A new tea experience based on a storied past
Text by Bruce Richardson
One of London’s most venerable hotels is blowing the dust off the staid image of Britain’s favorite beverage as The Waldorf Hilton employs a tea sommelier to inspire and educate a new generation of tea lovers.
The Waldorf became a favored venue for stylish celebrations as soon as the hotel opened in 1908 on the fashionable and newly built Aldwych Circle. Exhilarating dance parties took place in the White and Gold ballroom above the Palm Court when the Argentine tango made its scandalous appearance in London. By the 1920s, drinking tea and dancing were as synonymous as clotted cream and strawberry preserves when the hotel hosted special Tango Teas to accommodate the dance’s raging popularity.
Sadly, tea dances halted when the Palm Court’s glass ceiling was shattered by the explosion of an aerial bomb during World War II. However, the magnificent roof was eventually restored, and the nearly forgotten tea dances were resurrected on the spacious marble floor of The Waldorf’s Palm Court in 1982. During certain holiday weekends, a small combo accompanies the afternoon soirées, where couples of all ages may be found foxtrotting and waltzing their cares away. Tourists from across the globe, young couples trying out their freshly honed dance steps, pensioners reliving a bygone era, and even mothers and sons fill the dance floor today.
Now The Waldorf Hilton is heating up the London tea scene by introducing their unique Waldorf Tea Experience with Tea Sommelier Domenico Gradia. Known to his close friends and associates as “Dom” or “Mr. T,” this effervescent tea professional honed his skills with the UK Tea Academy as he worked with such notable tea establishments as Harrods and Fortnum & Mason. His former teacher and TeaTime contributing editor, Jane Pettigrew, accompanied me on a recent visit to Dom’s beautiful new tea studio.
