June is Dietary Requirment Month!

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends.

The more people we meet on social media and the more we learn about afternoon tea and its current popularity in the UK, the more we have realised that there are many different dietary requirements that need to be catered for by hotels and tearooms providing afternoon tea.

Gluten free afternoon tea treats
St James Hotel (photo from website)

Whether it be gluten free, dairy free, nut free, vegetarian or lactose free (to name a few) in June we will be exploring the various different afternoon teas that are on offer that cater for a variety of different dietary requirements. As you may be aware Lorna and I have no real dietary requirements ourselves and therefore we will be joined by lots of our friends who have sampled the various teas on offer.

We want to hear about the good, the bad and the ugly....does an afternoon tea that caters for specific dietary requirements taste as good as a standard tea? What makes it different? What do the pastry chefs need to consider?

If you have a dietary requirement and have enjoyed a specially designed afternoon tea please get in touch, we'd love you hear about your afternoon tea adventures!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel and Lorna

Time for Tea.....The Ampersand Chelsea Flower Show Tea

Hello there,

Welcome back to another brilliant guest post here at Tea With Me and Friends - this time we are joined by Jude and her husband who recently visited The Ampersand Hotel in South Kensington. As regular visitors to the blog will know, this is a favourite spot of mine for afternoon tea and I am always keen to hear about the amazing new teas that Pastry Chef Ji Sun Shin creates!

 Jude visited The Drawing Room at the hotel for their rather special Chelsea Flower Show inspired afternoon tea. Now I know this tea is no longer available, but I wanted to share with you how beautiful it looked....

Afternoon tea at The Ampersand Hotel

The tea followed the usual format of a selection of savoury gougeres followed by white chocolate scones, which Jude found just as scrummy as me! But it was that top layer where it all got very creative and floral.....

Chelsea Flower Show Afternoon Tea
Ampersand Hotel

Let's take a closer look at those sweet treats....

Afternoon tea at The Ampersand Hotel

In addition to the wonderful food on offer, Jude also commented on the surroundings of The Drawing Room at The Ampersand - particularly the comfy seats and relaxed ambiance of the lounge. All in all a wonderful experience!

You may have missed the highly creative Chelsea Flower Show afternoon tea....but fear not as Chef Ji Sun has some more wonderful afternoon teas up her sleeve over the coming months! As well as the traditional afternoon tea and vegetarian variety which are always on offer, the amazing science tea is making another appearance between 26th May and 20th June. 

This has been one of my favourite afternoon teas at the hotel and features pastries including Hazelnut, walnut and chocolate cake with mango mousse volcano and chocolate dinosaur, Pistachio macaroon with cherry sauce pipette, Raspberry cake planet and a Citrus cocktail......

Science tea - Ampersand Hotel
Photo from website

Then between the 21st June and the 6th July you can experience the Wimbledon inspired Afternoon Tea.....

Wimbledon tea - Ampersand Hotel
Photo from website

Doesn't that look amazing? 

The pastries are all Wimbledon inspired and include Coconut mousse and mango passion fruit jelly tennis ball on a lime sponge tennis court, Ginger bread tennis racket, Strawberry and cream tart, Blueberry white chocolate ganache macaroon and a Pimm's cocktail shot.

These special chef's afternoon teas are available at £32.50 per person (a little more if you would like a glass of bubbles too), for more information pop by the hotel website.

A big thank you to Jude for sharing her latest afternoon tea adventure with us!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for Tea....The Rubens at The Palace

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends - this week we have a lovely guest post for you written by Hazel from Cupcake Daisy who recently visited The Rubens at The Palace in London for a spot of tea. Hazel creates and bakes amazing cakes herself and I was keen to hear what she thought about this afternoon tea....

The Rubens at The Palace offers a lovely traditional setting for afternoon tea with really friendly, professional staff. The afternoon tea offers diners a mix of both traditional and modern flavours. 

For example, whilst the sandwich fillings were traditional with cucumber and cream cheese, ham and mustard, Smoked Salmon and chicken, the scones we enjoyed had a slight twist as they are flavoured with ginger and honey. 

Afternoon tea - The Rubens at The Palace

In addition to the flavoured scones we also enjoyed plain ones, all served with Lemon Curd, Strawberry Jam & clotted cream. 

Afternoon tea sweet treats - The Rubens at The Palace

The desert tray was a modern twist on traditional deserts, which looked wonderful. However, some of the deserts were slightly lacking in flavour which was a little disappointing - it did not however detract from the wonderful experience that we enjoyed.

A glass of bubbles with your afternoon tea!

As it was Afternoon Tea week we were offered a complimentary glass of champagne and as a bonus at the end of the tea we were also offered the chance to peruse the new 350 square metres of Living Wall, which has been designed to provide waves of blossoming plants throughout the year. This was accompanied by another complimentary glass of champagne.

Although some of the flavours were a little disappointing we had a wonderful time and would definitely go back and enjoy this afternoon tea experience again.

It sounds like Hazel had a wonderful afternoon tea at The Rubens at The Palace. Tea is served between 2pm - 4:30pm during the week and between 1pm-5pm on the weekends. Pastry chef, Danielle Maupertuis, has created this very special Living Wall afternoon tea, which features some of their homegrown flowers! For more information about this unique afternoon tea visit their website.

I'd like to thank Hazel for sharing her wonderful afternoon tea adventure with us, this is one I would definitely like to try for myself. If you have experienced an afternoon tea that you would like to share with us please get in touch.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Afternoon Tea News......Mandarin Oriental London Launches Tea!

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends. Today we have some tea-riffic news to share with you from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge as they launch their first afternoon tea in their new tea salon The Rosebery.

Afternoon Tea at The Rosebery
Mandarin Oriental

I bet you are wondering why I am so excited about this particular afternoon tea - well as well as being served in a beautiful tea inspired space (look at those green chairs and amber cushions!) the Mandarin Oriental also has their own Tea Master looking after the tea selections and brewing the perfect cup of tea for each guest.

Mandarin Oriental Tea Master at work

I had the pleasure of meeting the Tea Master this week and he talked me through the tea menu already on offer and the importance of perfect brewing in order to avoid bitter tea. I was also told about the exclusive blends on offer that have been created by The Rosebery in conjunction with the East India Company.

You can enjoy afternoon tea in The Rosebery every afternoon between 1pm - 5:30pm, after that the salon offers a selection of cocktails, Sake and Champagne until 11pm.

The Rosebery tea salon
Mandarin Oriental

The introduction of The Rosebery at the hotel is in fact a return to the early 1920s when the room was a stylish tea room frequented by Lord Rosebery, the British Prime Minister. The decor reflects the room's Victorian past, with a wonderful contemporary finish. A beautiful, light and airy space to enjoy a spot of tea in!

Unfortunately on this occasion I was too early to indulge in a spot of afternoon tea, but I will definitely be returning to sample the delights on their menu - to see what is included in the tea and for more information please visit the Mandarin Oriental website.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Did you know....it's British Sandwich Week 2014!

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends! Did you know that this week is British Sandwich Week? Nope, nor did we!

Afternoon tea sandwiches

The initiative of the British Sandwich Association - British Sandwich Week runs from the 11th - 17th May 2014 and is the perfect time to celebrate that wonderful food item the sandwich! The British Sandwich Association wants to highlight some of the positive attributes of sandwiches and remind us all of the importance of taking a lunch break during the day.

Celebrate British Sandwich Week 2014!

As some of you know, both Lorna and I originally enjoyed afternoon teas for the sweet treats - the sandwiches were the boring bit that we had to eat in order to get to the sweets! But the more afternoon teas we indulge in, the more we are enjoying other parts of the afternoon tea experience - particularly the sandwiches. The humble sandwich can appear in so many different ways at an afternoon tea, with such varied and wonderful fillings. It's always a delight to see what kind of sandwiches will be served.

Afternoon tea sandwiches

Our interest has peaked so much that earlier this year on Tea With Me and Friends we took a closer look at afternoon tea sandwich, and even held a poll to see which filling our readers preferred (in case you were wondering it was my favourite egg mayonnaise!).

Afternoon tea sandwiches
British Sandwich Week 2014

So whether you like yours cut into fingers or triangles, with or without the crusts (how shocking!) I think we should all make sure we enjoy a good sandwich this week!

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel and Lorna