Time for....a spot of tea in Bath!

Hello there,

Happy Hump Day - I do love Wednesdays.....the weekend is now in sight!

Today we have a lovely guest post for you which has been put together by the Teahouse Emporium in Bath who wanted to share with us their top ten places to enjoy a spot of tea in Bath. The Teahouse Emporium has been importing teas since 2005. Their current range of teas includes over 170 different types of tea from all over the world!

TeaHouse Emporium - photo from website

Now, I love Bath, such a pretty place to visit and I've had some great afternoon tea adventures there already...but I'm always keen to find out about new places to visit! So over to the Teahouse Emporium......

In Bath, Somerset, you are spoilt for choice when it comes to the various tea rooms and cafes located across the city. 

After a lovely walk in the sunshine, we’ve rounded up the top 10 best places to enjoy a cup of tea in Bath. 

The Riverside Cafe 
Overlooking the famous Pulteney Weir is The Riverside Cafe, boasting stunning views and homemade cakes to accompany a fresh pot of tea. 

The Porter
Enjoy a good conversation over some tea at The Porter, located in a Georgian townhouse a short walk from the city centre. Afterwards, head to the restaurant for a delicious meal. 

The Jane Austen centre 
Take a break from your historical tour of bath and visit The Jane Austen Centre Regency Tea Rooms. Drink your tea Georgian style! 

The San Francisco Fudge Factory
This unique cafe and shop is just around the corner from Bath Abbey. Enjoy delicious homemade fudge with a hot cup of tea right at the heart of the city. 

Jolly’s Tearoom
After some retail therapy, head to Jolly’s Tearoom for afternoon tea and a light lunch. Jolly’s is one of the UK’s oldest stores. 

Teahouse Emporium
Host afternoon tea with friends using delicious tea from the Teahouse Emporium. This tea shop offers a wide range of fairtrade teas to enjoy at home. 

Indulgence Cafe & Patisserie 
Enjoy a cup of tea and pastries at this quaint cafe, a short distance away from Bath city centre. If you want to, buy some pastries to enjoy when you get home too!

Hands of Bath 
This family business offers afternoon tea at it’s finest and is an ideal place to go for a romantic date or to make conversation with friends. 

The Pump Rooms
The Pump Rooms are conveniently situated by the Roman Baths, offering different afternoon tea packages to suit your style. They also serve finger sandwiches and cakes! 

The Bath Priory Hotel Restaurant & Spa 
For peace and quiet, the The Bath Priory Hotel Restaurant & Spa is just outside the city. After unwinding in the spa, enjoy a light lunch to go with your afternoon tea. And relax!

I'm pleased to see the Teahouse Emporium have included themselves on the list.....I am very keen to hear more about the tea tasting mentioned on their website! 

A big thank you to the Teahouse Emporium for sharing their suggestions with us....and watch this space for a Friday Review article coming soon!

So, over to you....what do you think about this list? Have you visited any of these places for a spot of tea....is there anywhere you think we should add? We'd love to hear from you!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Afternoon Tea News - Into the Woods Afternoon Tea

Hello there,

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

Recently we were invited to attend a press day at Sketch in London to sample their new themed afternoon tea based on Into the Woods. Unfortunately we couldn't make the event, but we loved the photos we saw of this tea that we just had to share it with you anyway.....

Into the Woods themed afternoon tea - Sketch, London

Sketch have also sent us the following details to make our mouths water some more....

To mark the Blu-ray™ and DVD release of Disney’s musical masterpiece Into the Woods, London Mayfair venue sketch has teamed up with the film to create a limited edition run of its afternoon tea. ‘Tea in The Woods’ will be available at sketch for three weeks from Monday 18th May – Sunday 7th June. 

The inspired menu has re-created some of the classic Afternoon Tea elements and given them a fairytale, woodland makeover – with items fit for any basket to take to grandma’s house. Included in the re-vamped tea is Little Red Riding Hood’s Choux, Jack’s Beanstalk Tart and a Prince Charming Green ‘Sand-Witch’, all complemented by the Baker and His Wife’s selection of sketch pastries.

Hervé Deville and Christophe Gasper, Executive and Pastry Chefs at sketch, comment: “Fantasy, fairytale, magic, colours and textures are words and adjectives that sketch has in common with Disney… We were naturally inspired as we always enjoy telling a story through our menus!” 

At £39 per person, afternoon tea can either be pre-booked for The Gallery online, or taken in The Glade Room on a walk-in basis. The first 30 people to book Tea in the Woods will win a copy of the film and the award-winning soundtrack – a must for all musical fans and Disney enthusiasts. 

Into the Woods themed afternoon tea - Sketch, London

Into The Woods Tea Menu

Assorted Finger Sand-Witches: Smoked Salmon and Jacob’s Cream, Cucumber and Ricotta, Prince Charming pesto Panini with mozzarella, Egg Mayonnaise, Quail egg and caviar

Sultana or Plain Scone; Served with clotted cream, fig and strawberry jam

The Baker and His Wife’s Selection of Pastries: Jack’s Beanstalk tart, Earl Grey Macaroon, Little Red Riding Hood Choux, Rhubarb and Raspberry Cheesecake, Pineapple, Coriander and Coconut Sponge Cake, Chocolate Mint Cake, Cassis Meringue and Malabar Marshmallows 

Head to the Sketch website  for more information or to book the Tea In The Woods afternoon tea.

Disney’s Into The Woods is released on Blu-ray and DVD on Monday 18th May 2015 courtesy of The Walt Disney Company

I'm really sad that we missed this event as this afternoon tea adventure looks amazing! We'd love to hear from you if you decide to give it a try!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for Tea....The Biscuiteers

Hello there,

Welcome back to another fab guest post from Tea With Me and Friends - this week the lovely Amalia is sharing with us her recent afternoon tea adventure to The Biscuiteers in Notting Hill, London. Now I'm not sure if you have seen The Biscuiteers biscuits....but they are pretty special..

Image from Biscuiteers website

Image from Biscuiteers website

Biscuiteers have two Icing Cafes where afternoon tea is served, currently they are offering an afternoon tea adventure with a twist of the red, white and blue! Let's take a look at what Amalia has to say about her afternoon tea adventure.....

My friends and I were looking for a different, but nice, afternoon tea. Today we went to The Biscuiteers in Notting Hill. 

Amalia and her friends at Biscuiteers Notting Hill

The food was quite tasty, good assortment of cakes, including scones, macaroons, battenberg slices, fairy cakes and of course their very special biscuits! 

Afternoon Tea - The Biscuiteers

The staff was friendly and attentive, and it is definitely somewhere a bit different. I would recommend to book in advance as the place is very small. 

Biscuiteers - Notting Hill

There are biscuits everywhere at the icing cafes...take a look at the toilet sign....

Biscuiteers - Notting Hill

The London Afternoon Tea is priced at £48.00 and serves two, which Amalia felt was good value for the experience. It's worth noting that the tea needs to be booked and paid for in advance. Please see the Biscuiteers website for more information.

Let's take a closer look at those wonderful biscuits.....

Afternoon tea sweets - Biscuiteers

A huge thank you to Amalia for sharing her afternoon tea adventure - Amalia found us on Facebook and left us a lovely comment about her recent experience! 

So, over to you....have you tried afternoon tea at Biscuiteers...or perhaps you've attended one of the icing classes? We'd love to hear all about it, leave us a comment below!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

The Friday Review .....Yogi Tea

Hello there,

Yet another Friday is upon us....so grab a cup of tea and enjoy this week's Friday tea review! This week we have a selection of herbal infusions for you, celebrating the new brand launch of Yogi Teas. We were really lucky to receive this lovely hamper of teas and tea items...

Yogi Tea isn't just about the tea, they have a strong focus on Wellbeing. For over 40 years Yogi Tea has been producing herb and spice teas based on Ayurvedic tea recipes, which are designed to promote individual well-being and encourage the balance between body, mind and soul. The website is full of wellbeing information, including lots of yoga poses.

Yogi Tea comes in the form of teabags and brewing instructions are given on each box. I love the little inspirational tags on the teabags...

Yogi Tea

Let the tea tasting begin!

Tea tasting - Yogi Tea

We had six teas to sample....if you take a look at the Yogi Tea website you'll see that this represents only a small selection from the teas on offer! We had the following....

A selection of Yogi Teas

We began our tea tasting adventure with the Bedtime tea....

Bedtime Tea - Yogi Tea

This soothing tea is a blend of fennel, chamomile, peppermint, cardamom, lemon balm, lemon grass, valerian root, sage, lavender flowers and nutmeg. It needs to be brewed for approximately five-six minutes and should be enjoyed in the evenings to help aid relaxation before bedtime. Once brewed its a beautiful amber colour and has a slightly earthy aroma.

I do sometimes find it difficult to drop off to sleep at night, so I was particularly interested in this tea. It's a very soothing cup of tea, which did leave me feeling more relaxed. There is a slight sweet flavour to the tea, but nothing artificial or overpowering. 

From here we moved onto the Throat Comfort tea....

Throat Comfort - Yogi Tea

This tea has been designed to comfort you if you are suffering from a sore throat. The herbs, fruit and spices in this blend include liquorice, fennel, cinnamon, orange peel, ginger, thyme, mullein, citrus extract, orange extract, cardamom, black pepper, cloves, turmeric root. This is a rather sweet tasting tea and we all thought that the taste and the aroma were not the same.

We brewed this tea for five minutes too and I have to say it has quite a magically effect as once you have swallowed a mouthful of this tea you are left with what feels like a coating on your throat. Lorna, her hubby and I all experienced it so we can't all be mad (can we?). Admittedly none of us had a sore throat at the time, but I can see how this would have a soothing effect.

Next we moved onto the Stomach Ease tea....

Yogi Tea - Stomach Ease

This tea has won a Great Taste award in 2014.

The spices in this comfort blend include cardamom, fennel, coriander, barley malt, liquorice, peppermint, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, cloves. The tea is a light brown colour when brewed for approximately five minutes. Again, it has a slight earthy aroma, it's another soothing blend that has a sweet aftertaste.

We then tried the Classic tea...

This blend is the tea that Yogi Bhajan originally served to his yoga students.

Another light brown tea, the ingredients include cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon oil. You can really smell the cardamon once the tea is brewed and this tea is less sweet than the others. A very pleasant cuppa!

Something a little different was the Choco tea....

Yogi Tea - Choco

This is a warming, sweet blend which includes cocoa shells, liquorice, cinnamon, carob, barley malt, cardamom, ginger, cloves, cinnamon extract, vanilla extract, black pepper, ginger oil, vanilla beans.

We brewed this cup for seven minutes and it produced a dark brown tea. We tried this without milk, and it tasted a bit like a watery hot chocolate - therefore I think adding milk would give the flavour more depth. It definitely reminded us all of hot chocolate, and had a chocolately aroma,  although it was quite sweet.

Finally we sampled the Licorice tea...

Yogi Tea - Licorice Tea

Another earthy blend, the ingredients include liquorice, cinnamon, orange peel, ginger, cardamom, roasted chicory, cloves, orange oil, black pepper, vanilla extract. This was much sweeter than we thought it would be, we could easily taste the cinnamon and it reminded us of honey.

For more information about Yogi Tea and to see the other blends in their range please visit their website. We'd like to thank Yogi Tea for sending us all these teas to try, but please note that this gift hamper has not effected our taste buds and all opinions expressed are our own!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Can you guess our Style Era?

Tea With Me and Friends

Hello there,

Welcome back to a slightly different post from Tea With Me and Friends....as today as well as a little tea and cakes we're also going to be talking a little bit about style.

We were recently shown this fab online tool from Glitzy Secrets which, with the click of a couple of buttons, helps you find your ideal look from bygone eras. Lorna and I love nothing better than throwing aside our usual clothes and "dressing up"...whether that be in fab vintage finds or reproduction clothes.....or even the odd cowboy hat here or there! So we loved the idea of this tool and was keen to take a peek.

Now anyone who pops by regularly will probably not be surprised by our result....in fact we weren't really surprised either...but it was fun to click through the images. Yes, we got....The Rockin 50s!

Lorna rocking her 50s wiggle dress

The era of full skirts, petticoats, narrow waits and the odd neckerchief...not to mention strong lipsticks and beautifully style hair....both Lorna and I adore this stylish era (and the music was awesome too!). In fact we love it so much that each year in November we head off to Rhythm Riot, a 1950s rhythm and blues weekend held in Camber, Sussex. It's a weekend where we can let our hair down (or rather curl it up) and wear our favourite 50s styles for a whole weekend.

Our 50s style is probably influenced rather a lot by the American fashions, but as well as all the full dresses and petticoats you'll also find the odd wiggle dress as well....

Our passion doesn't stop with the evening wear though, we are also partial to a pair of high waisted turns up for the daytime. Surprisingly comfy and roomy...if you haven't tried a pair of high-waisted turn ups we'd highly recommend it....we've already converted a couple of our friends!

Tea With Me and Friends

Now, this got me thinking a bit....we love the 1950s fashion...but how could this translate into our other passion....afternoon tea? 

Well, I've had a 1950s Birthday party previously and I think some of the food I made then would also make a wonderful 1950s themed afternoon tea. Obviously we'd need to start with some savouries....but I would move away from the traditional finger sandwiches in this case and try something a little more American....

1950s style afternoon tea savoury treats

Mini burgers and hotdogs can easily be bought in packs now from supermarkets, but they are also really easy to make yourself once you have found the mini rolls. They also look incredibly cute on the table and I think would work well in an afternoon tea. We have experienced mini hotdogs and burgers once before when we enjoyed the Sex & the City par-tea at Hyatt Regency The Churchill. 

For the cake part of your 1950s afternoon tea adventure you could try making some cola flavoured cupcakes.....

1950s inspired cola cupcakes

These cupcakes were flavoured using soda stream cola syrup and were topped with cola icing and of course some mini cola bottles. They turned out surprisingly well, with a delicate cola taste which wasn't overpowering or artificial in taste. These proved so popular that I have made them several times since.

Another sweet treat could include a peanut butter muffin....

Admittedly slightly bigger than our usual afternoon tea sweet treat, but just as scrummy! Made with peanut butter in both the sponge and the icing.

Or how about some salted caramel cake....

This was a plain sponge layered with vanilla icing and a salted caramel filling - perfect if you wanted to serve a coffee for your afternoon tea adventure!

Other things you could include in your spread would be pretzels and bottles of coke.....

A 1950s inspired tasty afternoon tea spread!

I think our love of the 1950s translates really well into an afternoon tea adventure which would make a fun afternoon with friends and family!

So, over to you....what do you think? Are there any other treats that we could add to our 1950s afternoon tea spread? 

We're submitting this blog post into a competition run by Glitzy Secrets, take a peek here to learn more and vote for us!

Thanks for popping by today,

Tea With Me and Friends

Rachel & Lorna