Sunlight floods into Alice’s Tea Cup’s newest location, an intimate café at the corner of Hicks and Middagh streets.
Wooden stools shaped like mushrooms adorn the room. A playful turquoise couch sits below wallpaper covered with keys. A mischievous grin from the Cheshire Cat greets customers.
The popular chain opened its first location in the borough on June 18. The Brooklyn Heights outpost offers the same variety of mouthwatering scones and tea as the other two locales, but its focus is more on coffee — and on an expanded selection of cakes, thanks to a massive basement kitchen.
“We always wanted to take coffee as seriously as we take our tea, and it only took 18 years to do it,” co-owner Haley Fox told the Brooklyn Eagle.
Coffee is the focus at Alice’s new location in Brooklyn Heights. Eagle photo by Paul Frangipane
The new spot, dubbed “Alice’s To Go,” since it won’t have full service like its other locations, seats about 12 people and offers coffee beans from Brooklyn Roasting Company. It will also cater wedding and birthday cakes.
Fox said the inspiration for Alice’s, which she co-owns with her sister Lauren, came from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” — the book, not the movie, she’s quick to point out.
“Our inspiration has always been this down-the-rabbit-hole experience where you’re having afternoon tea, but you don’t have your pinky up,” she said. “There’s no harp music playing. You don’t have to be proper.”
“Our inspiration has always been this down-the-rabbit-hole experience where you’re having afternoon tea, but you don’t have your pinky up,” Fox said. Eagle photo by Paul Frangipane
The famous café appeared in the movie “Trainwreck” and has been mentioned in numerous books. Actors Amy Schumer and Katie Holmes are among its base of loyal customers.
At Schumer’s stand-up show at Madison Square Garden, she jokingly reveals that her exercise regimen involves running around the reservoir in Central Park and then getting a scone at Alice’s.
A jar of tea at Alice’s new Brooklyn Heights location. Eagle photo by Paul Frangipane
Holmes routinely brings her daughter Suri Cruise to a location in Manhattan. “It’s their afternoon tea tradition,” Fox said.
The sisters opened their first location on the Upper West Side in 2001, signing the lease a day after 9/11.
“A lot of New Yorkers thought it was very risky, but we felt it was the perfect time to offer something that was an escape from the hustle and bustle of New York,” Fox said.
Alice’s scones are mouthwatering. Eagle photo by Paul Frangipane
Roughly two years after opening the 73rd Street location, the business expanded to East 64th Street. Both have been successful, but creating a space in Brooklyn has always been the dream, according to Fox, who lives in Park Slope.
“I never used to walk around Manhattan the way I walk around Brooklyn, especially this neighborhood,” she said. “Brooklyn Heights is so beautiful; I like how low-slung the buildings are. The light, the way it feels like a city, but has the space of a suburb, the quiet streets, the beautiful townhouses. There’s a community here.”
Fox wants to make sure that community never leaves Alice’s hungry.
“We tried to make it so the people are really fed,” she said. “People think of tea salons and they think they’re going to get little sandwiches or tiny scones, but that’s not our model at all.”
Alice’s new location is an intimate corner cafe at 43 Hicks St. Eagle photo by Paul Frangipane
Mickaela Fouad, a Downtown Brooklyn resident, said she has fond memories of spending her 12th birthday party at Alice’s before a play — but only after another restaurant lost their reservation.
“There were already 10 girls at our house and we were about to leave for the city to celebrate,” she said. “Of course, there was no record of our reservation. While my mom was having a meltdown, my dad somehow found Alice’s and shepherded everyone to the restaurant.
“I think my friends liked the finger sandwiches and tea better than the Broadway show. I can’t even remember what we saw that day. My parents still talk about how that restaurant saved the day for us.”
A sign says it all. Eagle photo by Paul Frangipane
While the store’s sandwiches are scrumptious, it’s the baked goods that take the cake (no pun intended). A lemon glaze or vegan chocolate coconut scone is the perfect foil for a cup of strong coffee.
This cozier rendition of a tea room doesn’t feel posh or pretentious. It’s family-oriented and caters to a broad clientele.
It’s a space to find some peace and quiet — though as a sign on the wall reminds the patrons: “We’re all mad here.”
SUNSET PARK — “As a resident of Marine Park, one of the great surprises I found biking around Industry City and visiting Japan Village was to discover Bush Terminal Park. I continue to be amazed at the serene hideaways that the city offers in some of the busiest places — and, still, with an iconic view.”
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — ‘A miracle that no one was killed …’ That’s what neighbors are saying about the collapse of the Hotel St. George marquee. Shown in this photograph are workmen beginning the removal and repair of the historic, old neon sign at the corner, referencing a relic of Brooklyn Heights’ past: the St. George Hotel.
ATLANTIC AVENUE — Exhausted shopper with cluster of bags and goods from mall at Boerum Place stops to look at huge construction site across the street. “Is that REALLY going to be a jail??” Her male companion is reassuring, “Nothing like Rikers … this is 21st Century.”
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Overheard in line at one of most popular pastry outlets on Montague Street: “Hope I can get them into a camp …” A mother with two pre-schoolers in tow was showing a friend the Dodge Y flyer for Healthy Kids Day on Saturday, April 18.
