Where: Downtown Atlanta, Georgia Style: Fancified tour bus Tea Selection: 3 cold teas, 1 hot tea Teatimes: Daily, times vary Reservations: Pre-paid reservations required Contact: Reserve here Cost: $125 Luxe Afternoon Tea; $85 Petite Afternoon Tea Destination Tea Tips: Look for an email with an order ID that you will put into the TopView Tix app to redeem your ticket order for bus access. There is a paid parking lot across from the departure point. While there is accessible seating on the lower deck, everyone else will climb steep stairs to the upper deck.
Destination Tea Notes: Tea Around Town is a new (to the United States) concept sweeping down from New York City, where it began receiving oodles of positive publicity, especially on social media. Many of you forwarded videos to us with excitement. Thank you, as always, for the tips! Commenters mentioned “Bridgerton vibes” and begged for a Tea Around Town bus to come to their city… and they may get their wish. Since launching in Manhattan in 2023, Tea Around Town, designed to “take the sight-seeing experience to the next level,” this summer added buses in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, and, just this month, in Houston. “Luxe” guests, who receive double the amount of food items and a mocktail, are seated together on one side of the bus. The fun of this excursion is the novelty of being served an afternoon tea as you amble about the town in a dolled up double-decker, with a jazz vocalist serenading you. The actual tour is light on facts, likely to allow guests to chat with one another. Though afternoon tea aficionados may be disappointed with the “traditional scones” and the manner in which tea is served, the moment when we realized our affable tour guide, Ham, was singing to us live, was arguably worth the price of admission.
The bus makes for a perfect backdrop for a group photo before boarding.
Ham is ready to give you a hand as you climb up to the top deck.
Pearlescent beads and faux flower vines frame the roof view, which could use a good clean.
Loving the pink-and-white striped booths, where our tiered trays await.
Ham crooned the oldies beautifully!
Tea Selection
At first, we misunderstood the format, and thought we were meant to choose a tea from this menu.
What actually happens is that “tea specialists” come around with carafes of tea, one flavor at a time, and you are invited to try, or request another from the menu, though we were never brought any tea out of order after especially requesting it.
Your plastic souvenir tumbler, which sits smartly in a cutout in the table, is used for all teas, including the hot. We typically avoid drinking hot tea from plastic.
A fresh pour of tea was about 4 sips, so we often sat without any tea to drink, especially if you weren’t interested in whichever flavor was currently circulating. The first three teas that came around were iced herbals: a Lemon Hibiscus presweetened with agave, a Mint, and a Peach Passionfruit. Finally, a hot Earl Grey arrived, and a small portion was poured. Our tea specialist did offer refills, but then wondered aloud how they would do that, being that they were out of hot water.
The Luxe Afternoon Tea included a mock rosé that tasted like a sparkling grape juice. Clever rubber gold doilies keep plates and glasses from sliding.
Scones & Spreads, Sandwiches and Sweets
Many guests were starting on their tiered trays before the servers had gotten to them with the tea.
The tea sandwiches were yummy, including a cucumber cream cheese, pastrami, tuna, crab salad and smoked salmon. The starchy egg bite was not a favorite. Instead of a presentation of the tiered tray, you can find the menu items (which have changed since our visit) via the QR code on the menu card.
Two jams and possibly a mascarpone blend were served with plain and apple spiced “scones,” which had a dense, dry, slightly rubbery crumb.
A generous six desserts were perfectly bite-sized, if not homemade. Our favorite was the chocolate dipped cream puff. We guessed that these were commercially made, including a chocolate tart, lemon meringue tart, sweet potato pie tart, fruit tart and meringue.
Branded to-go boxes are made available at the end of the tour.
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