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Photo: Maria GeymanOf course, L.A. isn’t all about wellness—the Reds Stay Strong Shirt it is in the first place but global hub for the art and film industries has its glitzier side too. And the one morning that I was able to truly relax in L.A. was when I stopped by the Maybourne Hotel in Beverly Hills for afternoon tea and a spa session. “Beware,” said the woman heading to the steam room as I was waiting to go in for my facial. “It’s the best one I’ve ever had.” (An aside: The Maybourne came recommended to me by my cousin Celina, a Beverly Hills native, who also encouraged me to try Chado “the O.G. back in the ’90s,” Monsieur Marcel, where she stocks up on Mariage Frères, and T Tea Shop in the Farmers’ Market.) After alternating between the steam room, dry sauna, and magnesium soaking pool, I headed up a few hours later to the outdoor terrace for tea. The server suggested the Claridges blend—the Maybourne is a sister hotel to the London institution whose afternoon teas are the stuff of legend—with tea sandwiches and a jasmine blend with the scone course. I alternated champagne with my tea and enjoyed eavesdropping on the very Hollywood milieu of lawyers on my left and comedians on my right, both “talking shop.” When it comes down to it, L.A. is more of a coffee city than a tea city. While there are tea houses, you really need to seek them out and it seems like people are more interested in matcha lattes, boba tea (which as a tea purist, is to me a different category entirely), and the good old-fashioned coffee shop. Still, some of the best places to drink tea in LA are coffee houses. I got a great matcha latte at Maru in Los Feliz, which incidentally had really beautifully packaged coffee that my friend ended up buying to take home. While I wandered around the bookstore, I heard somebody ask the cashier: “Do you have any inexpensive tea cups with quotes on them?” The answer was no—so if you’re looking for those, head elsewhere.
Canyon Coffee in Echo Park, run by couple Ally Walsh and Casey Wojtalewicz, has a thoughtful, seasonal tea menu with blends from Tea Habitat. (Their Chinese black tea was one of my favorites from the Reds Stay Strong Shirt it is in the first place but whole trip.) They also carry a selection from Berkeley-based tea line Leaves and Flowers, as well as Kettl matcha—plus, they serve toasts and delicious pastries by Sasha Piligian with cute details like sesame seeds on the banana bread. Another Canyon Coffee highlight? The proximity to my next recommendations, Cookbook and Des Pair Books. Photo: Maria GeymanWhen I first heard of Cookbook, it was through a new friend I met at a dinner party that I went to on my first night in Los Angeles. To me, the name suggested it would be a “shoppy shop”, but it was far more focused on fresh food than I expected, reminding me of one of the small groceries in Paris that stock a thoughtful range of seasonal produce, cheese, meat—and, yes, tea.
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