Every summer I always take a trip up to Rhode Island to spend time with my Aunt and cousins.
We stay in the Westerly area, which is a super nice beachy town (home to Taylor Swift’s famous home on Watch Hill - as sung about in her “Last Great American Dynasty) but one of the best parts is that it’s also so close to the border of Connecticut, and more specifically Mystic, Connecticut.
Mystic has not only one of the best aquariums (with the cutest Belugas that are rescued and very well taken care of) - but it also is home to one of my favorite tea places: Alice in the Village.
Right next to Mystic Aquarium, there’s a group of shops called “Olde Mystick Village” or as I like to call it “Ye Olde Mystick Village” because how do you put an Old with an “e” and not put “Ye” before it? Hehehe
I love this little group of shops - they have a great spiritual store, Becca Rose, which every time I go into it it makes ME want to open up my own spiritual store. It’s filled with crystals, jewelry, spiritual books, so many oracle and tarot cards, sage, and even bath soap! Literally a dream!
Click here to check them out!: https://www.beccarose.com/service/about/
There’s also Tiger Lilly tea shop, which makes their own great loose tea blends you can purchase to make at home. https://www.tigerlilytea.com You can actually purchase their stuff online, too!
& Of course, Alice in the Village - which is great for to-go teas / drinks / pastries as well as their Afternoon Tea service.
The shop, of course, is decorated very wonderland-like, with checkered floors, green walls adorned with gold-rimmed mirrors, a sign that says “We’re All Mad Here”, and even a set of Alice legs made to look like they are falling through the ceiling.
They also have so many Alice in Wonderland themed trinkets to buy - jewelry, books, tea mugs, and even a great selection of Harney & Sons Tea tins.
In the past, we’d always just get tea to go… this is actually where I discovered Harney & Sons Paris tea which has since become my absolute favorite. Maybe even get a macaron, which is always perfection.
But this time, we made reservations to sit in the dining area and have the Afternoon Tea special.
It was myself, my parents, my cousins, and my aunt - so six in total and we basically had the entire dining area to ourselves.
Honestly, I’ve wanted to do this for years, so getting to finally do it was so exciting - and it surpassed my expectations!
Since it was 6 of us, we ordered 2 of the Tea specials (a classic 3 tier) & it was a lotttt of food - we even took some home!
We each received a Raspberry Butterfly Pea Tea (a colorful and sweet drink that you mix together!) It was soooo good. My dad and aunt found it a bit sweet, but the rest of us loved it.
You’re each given your own mismatched mini tea pot with the tea of your choice - they have a bunch; mainly Harney & Sons brands, I of course got Paris, my favorite and it was as good as ever.
The bottom tier had cucumber sandwiches (so good!), egg salad sandwiches (I didn’t eat this because I don’t like egg salad, but my dad said its as good haha!), and turkey wraps with cheese and lettuce - I usually don’t like Turkey, but I tried it anyway and I would definitely eat it again!
The next tier had mini spinach quiches & pasta salad. Again, I didn’t eat either due to person preference - but the others in my party who ate it, enjoyed all of them. This tier also had a classic scone with cream and jam. The scone was cranberry and orange, I’m not a fan of orange so it wasn’t my favorite scone but that’s only because of the orange. As far as scones go, it was made perfectly.
The top tier was the dessert tier aka the best tier. This is where the wonderland magic really shone. The cupcakes had red frosting, a cherry red & gold macaron, along with a white chocolate decoration of either a Queen of Hearts Card or two clocks. This cupcake was all vanilla and was like the best cupcake I’ve ever had. Especially that cherry macaron! (Which you can also purchase in the to-go section). There was also a blue frosting chocolate mud dish that had an Alice Black Bow on it -it was sooo cute! I, regrettably was full at this point, but my mom and cousins ate it and said it was the best part of the entire thing.
There were also a few eclairs and creme puffs on top with cute decorations sticking out that said “Eat me” along with some clocks, keys, and even chocolate mushrooms.
Overall everything was SO good. Definitely one of the best Afternoon Teas I’ve been to (& I’ve been to the Plaza Hotel’s in NYC and the Grand Flordian’s at Disney). The Alice theme was perfectly executed all around, so naturally it was my dream!
So I highly recommend if you’re ever near or in Mystic, CT. 10/10!
Oh and they played Disney music while you eat, so that was super cute.
Bonus:
If you’re just popping in to get a drink to-go, I highly recommend the Cotton Candy Butterfly Pea Tea. We were going to the Aquarium the next day, so I popped in and got it afterwards, and this was the most amazing drink. First of all it looks amazing (4 people stopped me on the way out to ask about it!), and it tastes like a better version of vanilla cotton candy. Truly amazing, I was so obsessed with it that I may have even gotten it one more time again before leaving the state entirely.
Check out the Alice in the Village’s website to learn more:
