Fun with Friends at Jolie Tea Salem MA

I Bought This, Informational Links

Though it wasn’t officially a holiday get-together, three of my good friends and I went to the new expanded Jolie Tea Company, a tea café in Salem Massachusetts. I hadn’t been to Jolie Tea in three years, so I was psyched to see the new place as well as to go out with my friends.

The Original Jolie Tea Company

The old Jolie Tea was adorable, but tiny. It accommodated about 4 small round marble tables.

However, it had the most charming wallpaper in the restroom with rabbits and mushrooms! It was so cute I took a photo of it.

The New Jolie Tea

Now, the new Jolie Tea Company at 316 Derby Street in Salem is about 4 times as large as the former location. And it even has what they call a semi-private “salon” with fancy settees and chairs. But since we were planning on eating as well as sipping, we went for a traditional table.

Recently, I read something about the “new” Jolie Tea because I follow them on Facebook. I thought they wrote that they now serve lunch. But when we looked at the menu, I realized I was wrong. They now have bite-size tea sandwiches. 

At Jolie Tea, you can order tea by the mug or by the pot. They have about a million different teas, herbal teas, and tea blends – hot and cold – to choose from. You can see some of the choices in the shelves with the glowing purple light behind the bar, in the photo above. You can also buy loose tea to bring home or to gift to tea lovers. I chose a mug of the delicious Spiced Masala Chai, a smooth spicy blend of black tea, ginger, cinnamon, and orange.

For tea accompaniments, you can order High Tea (above) that comes with a pot of tea as well as with several “courses” including tea sandwiches, scones and jam (not sure if they have clotted cream. they should!), and pastries. There’s a smaller, more affordable tea with a pot of tea, tea sandwiches, and a scone and jam.

I decided to order á la carte. I got a large, fluffy roll with ham and gruyere on the outside, a bite-size but incredibly delicious smoked salmon, cream cheese and dill gougère (a gougère is like a small puff pastry made with gruyere), and a super yummy chocolate macaron. It was heaven!

Gifts at Jolie Tea

In addition to bags of loose tea, the shop has other goodies that would make terrific small holiday gifts, hostess gifts or stocking stuffers.

My friend, K, bought a sleeve of sugared orange and blood orange slices that looked like they were made of stained glass! She’s a terrific mixologist, and she bought them to float on cocktails. I hope I get to try one of those cocktails! 

There is a wall with white shelves filled with small gift items. Of course there are tea cups, tea mugs, insulated portable tea mugs, tea pots, bamboo whisks for making matcha, books on tea, as well as Christmas tree ornaments that don’t have anything to do with tea but are very cute. I bought a soft, fluffy, white unicorn ornament for Jeff’s new baby granddaughter who was dressed as a white unicorn for Halloween, and a gold, glittery Eiffel Tower ornament for a Frankophile friend.

A Nice Place to Socialize

Although we were sitting directly underneath one of the main music speakers, we nevertheless had a lovely time catching up at Jolie Tea for a couple of hours on a gloomy, rainy day. My only disappointment is that the two new restrooms are painted in a pretty teal, but the rabbit and mushroom wallpaper is nowhere to be seen. Boo!

Afterward our tea, we headed over to the Peabody Essex Museum Gift Shop to do a little holiday shopping during their holiday decor and goods sale.

If you find yourself in Salem, Massachusetts, a historic city on the sea that’s fun all year round (not just at Halloween!), check out Jolie Tea on Derby Street and the Peabody Essex Museum on Essex Street.

Allison Cohen

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