself was more my cup of tea!!

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