‘Power Tea’ Becoming the Meal for Deals

More and more of this city’s power brokers seem to be skipping those three-martini lunches in favor of late-afternoon English tea, closing their deals over a cup of Darjeeling, watercress sandwiches and crumpets slathered with strawberry jam.

Some of Washington’s most exclusive hotels report that corporate executives, lawyers, lobbyists and even congressmen are leading a briefcase invasion of the genteel sanctuaries once reserved for white-gloved ladies in their search for a quiet place to wheel and deal.

“What’s happening is that teatime is replacing the cocktail hour,” said trial lawyer Cary Pollak, a self-taught expert on afternoon tea. “Instead of the power lunch, it is getting to be more the custom to conduct business over a power tea.”

Georgetown’s swank Four Seasons Hotel, part of a Canadian chain of hostelries, is credited with introducing the capital to the leisurely delights of afternoon tea about 10 years ago. Other hotels followed, trundling out their tea carts every day at 3 o’clock.

Most of the hotel restaurant managers interviewed in a random telephone survey said their tea customers at first were almost exclusively women, but they are seeing more and more men enjoying this hallowed, high-calorie English ritual.

“I think it’s catching on,” said Cynthia Gumnick, manager of the 50-seat Nest Lounge in the Willard Intercontinental Hotel, two blocks from the White House.

“We’re seeing more and more men,” she said. “They don’t turn up their noses at the door like they used to. They come in, sit down and enjoy themselves. Sometimes four or five gentlemen will order a larger table and spread out their papers before they order tea.”

Prices generally range from about $7 to $12, depending on what customers consume with their tea.

The Willard’s typically lavish spread includes a choice of eight varieties of hot tea, followed by finger sandwiches, scones with thick Devon cream and strawberry jam and an assortment of cakes, fruit tarts and petite pastries.

Will Hancock of the Four Seasons reported that a couple of big-name congressmen, whom he refused to identify, have gotten into the habit of slipping into his Garden Terrace restaurant occasionally to confer over afternoon tea.