Our 37th Spot:

Jade Chocolates

607 Grant Avenue San Francisco, CA 94108

www.jadechocolates.com

“I didn’t even know there are that many places to have Afternoon Tea in the Bay Area!?”

“How do you find all these Spots??”

“Don’t worry about it.”

When I heard there was Afternoon Tea being served in a chocolate shop, you better believe I was intrigued!! Now let me back up and explain (especially for our new followers): Our official Spots are numbered, but our raTEAngs include all official Spots AND unofficial Tea Room visits. So if you’re noticing that our numbers are kinda off, this is why. But to complicate things even more for you (tada!), this Spot we were supposed to visit in October. HOWEVER, while looking up how to make reservations, I accidentally saw something that caught my eye and I couldn’t unsee…and didn’t want to unsee haha!

The word was: Hawaiian.

Really really quick Story Time: My maternal grandmother is Hawaiian. But when I was growing up, I was never allowed to claim my Hawaiian roots as my abusive bio mom never wanted me to have any extra attention. I am in fact Hawaiian, my DNA says so. When I entered trauma recovery at the end of 2018, while doing my inner child work, I finally got to embrace my heritage and immerse myself + my family in it. It was poi + lomi salmon all day err day. I decorated my bedroom walls with pieces from local Hawaiian artists like: Colleen Wilcox, Mayan Llanera, Kat Reeder, Aloha de Mele, and Punky Aloha. And a whole lot more stuff that I’m not gonna get into here.

Needless to say, when I saw that word related to Afternoon Tea, it was all over! I was going. Then I read further, and found out it was only being offered til September 4th!? AAHHHH!! But I have to gooo! My schedule was packed as it is…I already had a Tea Spot scheduled for August AND a leisure Tea with my brothers the weekend before the 4th. (WHINE) I made it happen and I was going to go before they stopped offering the Hawaiian Tea. YAYYY!!!

So back to those questions in the beginning of this post… I’ve heard them both plenty of times. And no, I’m not going to share my secrets! (sticking out tongue emoji) All you need to know is I AM A DETECTIVE. (wink wink) And if you haven’t subscribed yet, keep following cuz you are in for mooorrrrreeee!!

It was cute + quaint. (I don’t know, “quaint” is the first word that came to mind so I’m going with it). There was one gentleman in there and he took us to our table. Fuuun, we got the window seat and were able to check out the City’s sights + people-watch. (apparently, I’m gonna whine this entire blog post) Because it was an impromptu squeeze-in Tour visit, after asking a few chocolate-lovers I knew but couldn’t make it, my husband made mention that he was interested. “I should just go with you to all the rest of them,” he says! Haha. Seems this one had such a good time at Maison, he wanted to accompany me for the rest of the Tour! What a cutie guy. So this would be our 3rd time at Tea, just the two of us! He is my biggest cheerleader.

Funny- I was trying so hard to get pics of our table without people in the background, but ended up using this one anyway! It’s just so real!!

Shortly after we were seated, our server brought out their Coconut Paradise Green Tea. If you remember, I don’t read anything (if I can help it) about Tea Spots before I go. I don’t follow them on socials, I don’t peruse their website. So this was a nice + welcome surprise: that we didn’t have to pick a tea today. One (for now) was selected for us. Oh man it smelled so creamy!! Yall know, I love me a creamy tea. Creamy coconut guys, creamy coconut. Can you just imagine!? I took my first sip, and it was good! Oh. It had sweetener in it. Not my favorite. As a tea maker/creator/gourmet tea boutique drinker, I prefer the highest quality of teas and never doctor up my cuppa’s. But that’s my preference… Still, we enjoyed our tea and the perfect music that was playing and so on-theme!!

The tier came with the owner. I only knew her name, thanks to one of my Foodie friends on IG who had recently visited (Hi Tim!). She said our server would be right back. And after the tier was set down, he started. He had a full-on history lesson on the Hawaiian Paniolo (Cowboy) themed tea!! SO COOL. He really got into it and knew his stuff. Excellent entertainment for tourists that visit Chinatown (which is where this place is located).

After his story, he explained what each item was on the tier. Thankfully we didn’t have to memorize everything this time, as there was a menu with it all listed left on the table. I’m admitting it- I was totally judging everything I was looking at. “I don’t like this.” “I don’t like that.” “I’m not gonna eat this.” I’m not a fan of salads on tea services. I was looking at these sandwiches, and there was nothing cutesy about it. (sigh) I brought down the plate of salad and started taking my pictures…

Parker Ranch Salad (mango, papaya, kale, & edamame in a spicy sesame vinaigrette, cassava chip topper) – (sigh) At least I like papaya… I took my first bite. (chewing on the hard kale) I don’t even like kale that much… Then, I found myself taking more + more bites. Oh man. This is really good! (I was being such a brat huh?!) The dressing wasn’t too spicy, it just brought a nice mild kick. The fruits were the juiciest fruits! I loved the texture from the soy beans. And that cassava chip, just went perfect with everything. The only negative was the size of the plate. I had to actively hold each leaf from falling off every time I forked it. But no biggie.

Vaqueros Vegetarian Chile Verde Chili – I can’t say I’ve ever had chili on a tea service. But since I was so wrong about the salad, I was getting excited now! I’m not even supposed to have beans…but, I tried it anyway. (see the things I do for you guys!) Ugh, again, so so good! We love quinoa in the house, so that was a familiar bite. It was so fun and such a nice surprise addition!

Grilled Cheese with Caramelized Sweet Onions – I was on a roll now, bring it on sister! Again, not supposed to have yellow cheese nor onions. (hahah!) That sandwich was GRILLED TO PERFECTION. Excellent combo. Simple but done right. (oh man, I wish I had one right now)

King’s Hawaiian Bread with BBQ Beef Brisket – Okay so, I grew up with King’s. My gramma would get the round loaf that came in like a pie tin, and we would just grab handfuls when we wanted some! (haha, funny thinking about that now) I don’t know what their chef does with these, but I only now noticed that it said “King’s” on their menu while reading for this part of the post. That joint tasted homemade boyyy! Oh and the meat. They used fattie hearty pieces of meat. Had to get a good bite in there, but still was so good.

Paniolo Pineapple Cornbread, Honey Butter – The last thing to try on this tier was their cornbread. Super moist, not too dense, perfect consistency.

And after having all this gorgeous food, I understood why the coconut green was sweetened. It matched good with the savory profiles. Which by the way, the Huz finished the pot!

Paniolo Palate Cleanser (passion fruit, orange, guava shooter) – I wanna say this is only the 2nd tea service we’ve had with a palate cleanser. The one I can remember was from Linde Lane in Dixon. Maybe the hotels might’ve had one… Anyhow, this was so good! Of course, I could be partial cuz this is my absolute favorite flavor of juice. When I was a kid, I would collect the plastic half cups of them (you know, with the foil pull-back lid) from the plane rides! My favorite Hawaiian Sun? Pass-O-Guava, what else?! This was like a slushie version of that, plus just a little more tartness. Oh, personal annoyance (to whoever’s listening): please oh please don’t call it POG!!

Before the next tier (we get 2 tiers!? Yayyy), they brought out their 2nd pairing of tea: a Lychee Guava White. Um, YUM. I was already excited just hearing the name! I love me a lychee tea!! It was very fragrant, didn’t seem like this one was sweetened, and full of flavor. I was a big fan.

With the delivery of the Sweets Tier (I gasped btw, so pretty), came the conclusion of the history experience. He did such a good job! (clapping emoji)

Liliko’i Marshmallow S’more – I didn’t read the menu before I put this in my mouth. Looks like a s’more, must be a s’more right? Just so we’re all clear: I am a LILIKOI FREAK. I love Lilikoi anything! All-time favorite dessert: La Costanera‘s lilikoi panna cotta. Favorite sweet: Cookie Corner’s lilikoi fruit bar. Favorite art piece by Punky Aloha (that I have an 18×24 of in my living room): Lilikoi. I think you guys get it. So when I tasted it and then subsequently confirmed it on the menu- I clapped my hands and did a happy dance! You guys (the I can’t even emoji), it was so good I wanna cryyyyy!! And the first time chocolate was in the tea service!? Amazing, perfectly roasted marshmallow, excellent chocolate, crunchy not soggy cracker.

Caramelized Tropical Fruit Skewer (pineapple, strawberry, sweet potato) – This was so much fun!! I loved crunching the bruleed sugar! That sweet potato was a nice addition.

Macadamia Brown Butter Blondie – This was nice + light. Strawberries on the side were refreshing.

Okay yall- I was pleasantly surprised at this Tea. It wasn’t even all chocolate-infused! My sincere apologies to the owner + chef that I ever doubted what was being served. Yall know what you’re doing over there. From the music to the tea pairings to the…banana leaf that the skewer was served on!! From my understanding, themes change often. So I am looking forward to coming back fo sho! Readers/Followers, please go and visit them!! You will not be sorry, I promise. A Hawaiian-themed tea service, are you kidding me!!?! I am sooo HAPPY I finagled fitting it on the Tour!! If anyone is out there doing an Italian-themed Tea, hit me up! (haha, my paternal grandfather was Italian)

I ate my leftovers at home and was so sad I had no lilikoi marshmallow to wash it all down, wahh…

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