When I visit New York I always take time to visit a few tea rooms. This helps to slow down the pace of city life and gives you some time to stop and reflect on your day. Here are my favorites:

My current favorite is Teany in the Lower East Side. This is a beautiful little café, jointly owned by Moby and Kelly. They have over 100 specialty teas in stock, and the quality is first class. The café is completely vegetarian with plenty of vegan options. Their vegan cheesecake is particularly good.

Another of my favorites is Tea Spot (127 Macdougal Street). Just a minute away from Washington Square Park, this place gets fairly full with students during term time. They have seating upstairs and downstairs and offer free wi-fi access. They have a very large selection of teas, which are available to take away. They also sell a range of cakes, pastries and sandwiches.

Or how about Podunk (231 East 5th Street), a small, homely tea shop near 2nd Avenue. This little place is run by a husband, wife and daughter team, so it is a real family affair. This café offers over 20 meals that are paired up with different tea. Note that this café doesn’t have a restroom.

If you’re heading into Brooklyn, then the place to go is the Tea Lounge. This is a huge tea room in an old warehouse space. It has mismatch sofas and chairs all over and is usually full of people of all ages and backgrounds working away on their laptops. It’s open until 1am weekdays and 2am on weekends.