Swans Cafe at The Boston Park Plaza Hotel

50 Park Plaza
Boston MA 02116
(617) 426-2000

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The Park Plaza Hotel is an impressive sprawling complex just off Boston Common between Downtown and Back Bay. It has nearly 1000 rooms and contains 5 restaurants and one tea-wielding cafe - Swans. The hotel is grand but does not cater to the luxury or high-end business clientele that The Taj or Four Seasons attracts. The "city within a city" that this hotel has become is now a haven for tour groups, conferences and functions. Just a few minutes spent in the expansive grand lobby will see all sorts of life going by.

The cafe itself is a raised area at the back of the lobby, underneath impressive chandeliers and complete with flowers and a central grand piano. A formal afternoon tea is served here daily from 3 to 5 pm and, if booked in advance, can double-up as a personal tea-tasting session with Boston’s only tea sommelier – Cynthia Gold. The typical afternoon tea menu starts with a shot of tea-infused port, then moves on to scones, sandwiches and cakes and ends with a tea-infused Crème Brulee. The sandwiches offered can, if desired, be all-vegetarian and even all-seafood, instead of the usual range. The food is complimented with an unparalleled menu of teas, many of which are exclusively served at Swans within the USA. These range from signature blends – Swans Earl Grey for example, to rare harvests of lesser-known tea varieties and over the course of the occasion you are generously allowed to change your choice of brew multiple times so you can taste a fair section of their selection. The tea tasting session is more formal, with the food deliveries punctuating the tasting of a diverse range of teas, each individually selected and fully-introduced by Cynthia Gold, with more than a few from her private collection, such as the valuable before and after-aging Pu-erh teas that she has personally brought back from China.

Hana...
One great thing about having afternoon tea at the Park Plaza is that they offer a private tea tasting. This is great for the tea connoisseur. However, aside from that, I think the whole afternoon tea is fairly sub-average. Having been here twice too. Yes, they do offer an excellent variety of tea, but they need to step it up on their food accompaniment.

It's very thoughtful to have a vegetarian option, but the open face "sandwiches" (tapas on toasts) were very bland and felt too heavy-handed on the oil. The mini cakes were cute with flower fondant decorations, but were way too sweet. It was not enjoyable. The scone was actually a rock cake, ok-tasting, and was actually rock hard. I think I just prefer regular buttery soft scones with my tea over that. The atmosphere needs a little updating too - plastic plants, mirrored wall, and dated tea wares. Although the cafe is partially sectioned off in the hotel lobby, I did not enjoy the afternoon tea as much with all the commotions of people checking in and out.

At $30, it is expensive. I'd most definitely prefer other locations where the food is good and the ambiance is excellent, even with a semi-limited tea selection.

Tom...
Although I was disappointed with most of the food and jointly amused and bemused by the automated piano and the crowds of group tours flooding in and out of the lobby, I did enjoy our first afternoon tea here a lot. More than anything, I think this was due to the fantastic tea menu and the hotel’s desire to let us taste as many as possible. It certainly allowed us to protract our dining for longer than most afternoon teas, and the port and crème brulee dishes added a little extra - even if neither were advisable culinary adventures.

Our second visit - for the tea tasting - was a muddled departure from the usual relaxing afternoon tea that we take. This time opportunity to relax and chat was limited by the continual introductions by Cynthia and often tea was not present when cakes or sandwiches were making eating less enjoyable. The waiter helping her out was rather hopeless, a feature easily identified when he referred to our meal incorrectly as ‘high tea’ (oops!). Cynthia herself took some sort of dislike to me and quite amusingly insisted that I hated all the teas and wasn’t a tea drinker, even though I lapped every one of them up until empty. Having said all that, the education she gave was fantastic and I felt privileged to share some of her excellent tea collection as well as the best from the menu. If you want to learn more about tea and sample some exotic blends then this is a great way to start. However, if you just want to taste some excellent teas and relax with friends then it’s better just to get the standard afternoon tea.