Sandwiches to please vegetarians and omnivores alike: the Calcutta sandwich has Portobello mushrooms, red peppers, basil, and pepper jack cheese and Masala chai sauce. The Providence
Club is stocked with ham, turkey, bacon, greens, tomato, and mayo; the tuna salad is reliably fresh and tasty; nibble on a maple scone or a chocolate-tangerine cookie with your tea.
UNIQUE DISH
Crumpets, all without the cost of High Tea at the Four Seasons.
DRINKS
Over 100 loose teas: bewitching Creme de la Earl Grey, ruby herbal Rote Grutze, cardamom-spiked decaf Highland Chai, and, of course, Golden Tippy Assam, for starters; daily variety of iced teas, hot chocolate, Zen Blenders (iced fruit/tea drinks); intrepid souls will enjoy the peppery Kashmiri Chai - it ain't your Starbucks chai, that's for sure.
SEATING
Takeout and ephemeral clients sit at the couple of small tables upstairs; those more engrossed, or perhaps dining, head to the small tables in the basement; tables can be pushed together, but more than four people in a party gets crowded.
AMBIENCE/CLIENTELE
Decked out in hammered bronze and navy blue, Tealuxe is a kind of postmodern café with throwbacks to the 1920s, with the advantage of Bose speakers on which to play funky old jazz.
Typically patrons are in their 20s and up, with the occasional elderly lady lost in a book over her teapot. The downstairs space fills up fast during dinner and especially on weekends.
Extras/Notes
Tealuxe began as an almost unbelievably tiny café in Harvard Square, serving ceramic personal or party pots to visitors and offering tall paper cups of tea as takeout. Immediately it was mobbed at all hours - even without serving anything more
substantial than a blueberry scone. When Tealuxe expanded into its other locations, by trial and error it introduced meals and has since become the ideal respite from the homogenization of
coffee-oriented chain cafés.
