Where: Albuquerque, New Mexico Style: 1930s territorial revival Tea Selection: 2 pre-selected teas by tea.o.graphy Teatimes: Select Wednesdays and Sundays, 1:30 to 3:30 (last seating) Reservations: Required Contact: Reserve here, laquinta@lospoblanos.com Cost: $69.75 Tea at La Quinta Destination Tea Tips: Follow the signs to park near La Quinta Cultural Center (turn left after you come up the drive). Consider spending the day at Los Poblanos, perhaps reserving an earlier afternoon tea time, and then reserving dinner at their field-to-fork fine-dining restaurant Campo (you will need an advance reservation). See below for all there is to explore in between.
Destination Tea Notes: Little did we know, when we reserved our afternoon tea at Los Poblanos, that we would be spending an enchanting day at this historic property, learning about and leisurely exploring this 25-acre estate that encompasses an organic farm, distillery, spa, coffee and gift shop, farm-to-table restaurant, historic inn, gardens, cultural center, art gallery and Albuquerque’s first ever swimming pool. The former ranch was named after the original inhabitants of this land — the ancestral Pueblo Native Americans (called in Spanish los poblanos, meaning “from the pueblo”). Your afternoon tea reservation includes a docent-led 20-minute tour of La Quinta Cultural Center, the brainchild of former owner Ruth Hanna McCormick Simms who wanted to create a community space for civil, social and cultural gatherings. Our tour guide pointed out special elements of the center’s design, which included gardens, a library, an in-ground pool with nearby changing rooms, an art gallery open to the public, and ballroom with catering kitchen to host lectures and concerts. Afternoon tea is served in the ballroom during cool weather, and also, starting in the spring during “tea season,” outside on the covered patio overlooking the pool. It is a rarefied treat to sip tea in a 1935 ballroom, letting your eyes wander over the original woodworking, tiling, ceiling, doors and fireplace. The expert service and presentation are exactly what you’d expect in an elegant ballroom, and the menu, which changes seasonally, had several yummy creations in store for us. The Library Bar inside the cultural center is open exclusively to lodging guests and afternoon tea guests from 5 to 10 pm, the perfect place to digest your afternoon tea and all you’ve learned after your tour, or perhaps to enjoy a nightcap after dinner at Campo, if you’ve made a day of it. We fully enjoyed our mid-March visit, but imagine Los Poblanos would be beautiful to behold in late spring when the gardens are in blooom.
Turn into the drive when you see this sign.
Imagining these cottonwood trees in bloom
Check in for afternoon tea at the host desk at right.
La Quinta Cultural Center ballroom, set for afternoon tea
Two-tops overlook the patio where afternoon tea is served in the spring. The wooden shutters are original to this 1930s building.
Tea Selection
We were first offered a lightly flavored lemon green tea (organic sencha green tea with organic lemongrass, organic lemon peel and organic lemon balm).
Dessert is paired with a ginger spice herbal, including organic ginger root, organic fennel, organic lemongrass, organic white peppercorn and organic peppermint.
Scones & Spreads, Savories and Sweets
We begin with a yummy, homemade Cream of Mushroom soup amuse bouche, that we actually sip directly from this petite mug.
The three tiered tray sports two tiers of savories along with the scones
Savories include a Kale & Leek Frittata with Sheep’s Milk Cheese, Egg Salad Tea Sandwich with Dill, and a Roasted Pumpkin Seed Butter Tea Sandwich.
Next was a pastry cup filled with Apple-Onion Chutney, Sage and Bacon, and we agreed our favorite savory was the Tostada topped with Green Chile Goat Cheese and Pickled Beet Relish.
Classic scones had a nice crumbScones were served with lemon curd and creamA Victorian-style tart server is provided to help us serve ourselves
Dessert was a Chai-spiced Oreja and a Rose Pistachio Biscotti. While we appreciated these were not overly sweet, we would have enjoyed a third sweet, perhaps in the moist or creamy department, to round out this course.
Our tour guide let us know that the ladies’ room was once photographed for Vogue.
After tea, we have time to visit La Quinta’s art gallery before our tour begins.
This was their first exhibit of artwork entirely made by Los Poblanos employees! We were blown away by the talents of this staff.
We found artwork made by our server!
Albuquerque’s first swimming pool stands, almost 100 years later, unaltered. You can see on the far side the doors to the former men’s and women’s changing rooms.
A popular Mexican medium, tin is used to frame mirrors and form the ballroom chandeliers.Depictions of San Ysidro — the patron saint of farmers, gardeners and laborers — are woven into design elements throughout Los Poblanos. See how even the door pull is crowned with a plow.New Mexican painter Peter Hurd painted this wall mural depicting the story of San Ysidro, whose fields were plowed by an angel while he prayed every morning before going to work. Albert Simms and Ruth Hanna McCormick Simms were the 1930s owners of Los Poblanos who commissioned the construction of La Quinta Cultural Center, and their initials (“AR”) can be found throughout. Destination Tea’s AR poses with one of the tiles.
In the spring, tea tables are laid out on La Quinta’s tiled patio.
Each tea guest receives the gift of Los Poblanos’ Lavender Lip Salve
Cocktails are available to order anytime during your afternoon tea reservation slot, so we were able to return from our tour and order a “Rose Greely” to accompany a stroll through her gardens, while waiting for The Library Bar to open.
The Greely Garden is a formal Spanish-style garden around the Hacienda and La Quinta designed in 1932 by Rose Greely, a pioneer female landscape architect and the first female graduate of Harvard’s landscape architecture program. The gardens feature Spanish tile fountains, rose cutting gardens, winding pathways and mosaic stonework by “Pop” Shaffer, a folk artist who had arrived in Mountainair, NM in 1908.
We also have time to visit Los Poblanos’ Farm Shop, housed in the renovated 1930s dairy barns, which you enter through the original silos.
The Farm Shop sells Los Poblanos’ products, like lavender, gin, green chile jam and more, plus a wide array of gifts made by local artisans.
If you look carefully, you can see vestiges of the former 1930s dairy barn.
We finish the day by returning to rest and converse in the Library (where we love the green ceiling and crown molding).
The Library Bar is a modern addition to the room, serving herb-infused cocktails. We smile to see the teacups used to hold garnishes, and enjoy relaxing conversation as inn and afternoon tea guests fill the room for a truly happy hour.
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