On the 6th floor of Tiffany & Co in NYC is their Blue Box Cafe where afternoon is served all day, every day. Take a look at the food, the tea, and see where it ranks with all the other afternoon teas in NYC.

Tiffany’s Blue Box Cafe NYC

Inside the luxury jewelry store Tiffany & Co, on the corner of 57th Street and 5th Avenue in NYC, is the Blue Box Cafe. The food is by Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud and the menu consists of breakfast, afternoon tea, and an a la carte selection that’s available all day.

To get to the cafe, walk inside the Tiffany & Co store and take one of the elevators to the 6th floor. Once off the elevator, walk all the way to the opposite side of the floor, to the cafe entrance.

Tiffany’s Reservations

Reservations are highly recommended to get a table at Tiffany’s Blue Box Cafe. Walk-ins are accepted but good luck since it’s tough to even get a reservation!

Dress Code

There’s no dress code so you can wear anything you like, but I would default to smart casual. Look put together even if you’re in jeans and sneakers.

Afternoon Tea Hours

Afternoon tea is served all day, every day.

How Afternoon Tea Works at Tiffany’s

Afternoon tea is a 3 course meal consisting of savories (like tea sandwiches), scones with clotted cream and jam on the side, and sweets. Savories and sweets are all bite-sized, meant to be eaten with your hands.

From the menu, the only thing you have to decide on is the tea. Afternoon tea is a set menu so you don’t make any food selections but you do have to pick the tea. Let the server know you’re ordering the afternoon tea and your tea selection.

The tea will arrive first and you can start drinking it before the food arrives. Once the 3 tiered tray gets to the table, the server should tell you what every food on the trays are. The scones will also come out, but on a separate plate.

To eat in the proper order, start with the tea sandwiches on the bottom tray. Next, move onto the scones on the plate with the double cream and jams. Finally, the sweets.

Tiffany & Co Afternoon Tea Menu

There is one afternoon tea on the menu.

Tea at Tiffany’s
$98 per person
Comes with 1 pot of tea, 5 savories, 2 scones w/ double cream and jam, and an assortment of sweets.

The menu and prices may change at any time.

Setting: ★★★★☆

The Blue Box Cafe is cute. The Tiffany-blue color is everywhere, from the chairs, walls, and the iconic jewelry boxes that hang from the ceiling. High above Fifth Avenue, the cafe is filled with natural light, giving the room a light and airy feel.

The spaces between each table is great (not too close) so it feels private and intimate. You can have a conversation without feeling like the next table can hear everything you’re saying.

The cafe looks like a fancy cafeteria but it doesn’t really feel posh or luxurious. It’s bustling so you feel a little more hurried than other afternoon teas.

I have one major complaint. For the whole cafe, there is just ONE restroom on the floor. I was waiting about 5 minutes for the restroom so I went to the floor below to find another, only to see a line of 5 people waiting for that one.

I went to the 3rd floor and waited another 5 minutes then finally headed back up to the 6th floor where there was just 1 person waiting. If you need to use the restroom, don’t wait til the last minute since the wait can be long.

Service: ★★★★☆

The service was excellent the first time I went, but on my second visit a year and a half later, it wasn’t as good. They brought out the 3 tiered tray and didn’t explain any of the food on it.

And when we finished our tea, they just took the teapot away, not offering to resteep the tea by adding more hot water.

Tea & Tea Selection: ★★★★★

The tea at Tiffany’s is by Bellocq Tea, a high-end tea company based in Brooklyn.

On the tea menu is Tiffany Tea, a black tea blend with floral notes, exclusively made by Bellocq Tea for Tiffany’s. The tea is available for purchase in a pretty silver tin for $100. Of course, I got the Tiffany Tea to have with my afternoon tea.

The tea menu at Tiffany’s is nicely curated with 12 teas. There is enough of a tea selection so I have a few options, but it’s not too big to be overwhelming.

Savories: ★★★★★

The tea sandwiches and savories at Tiffany’s were PERFECTION. I can’t stop thinking about them even now. These are THE BEST tea sandwiches I’ve had at an afternoon tea.

Daniel Boulud is a Michelin-star chef, and it shows. The tea sandwiches were delicious and elegantly presented. They didn’t make it fussy or overly complicated, letting the flavors shine.

I can’t even pick a favorite savory since I really enjoyed them all. Each person gets 6 tasty savories.

Scones: ★★★★☆

I liked the scones, but I didn’t love them. One thing I really appreciated was that they were served warm, wrapped up in a cloth napkin.

Each person gets 2 scones and they were served with a side platter of double cream and 2 different kids of jam.

RELATED: How to Eat a Scone Properly

Sweets: ★★★★★

The middle and top tiers of the 3 tiered tray were laid out with bite-sized sweets. I loved and appreciated the thought and details in making sure each sweet can be eaten with your hands.

When afternoon tea is done well, like this one was, there shouldn’t be a need for a fork. For example, there is a mini hazelnut cake with a white cream top that has little chocolate discs on the sides so you can grab it with your thumb and index finger. GENIUS.

The middle tier had 4 pastries. There was the strawberry eton mess (served neatly in a mini chocolate bowl), apricot tart, hazelnut cake, and a dark chocolate and raspberry cube.

The top tier had 3 different cookies. There was the mini madeleine dipped in a Tiffany-blue icing, a coconut rocher, and a mini canele.

I want to take a second to talk about the mini canele. It was SO GOOD. I love caneles and they got the mini version perfect. It was crunchy on the outside and soft and custard-y on the inside. I actually said “wow” after I ate it.

Overall: ★★★★★

Tea at Tiffany’s is great due to the food and price. The decor and ambiance needs a little work, but the rest of the experience is fantastic.

Gabrielle, a Tea Sommelier formerly with Baccarat Hotel NYC, worked with Tiffany’s Blue Box Cafe to launch their tea service.

LOCATION:
The Blue Box Cafe, Tiffany & Co
727 5th Avenue, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10022

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