The Irony of British-Inspired Tea Parlors in New York City | The New Yorker

"In Prospect Heights, I found Brooklyn High Low to be a gorgeously funky counterpoint to tradition: owner Honey Moon Udarbe—raised by hippie parents in Northern California and also the operator of a nearby vintage shop who cleans out the estates of the wealthy—repurposes broken teacups into chandeliers and otherwise detonates the afternoon-tea paradigm. The menu (tea service from $48) includes wildly inventive savory options such as pastrami with Dijon on rye and guava with blue cheese on gluten-free bread, and twenty-nine tea varieties, including one infused with whole butterfly-pea flowers that turn the liquid a psychedelic indigo. Service is informal—when I asked about scones, the server said, “I like to just use my fork and kind of dip in different things”—and the staff sometimes hear creaks or items falling, which Udarbe attributes to a happy old ghost who maybe came in with one of the tea sets." - David Kortava