F & B : TableTop — Coffee and Tea
Mike Diskin
For Café Brulot ,
Windsor Court Hotel infuses coffee and brandy with flavors such as orange peel and rosemary tableside before serving the drink in a glass snifter .
Coffee meets CoCktails
Casa Palopo serves Irish coffee in a modern insulated glass cup atop a more traditional Guatemalan doily .
Windsor Court Hotel has been serving Café Brulot , a coffee-based cocktail infused with brandy , herbs and other flavors , for only about two years , but the drink ’ s history in New Orleans dates back to the 1890s . “ It became a huge part of New Orleans culture in the 1920s during Prohibition as a way to hide
the service of alcohol ,” notes Skip Adams , Windsor Court ’ s food and beverage director .
Adams says Windsor Court uses a Taiwanese coffee-tea brewer as the centerpiece of the tableside service , which showcases the drink being infused with ingredients such as orange peel and rosemary , then serves the Café Brulot in a glass snifter . “ We really wanted guests to be able to get the aromatics ,” Adams explains .
Casa Palopo in Guatemala also specializes in a coffee cocktail , Irish coffee served with contrasting elements — a tall , insulated glass cup atop a colorful doily handmade by local artisans . “ I loved the idea of incorporating a modern element into the presentation along with the doilies that are more traditional to Guatemala ,” says owner Claudia Bosch .
Flash Parker
Custom-made china used for tea service at The
Langham , Boston has a rose pattern protected by a glaze that helps prevent fading from washing .
Handle witH Care
Given the elegance of afternoon tea at The Dorchester in London , it ’ s not surprising maintenance for the service pieces is meticulous . “ All our cups are polished to avoid water marks ,” says Executive Chef Henry Brosi . “ We polish all our silver twice a week , and we do a deep polishing of all our crockery once a week . We have a brigade of staff from different departments to polish our tea pieces — it is sort of a rite of passage !”
Sometimes optimal maintenance comes down to selecting the best pieces in the first place . The china used for The Langham , Boston ’ s tea service has all its decoration protected by a glaze , which Director of Operations Mathias Weigmann says protects it from fading with washing .
When The Rittenhouse in Philadelphia redid its back-ofhouse area , it included an upgraded dishwasher that does not heat above 180 degrees F ( 82 degrees C ), and it is reserved for tea china alone . “ This is the one thing that does not get used by any other department ,” says Justin Hersker , manager of The Rittenhouse ’ s Mary Cassatt Tea Room . “ It ’ s ours exclusively , which is pretty rare .”
Hersker confirms , however , the most critical maintenance component is a human one . “ Staff training is super important ,” he says . “ That ’ s number one — just getting the staff to understand what they ’ re handling , that this is custom china .”
36 HOTELS March 2014 www . hotelsmag . com