• Introduction

• Hotel afternoon tea

• Drake Hotel



Introduction

I guess I knew a good thing when I saw it. When I wrote the first edition of All the Tea in Chicago in 2006, I claimed in the introduction that Chicago was one of the best cities in the U.S. to drink loose leaf tea. Since then, tea has taken off in the Windy City even more than I could have predicted. The second edition is written for the same reasons I decided to write the first: Chicago is a great tea city; tea is more popular in the city and across the country than ever before; and scientists are continuing to find health benefits to drinking tea.

So why a second edition of All the Tea in Chicago? The first edition sold out much quicker than I or the retail stores and restaurants expected. I needed to supply these vendors with more copies, but also had another issue to face--there were simply dozens of new tea houses and other tea sellers in Chicago and its environs that weren't around when the first edition was printed. And, at the suggestion of fellow Chicago tea writer, Ceil Miller Bouchet, I am including commentary and recommendations for specific teas in the listings in this book.

The layout of this book is similar to that of the first edition. The first section is devoted to the hotels and restaurants that serve afternoon tea. The second section lists the tea houses and restaurants that serve and sell loose leaf tea. For this edition, I have again limited my listings to those establishments that serve loose leaf tea. I have come across several cute and comfortable tea houses, mainly in the suburbs, that serve tea bags. Because most restaurants serve tea in this fashion, I have decided to omit those places. Loose leaf tea is a higher quality tea than that which is found in tea bags, which use scraps and remnants of tea leaves.

Asian bubble tea has grown in popularity in Chicago even more since the printing of the first edition. I am including a revised and expanded section about Asian bubble tea in the third section. The fourth section lists websites where you can buy loose leaf tea and tea accessories. With today's demanding schedules, many people prefer to shop online at their convenience, which is often during non-business hours. Many of these online shops have excellent toll-free customer service numbers.

Finally, I've kept the glossary and the indexes--both alphabetical and by area--in the fifth and sixth sections, respectively. As with any guidebook, the information is current as of writing, so please call the tea houses or restaurants ahead if you need to know when they are open, if they still accommodate private parties, are wheelchair accessible, etc.

As always, enjoy this book and all the tea in Chicago!