This Hotel Is Home To New York City's Most Expensive Tea Service

When you think of fancy tea service, your mind probably doesn't go to New York City. London, sure; everyone knows the Brits love their tea, even if most of the tea rooms you'll find in London are pretty touristy. But New York City? What, do they serve you high tea in one of those blue and white paper cups with the Greek lettering? Do they give you chopped cheese finger sandwiches? Is Fran Lebowitz there? But then again, as everyone knows, you can get just about anything in New York, and high-class tea is no exception. Just look at the Baccarat Hotel, which offers the most expensive tea service in New York City.

The Baccarat Hotel was opened in 2015 by a French company that specializes in luxury crystal products, which gives you a pretty good idea of what kind of experience you'll get when you sit down for tea. The Baccarat actually offers several different types of afternoon tea service. There's the Prince of Wales, an English tea service with plenty of savory accompaniments including coronation chicken and beef tartare; there's the Princess of Monaco, which is more focused on sweets including rose madeleines and chocolate mousse; there's the Le Petit Prince, a smaller tea service intended for children that features hot chocolate (presumably not any of these hot cocoa mixes, unless Baccarat's really trying to pull a fast one on us). But it's the King Louis XV tea that's the real show-stopper.

Baccarat has a personal connection to King Louis XV — in fact, it was his decree to build a glassworks factory in Paris that led to the company's founding. (Actually, all the tea services are named after royalty who commissioned Baccarat for crystal, with the exception of the fictional Le Petit Prince.) The hotel honors his decadent legacy with the King Louis XV tea, which is every bit as luxurious as you might imagine. You can pick from thirteen different teas, including Earl Grey, lapsang souchong, and Silver Needle, as well as various savories and sweets to go with it. But the real centerpiece is the caviar — a choice between ossetra and kaluga, served with blinis. (Baccarat doesn't serve the caviar with potato chips, but they do come with new potatoes.)

As you can imagine, none of this comes cheap. Caviar is, after all, notoriously expensive. If you choose the kaluga caviar, it'll cost you $425; meanwhile, the ossetra will set you back $325. (College students on a budget, take note!) But if you could experience luxury every day, it wouldn't be extravagant anymore, would it?