{"id":24125,"date":"2009-12-05T22:48:31","date_gmt":"2009-12-05T21:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/nl\/high-tea-at-the-four-seasons-hotel-chicago\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T09:35:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:35:12","slug":"high-tea-at-the-four-seasons-hotel-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/high-tea-at-the-four-seasons-hotel-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"High Tea at The Four Seasons Hotel, Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"High<\/p>\n

High Tea at The Lounge in The Four Seasons, Chicago – image \u00a9Four Seasons Hotels<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

An unusually warm December afternoon found me in Chicago at one of the city\u2019s premier luxury hotels, The Four Seasons, just off the Magnificent Mile. The hotel is in a high rise building above an upscale retail mall called The 900 Shops.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The hotel\u2019s entire lobby is richly decorated in fine-plush furnishings but, The Lounge – where tea is served – certainly stands out in its striking beauty and decor.\u00a0 Unlike several hotel venues that serve afternoon tea in a large airy room, this space is small and intimate.\u00a0 Ironically, the room was full but it was also very private and quiet. The acoustic engineers must have worked overtime on this space. The Lounge\u2019s dark wood, plush carpeting, and fine tapestries\u00a0all speak of the luxury you are about to experience taking afternoon tea at The Four Seasons Chicago.<\/p>\n

As I was seated and began going through the menu, I noticed that there were three choices: a Full High Tea, a Conservatory Tea or a Rose Tea.\u00a0 I chose The Full High Tea, which is more akin to a traditional afternoon tea, but for purposes of this story, I\u2019ll call it what the menu calls it.<\/p>\n

Click here for a larger picture tour of afternoon tea at the Four Seasons Chicago<\/span><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was December, and I was in the mood for a\u00a0hearty black tea.\u00a0 The menu listed eight black teas, one premium oolong, two green teas, one white and 7 herbal infusions. I chose a Ceylon Yalta (rich body and malty flavor with a smooth and fine infusion) that my server told me would be strong but not quite as strong as the Assam Gold Leaf.<\/p>\n

\"Teapot<\/p>\n

Teapot Steeping On Its Side image\u00a9HIghTea.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve never seen this before, but the tea was brought out in a Fortuna white teapot that was tilted 90 degrees on its side for the recommended two minutes of steeping time.\u00a0 Once the time is up, the teapot should be positioned straight up. Righting the teapot stops the steeping as the tea leaves are loaded onto a \u201cshelf\u201d inside the pot that removes them from the water when upright. A strainer is still used for the straggling leaves that inevitably ride off of the shelf.\u00a0 The tea was complex and delicious and just what I what I was looking for \u2013 a bracing cup for the cold December days that\u00a0lie ahead.<\/p>\n

\"Tea<\/p>\n

Tea Sandwiches at Four Seasons, Chicago High Tea image\u00a9HighTea.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In a few moments, your server will stop by with a mirror-finish silver tray that is brimming with beautiful looking tea sandwiches arranged in perfectly ordered lines. After explaining each of the different varieties, you are asked to select. \u201cOne of each, sir?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWhy, yes, that will do.\u201d The tea sandwiches included smoked salmon with chive cream cheese on pumpernickel pinwheel, roast beef with arugula and horseradish aioli on rosemary bread, turkey with cranberry chutney on stuffing bread, mulled wine poached pear with creamy blue cheese on cranberry walnut bread, and cucumber, radish and nutmeg on pain de mie.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t a weak link in the bunch, although the smoked salmon was so good and moist, it demanded seconds. Should I admit that?<\/p>\n

Narumi Bone China was used along with the interesting Fortuna Teapot.<\/p>\n

After the tea sandwiches, the server will bring you a three tier tray with scones on top ( plain and cranberry orange). The mid level has a slice of ginger tea bread, a sugar snowflake cookie and an almond cookie. On the lowest level are an eggnog cheesecake, a chocolate tart with mint center, and a small pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting.\u00a0 The cool eggnog cheesecake was the runaway winner in the sweets category for me.<\/p>\n

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\"Table<\/p>\n

Table Setting at Four Seasons, Chicago – image\u00a9HighTea.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The scones are served with whipped (not clotted) double Devonshire cream (see What is Clotted Cream<\/a>). It was smooth, rich, firm, and went very well with the orange-cranberry scones.\u00a0 The strawberry preserve was very fresh-tasting.\u00a0 A rare and welcome treat was lemon curd that was not overly sweetened.\u00a0 Occasionally, these can be so sweet that it\u2019s hard to taste anything other than the sugar.\u00a0 This was\u00a0more evenly\u00a0balanced.\u00a0 Honey was also served should you desire a little \u201cthunder and lightning\u201d on your scones.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A waiter will come by to add hot water to your teapot and then lay it on its side at a 45 degree angle, as opposed to the full 90 degree tilt at the beginning of the service.<\/p>\n

The service, as you might expect in a luxury Four Seasons Hotel, is first class \u2013 from the staff that first greet you as you enter, to the servers at your table \u2013 all engage you with polite conversation and are available to assist with whatever needs may arise during the course of the afternoon tea.<\/p>\n

Piano and guitar music play softly, almost unintelligibly, in the background and the atmosphere was so relaxing that I lost track of time, spent a lot longer than I anticipated and ended up leaving right at the peak of Chicago rush hour traffic.\u00a0 I had a table that faced the fireplace, and with the soft music and plush surroundings, it was easy to let time slip away.<\/p>\n

High Tea at Four Seasons Chicago in pictures<\/a><\/span><\/h2>\n

Near the end of the afternoon, when I was all but finished, the servers again asked me if there was anything else they could bring me.\u00a0 So I said how about one last cranberry orange scone. A very warm scone soon met a dollop of Devonshire Cream and strawberry jam as I rode off into the sunset of Michigan Avenue, Chicago.<\/p>\n

\""Allow<\/p>\n

“Allow Me” Sculpture at Entrance to Four Seasons Hotel, Chicago – image\u00a9HighTea.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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An unusually warm December afternoon found me in Chicago at one of the city\u2019s premier luxury hotels, The Four Seasons, just off the Magnificent Mile. The hotel is in a high rise building above an upscale retail mall called The 900 Shops. The hotel\u2019s entire lobby is richly decorated in fine-plush furnishings but, The Lounge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2558],"tags":[2552,2559,2560,2554,2603],"class_list":["post-24125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-en-north-america","tag-en-afternoon-tea","tag-en-chicago","tag-en-four-seasons-hotel","tag-en-high-tea","tag-en-tea-sandwiches"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24131,"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24125\/revisions\/24131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}