It's nearly time.....for Afternoon Tea Week!

Woo Hoo! It's nearly here again - no, not Christmas (although I do love that time of year too) that other wonderful week of the year that is dedicated to the fine art of afternoon tea! During 10th -16th August you will discover a week of teas, tastings and temptation....a must for all afternoon tea lovers out there!

This is the fifth year of Afternoon Tea Week, but this year it is bigger and jam packed with even more events and offers. There is even a dedicated website!

You might remember this time last year I enjoyed afternoon tea on a bus to celebrate the launch of Afternoon Tea Week 2014....this year I was invited to an afternoon at The Ritz, London. This was no usual afternoon though....as we had a fab behind the scenes tour....and got a sneak preview (and taste) of the new cake that The Ritz are launching as part of Afternoon Tea Week 2015! How fabulous!

Afternoon tea has been served at The Ritz since it opened nearly 110 years ago and today it's renowned for being the quintessential British experience - where the food and service is second to none. Afternoon tea is served at the heart of the hotel in the elegant Palm Court, but as we discovered on our tour the whole hotel is rather elegant. Among other things we saw the antique drinks trolley in The Rivoli Bar where cocktails can be made from bottles of spirits dating back to the 1950s and 1940s......

I wouldn't mind one of those!

We also saw the oldest item in the hotel....this elegant mirror....

Again....I'm sure I could find space for that in my humble abode!

The event spaces are truly stunning....

The ceiling in this room had previously been boarded up and The Ritz spent a year restoring it to it's former glory. Can you image dining in this beautiful space?

Even the floral arrangements are stunning....

Once we'd enjoyed the tour upstairs, we were taken into the kitchens to meet Head Pastry Chef Lewis Wilson, the creator of the new cake! Lewis took us on a tour of the kitchens and told all about the service and amount of people it takes to create afternoon tea at this iconic hotel before letting us lose on the new cake.

In total The Ritz serves approximately 400 afternoon teas a day (yes - 400), in five different sittings between 11:30am - 7:30pm. The tea is very traditional with 16 different loose leaf teas, five different finger sandwiches, scones and of course a selection of afternoon tea pastries and cakes.

Now onto the good bit.....the new Milk Chocolate and Almond Afternoon Tea Cake features Milk chocolate mousse, an almond insert, almond brownie base, milk chocolate feuilletine and salted caramel - I bet you are drooling already!

I bet you are drooling even more now!

Do you want a closer look.....

I know this cake took a lot of experimenting to get just how Chef Lewis wanted it.....but I have to say I think it was worth it....it is sheer delight for anyone who enjoys chocolate...and Carmel...and nuts! As complex in texture as it is in flavour, it is light as air with crunchy bits! I loved it!

When you take a look inside you can see the different layers....

From the glossy finish of the coating, to the smooth mousse and crunchy brownie base, every mouthful of this cake is a delight and will make a lovely addition to the afternoon tea menu.

So who is the genius behind this sweet creation....

Chef Lewis is passionate about his creations and it was a joy to listen to him talking about his latest creation. Chef Lewis has been part of the team at The Ritz for over eight years, starting as the Night Baker when he first joined.

We also enjoyed a glass of The Ritz bubbles and some of the other afternoon tea pastries and cakes currently on offer as part of The Ritz afternoon tea menu....

I tried the raspberry macaroons, which were light and chewy and delicately flavoured and the amazing coffee pastries. These had a crunchy shell and a beautiful coffee mousse filling - just divine!

To find out more about the different afternoon teas on offer at The Ritz take a peek at their website and visit the Afternoon Tea Week website for more information about the events taking place in August.

I would like to thank afternoontea.co.uk and The Ritz for inviting me to this lovely event.

We'll be featuring some more Afternoon Tea Week events over the next week....so don't forget to pop back! And if you enjoy any of the events we'd love to hear all about them!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for.....National Afternoon Tea Week

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends. This time we are celebrating the launch of National Afternoon Tea Week with Afternoon Tea.co.uk. Running between 11th - 17th August, national afternoon tea week sees over 50 venues throughout the UK offering 25% of their afternoon tea when booked via the Afternoon Tea.co.uk website.

To celebrate I was invited, with a group of others, to indulge in a spot of afternoon tea on the BB Bakery bus - Rodney.....

Celebrating afternoon tea week on the BB Bakery Bus

Now, I have been eyeing up the BB Bakery Bus since it launched earlier this year, and so I eagerly accepted the kind invitation from the guys at Afternoon Tea.co.uk. I was also very pleased to meet the lovely Kat from Lady Loves Cakes, who found us brilliant seats on the top desk of the bus!

An afternoon tea feast lay ahead of us on the BB Bakery Bus

I had wondered how tea and cakes were going to be served as Rodney, the fabulous routemaster bus toured the sights of London, but as you'll see the china was limited and all cutlery was in fact plastic (but very pretty plastic!). As well as tea that was served in pretty flasks, we were also given freshly squeezed orange juice and water (all served in water).

Tea and Macaroons
BB Bakery Bus

I am going to be visiting the BB Bakery Bus later this year and so will leave a full review until then, but I thought I would tickle your taste buds by sharing with you some of the lovely food that we enjoyed....

The whole feast -
sweets & savouries on the BB Bakery Bus afternoon tea

A close up of the sweets on the BB Bakery Bus

The lovely savouries on the BB Bakery Bus

The hospitality to extended to us all while we were on the bus the was wonderful and I would like to thank Afternoon Tea.co.uk and the BB Bakery Bus for their kind invitation. I look forward to coming back later this year for another tour on Rodney!

For more information about afternoon tea week and to see which venues are offering the fab 25% of their afternoon teas between 11th - 18th August, take a peek at the Afternoon Tea.co.uk website.

If you enjoy afternoon tea during afternoon tea week don't forget to tell us about it!

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel