Tea time on wheels: This fancy D.C. tour bus is made for TikTok

Washington Post

5 hours ago

Growing up with five brothers, Ballina Koroilavesau enjoyed a good teatime — on her own.
'I had tea parties with me, myself and I with my toys,' said the 39-year-old Maryland resident. But on a recent sunny day, she was practically squealing with delight as she made her way down the aisle of one of the more unusual tea offerings in D.C.
Tea Around Town is a double-decker tour bus decked out in plentiful flowers, shades of pink and pops of gold. Fancy hats known as fascinators are optional but often opted for, along with gloves. Instrumental version of pop songs fill the air. It feels like 'Bridgerton' on wheels.
I was sitting in my own pink-and-white-striped booth admiring the serving stand full of finger foods when Koroilavesau walked by. She was with her soon-to-be daughter-in-law and a friend to celebrate the upcoming wedding.
'Look at all the pastries,' she said. 'I'm so excited!'
I had spotted the company's buses in downtown D.C. — they are hard to miss — and wondered about this tea-themed experience. So I booked tickets while my mom was visiting from Florida; she sent pictures of flowered outfits to choose from before packing her suitcase. I considered wearing my go-to little black dress but dug deep for color so I wouldn't get tossed off the bus for ruining the palette.
On the day of our tour, we looked for floral patterns to find our fellow passengers. There was a mother and daughter in Amazon-purchased fascinators. A pair of sisters who attend tea regularly were stunning in purple. The bride-to-be found her dress at a thrift store.
Ryan Prescott, a spokesperson for TopView Sightseeing, which runs the tours, said passengers have seized the opportunity to dress up.
'You're around people that are doing the same, so it's a camaraderie,' he said.
We arrived on the bus with an appetite, and it was a good thing; our table settings included three tiers of sandwiches, appetizers, scones and sweets.
We paid $129 each for the 'luxe' package, which came with caviar, shrimp, a lobster roll and smoked salmon bite along with more standard finger sandwiches and snacks. A 'spring delight mocktail' tasted like sparkling juice with a spear of blackberries.
With two scones apiece and a plate full of cream puffs, cake pops and other sweets, we were still snacking by the end of the tour — and brought leftovers home in an appropriately pink box.
There were some misses; my mom deemed her first ever taste of caviar 'interesting' while I found it bland. Some bread was dry, a chip was tough, and the deviled egg was too heavily truffle-infused. The egg salad? My mom's version was better. There was an intense, inedible amount of ricotta on a mushroom snack.
While the website mentions six teas, we ended up trying four, served in tumblers with a top to avoid spills. Fine print on the company's website mentions passengers can taste up to three teas during a ride.
And though we expected we might be able to choose one from the menu, they came out as small pours with explanations by a 'tea specialist,' wine-tasting style. He described the English breakfast as a 'wonderfully full-bodied, well-rounded black tea' and told us the mint 'calms the mind, soothes the stomach.'
I wanted cream, but was offered powdered creamer. I needed help to find sugar packets. For all the finery, those options didn't make me want to put a pinkie up. Still, we all loved the peach raspberry blend, and got an extra pour for the road as we departed the bus.
The tour is advertised as 90 minutes, with 75 of those actually on the road. After leaving from a spot near the National Archives, the route visited the expected museums, memorials and monuments while the guide read from a script.
While the PA system on our bus sometimes cut out, we caught some efforts to add unexpected details to the tour. The guide pointed out the massive blue rooster atop the National Gallery of Art's East Building and highlighted Thomas Jefferson's 'fabulous leather trench coat' at his memorial.
Most unexpected, to us, was that the soundtrack suddenly switched to jazz and our tour guide started singing on several occasions. It turns out that's a standard part of the tour — and most people tend to be surprised by it. Between live songs, tunes like 'Despacito' and 'Toxic' played.
Prescott said the company is trying to attract locals who want something special to do while also appealing to tourists who want a new way to see the city.
Kathy Williams and Anita Fogan, sisters from D.C., were gifted the tour by their goddaughter for Mother's Day. They attend teas regularly in D.C. — had the perfect purple outfits, hats and shoes at the ready — and said they enjoyed the service, food and experience.
Fogan, a retired human resources specialist, called the food 'scrumptious' and said she liked sampling different teas.
'It was very nice observing our city from the upper tier of the bus,' said Williams, a retired attorney. She said she enjoyed the company of her fellow passengers as well.
'We all sort of gelled together,' she said. 'I thought that was nice.'
My take on the tea itself: the drink was secondary to the decor, the food and the mood.
'It's beyond the tea,' Prescott said when I spoke to him a few days later. 'It's a social media moment, it's an opportunity for sightseeing.'
Indeed, many of the passengers I spoke to had first seen the bus on TikTok or Instagram. London boasts multiple tea bus tours. Hong Kong has a dim sum bus tour.
'We thought, you know what? People love tea,' Prescott said. 'Let's do our own version and introduce it as the first one in the U.S. And let's make it beautiful.'
The company launched its D.C. tour a year ago after starting in New York City in 2023 and expanding to Philadelphia. Tea Around Town has five buses in Washington and is now in Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and, as of a month ago, Austin. Prescott said the company is expanding to new cities every two to three months.
Beyoncé made news when she was pictured on a Tea Around Town bus in New York with her family in 2023. Stars of the latest season of 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' held an event on one of the buses this year.
The $129 price tag felt steep for several swigs of tea, even in a flowery tumbler with earnest explanations, and small bites to eat along with sights you can see for free. But the experience was more than just a bus ride with treats — and one I would probably pay for again, though maybe without the caviar.
What I enjoyed most was laughing with my mom, toasting with our teas and comparing notes on our nibbles. We delighted in the unexpected musical performances and picturesque surroundings. And we loved complimenting fellow passengers on their outfits and congratulating the ones who were celebrating special occasions.
'I feel so spoiled,' my mom said. To me, that was priceless.