Laduree & McNulty's Tea Shop

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I made plans to go into New York to meet some friends, have some lunch, and enjoy the city. I decided to incorporate a trip to Laduree into my schedule, which then led to my quest to find some good quality tea, more specifically, darjeeling. I wanted to recreate my experience having tea at the Orangery.

If you've never had macarons, shame on you. But if you'd like to indulge, I'd start at Laduree. It's the real deal.

I got the Prestige Box Size 1 (24 macarons) and asked for 12 salted caramel (the best and most popular flavor), 3 raspberry, 3 pistachio, 3 coconut, and 3 chocolate. They were all so delicious and my family and friends ended up eating them slowly over the course of the long 4-day weekend. To be honest, they didn't taste quite as delicious as they did in Paris, but then again, I think that's just because everything just tastes better in France.

And while I was in Soho, I popped into this lovely little tea shop, McNulty's Tea & Coffee Co. 

They have so many jars of loose teas as well as boxed and bagged teas for sale. Oddly enough, it was owned by a Chinese man and at first I was apprehensive but he spoke English v. well and was v. v. v. helpful. I got myself 1 lb of golden darjeeling (his recommendation after I asked, "Which one tastes the best?" because there were 5 different types of darjeeling) and 1/2 lb of chai tea. The chai smelled amazing, I just couldn't pass it up. He even gave me tips on how to steep them - he said since they're both black teas, it's fine to use boiling water, and for the chai, it's nice to add some warmed up milk.

I'm hoping to make macarons and delicious tea become a special treat-type tradition for family holiday get-togethers.