You know that time of day, say around 3 p.m., when your tummy starts grumbling and you think, “I could really use a snack.” Turns out we’ve been doing it wrong over here in the states — you can just chuck that granola bar in the bin — because English afternoon tea, like the service offered at Doja Teas, sounds lovely.

Doja Teas has two locations: Doja Tea Lounge in Tualatin and Doja Tea Room in Portland’s Kerns neighborhood. At both, customers can reserve a two-hour afternoon tea experience featuring premium loose-leaf teas paired with globally inspired small bites and house-made seasonal desserts.

It’s the Instagrammable outing of your “Downton Abbey” dreams, all with a contemporary twist inspired by owner Vy Chao and her husband’s travels. “It's a very bourgeois activity designed to fill that gap between lunch and dinner,” she explains. “Where you can sit with a pot of tea and a tower of treats that you're supposed to nibble on, and connect with friends and loved ones. It's this quiet moment in your day.”

Doja Teas opened its first location on Tualatin Lake at the Commons in March of 2020 — a peaceful, secluded spot to gather, slow down, and catch up on life. “Then the world shut down and socializing together became illegal,” Chao said. “It was kind of a mad scramble to try as many stopgap options as we could. Thankfully, we were some of the lucky people to make it out of COVID.”

Several years later, the business is back on schedule, and an important part of their original intention is educating guests on the difference between afternoon tea and high tea, terms that are often used interchangeably in the US.

Chao warns that dissecting the nuance is a rabbit hole where only madness (or perhaps the Mad Hatter) waits, but on the surface, it can be discerned by the food. Across the pond, high tea was considered a meal replacement, more akin to supper, for the working class. So in lieu of dinner, there would be hearty meat pies, savory soups, and dense cakes served.

Afternoon tea, a surprisingly recent tradition of the mid-19th century, comes from the London aristocracy — in particular, Anna Russell the Duchess of Bedford, a lifelong friend of Queen Victoria. It became popular with women dressed in frilly gowns to sit on low couches, eating petite scones while chatting about the intricacies of the royal court.

“There's a lot of etiquette that goes with it.” Chao said. “The crust gets cut off all of the sandwiches, right? You’d purposely go through this process to make them bite-sized, so they could eat without affecting their lipstick and their makeup.”

As for the dishes that Doja Teas prepares, you’ll appreciate the delicate, aesthetically pleasing morsels that are also more adventurous and creative flavor-wise than those you might find elsewhere. Working closely with local farms and Oregon’s excellent seasonal produce, the culinary team offers five rotating menus throughout the year. Each change is top to bottom, which keeps the experience fresh on subsequent visits.

“We also made a very strong decision at the time to make sure that the experience we delivered could accommodate any and all dietary restrictions,” Chao said about the menu variations, including gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, vegan, and options for kids. “Obviously, we're a small kitchen, so we can't fully guarantee there's no cross contamination for the severe allergies. But our staff is trained on all of the ingredients, with protocols in the back for clean utensils, to be as accommodating as possible.”

Doja Teas also has a nascent catering program, composed of a curated selection of their best-selling, favorite recipes that are available year-round for your garden party, baby shower, or other at-home event.

It’s important to understand what afternoon tea is not — brunch.

“A lot of times people feel that they're not really getting a good amount of food for their money,” she explains. “It actually costs us more as a business to make the desserts look dainty and little than it is to offer them in larger sizes. Extra labor and skill goes into those steps to maintain the integrity and flavor profile of something so compact. Our guests try it and they really do appreciate the effort that it takes. It certainly is a labor of love.”

Afternoon tea is $60 per person and reservations are required at least 24 hours in advance to allow enough time to prepare the food, so book your tea time today.