Festive Afternoon Tea Round Up - The Lanesborough

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we're here today with another festive afternoon tea to make you drool! Today we are featuring the festive afternoon tea from The Lanesborough....

From 25th November - 1st January, The Lanesborough's award-winning Afternoon Tea will take a festive twist, as Head Pastry Chef Nicolas Rouzaud recreates Christmas classics in the form of delicate pastries.

The menu includes....

A selection of traditional finger sandwiches:

Truffle egg mayonnaise & cress

Smoked salmon, caviar & cream cheese

Roast beef, rocket & horseradish cream

Cucumber & mint

Coronation turkey

Homemade scones, fruit preserves, lemon curd and clotted Devonshire cream

Selection of French pastries with a creative, Christmas twist:

Spicy Christmas muffin

Apple and cinnamon doughnut

Mulled wine and pear cake

Mince pie

Praline Rocher

Chestnut tart

Chocolate and coconut finger

Orange mousse sphere and croustillant caramel sable

For more information please visit the Lanesborough website.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Festive afternoon tea round up - Four Seasons Park Lane, London

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends and another Christmas afternoon tea special....this time featuring the Four Seasons Park Lane.

This festive afternoon tea starts with a glass of Champagne, before you move onto the savoury selection:

Roasted Turkey, Cranberry, Whole Grain Mustard and Fig on Brown Bread

Truffle, Egg and Montgomery Cheddar Cheese on Brioche Bread

Maldon Cure Smoked Salmon, With Lemon Cream Cheese and Dill on Brown Bread

Cucumber, English Wasabi and Red Watercress on White Bread

Roasted Honey Gammon Ham, Orange and Clove on Rye Bread

This is followed by Sliced Fruit Cake and scrummy scones - both plain and cranberry.

Finally there are the sweet treats:

Yogurt Cake with Pink Grapefruit Marmalade and Crystalized Chestnuts

Nyangbo Chocolate Yule Log with Pecan Nut and Cambridge Burnt Cream

Cocoa Financier with Red Wine Poached Pear, Gingerbread Cream

Caramelia Chocolate Cremeux with Cinnamon and Candied Orange Choux

Cranberry and Mandarin Macaron

This afternoon tea is available daily from November 26th to January 7th (excluding Christmas Day) and costs £55 per person. For more information pop by the Four Seasons website.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Festive Afternoon Tea Round Up - The Corinthia London

Hello there,

Happy Hump Day -you're joining us today to take a peek at another festive afternoon tea! This time we are exploring the Christmas afternoon tea on offer at The Corinthia London, which has a swan lake theme.

Relax beneath the glow of the Baccarat Chandelier and sample a range of delicious Afternoon Tea cakes, pastries and sandwiches inspired by the elegance of Swan Lake. Nibble on “Odette”, a delicate white chocolate mousse filled with mulled wine infused plums, and delight in the lightness of a “Pirouette”, a choux pastry with cranberry compote and an orange macaroon.

This afternoon tea feast includes the following:

Classic Olivier Salad on White Bread 

Loch Var Smoked Salmon with Sour Cream and Salmon Roe on Beetroot Bread

Cucumber, Buttermilk and Dill on Black Rye Bread 

Wiltshire Ham, Apple and Mustard on Cranberry Bread 

Corn-fed Chicken, Chestnut Butter and Tarragon on Brown Bread 

Pickled Tongue, Horseradish and Beetroot in a Smoked Bun 

Scones served with house preserves and clotted cream.

Followed by the hand crafted pastries:

Odette- A delicate White Chocolate Mousse with Mulled Wine Infused Plums

Odile- A Dark Chocolate Mousse with a Caramel Crémeux

Medovik- Sweet Honey Cake, Caramel and Sour Cream 

White Russian Éclair- Coffee Pastry Cream with a hint of Vodka 

Siegfried’s Sash- Layered Cherries and Tonka Bean Bavarois

A Clearing in the Forest- Caramelised Pistachio Tart, Candied Ginger and Praline Ganache 

Diadème- Lemon Mousse, Raspberry Gelée and Dacquoise

Pirouette - Choux Pastry, Cranberry Compote and Orange Macaroon

This festive feast is available from 25th November 2016 to 1st January 2017. On the 24th and 25th December guests can also enjoy ballerinas performing in the Lobby Lounge between 3pm-5pm.

For more information about this afternoon tea please visit the Corinthia London website.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Festive Round Up - The Langham London

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends where we are sharing another festive afternoon tea with you...this time it's Langham London and Chef Cherish Finden's tea-riffic Christmas creation....

I have to confess that I am a little in love with this afternoon tea....it's so pretty! I just love the cottage....and that reindeer! 

The festive menu includes:

Festive eggnog

Selection of indulgent finger sandwiches:

Duck egg and oscietra caviar blini

Balvenie whiskey smoked salmon and fennel brioche

Farmhouse stilton, red onion and port relish, walnut bread

Classic Cucumber, cream cheese chives

Smoked turkey, marjoram stuffing, cranberry bread

Selection of warm scones from our Palm Court bakery with Devonshire clotted cream and strawberry preserve

Selection of French Pastries and Specialist mini cakes including:

Mini Gingerbread house

Snowflake Macaroon

Pistachio and cranberry slice

Asprey Bauble

Rosehip and Hibiscus

To find out more about this afternoon tea please visit The Langham's website.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for Tea....Lanes of London

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - today we are joined by the lovely Becca, who recently enjoyed an afternoon tea adventure at Lanes of London.....

Afternoon tea - Lanes of London

Lanes of London is a modern British eatery and bar located on Park Lane in Mayfair, whose website features the sentence "Artisan baking with a focus on indulgence and gluttony". Now that's my kind of establishment!

This afternoon tea adventure began with a little tea talk, featuring teas from JING Teas. The talk was very informative and guests had the opportunity to ask questions about the tea....

Tea talk - Lanes of London

Once teas had been enjoyed, the afternoon tea feast was served which followed the traditional format of crustless sandwiches, buttermilk scones and a selection of seasonal sweet treats.....

Becca really enjoyed the sweet treats on offer at this afternoon tea, especially the pistachio macaroons. Everything was fresh and the flavours were well balanced.

Becca commented on the relaxed and friendly service at Lanes of London, which put guests at ease but was still professional. 

For more information about this afternoon tea please visit the Lanes of London website.

Thank you Becca for sharing your latest afternoon tea adventure with us! If you've enjoyed an afternoon tea recently we'd love to hear all about it - leave a comment on the blog!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

The Friday Review - Dragonfly Teas

Hello there,

It's Friday.....that means one thing at Tea With Me and Friends Towers....it's time for the Friday Review. This week we are featuring two teas from Dragonfly Tea who are celebrating 15 tea-riffic years!

To celebrate fifteen years of Dragonfly Tea, their new Tea House Collection brings to life all the passion, heritage and expertise for which Dragonfly Tea have become known. Their beautiful collection features 10 delicious artisan whole leaf teas, all sourced with care from the finest gardens around the world.

Dragonfly Tea were kind enough to send us two of the collection to sample at home....

Dragonfly Tea Collection

Just look at those beautiful boxes!

As you can see we tried the English Breakfast blend and the Bai Mudan White Tea.

Dragonfly Tea have created a ‘breakfast blend’ of exceptional quality, selecting teas from some of the world’s finest estates. For over 150 years, tea-makers have sought to compose the perfect accompaniment to the traditional English breakfast....and I have to say that Dragonfly Tea has done a wonderful job with this blend! It's a full bodied black tea, with slightly malty undertones. A really good cuppa to start the day!

The white tea comes from China’s mountainous Fujian Province. Known as ‘White Peony’, it is made from the delicate buds and most tender leaves of the Da Bai tea bush, favoured by the 11th century Song Emperors of China. Grown amongst the misty peaks, the leaves are gathered and dried in early spring and then lightly and skilfully cured using age-old techniques. This produces a lovely, light tea which has a slight nutty flavour. 

To celebrate these pretty teas I knew I needed one of my really pretty teacups....

To find out more about the new collection from Dragonfly Tea pop by their website.

We'd like to thank Dragonfly Tea for sending us these teas!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Festive Round Up - BRUU Tea Advent Calendar

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends.

If you love tea as much as we do here at Tea With Me and Friends Towers then we might have found something you'll love this December.......the BRUU Tea Advent Calendar which is filled with their  gourmet loose teas!

BRUU Tea advent calendar

You’ll get a mix of different teas in your advent calendar, which might include black, green, oolong, white, chai, fruit, herbal, mate and rooibos. If you’re lucky you may even find some of BRUU's most popular teas like:- If Terry’s Did Rooibos, Festive Warmer, Biscotti Black, The Earl of Winter, Mango Loves Yogurt, Lemon Meets Ginger Green, Lullaby Dreamcatcher, Liquorice Dream, Emperors Seven Treasures, Jasmine Green…

What you'll get?

25 fresh gourmet loose teas in number packs, with enough tea in each for 2-4 cups.

Twine and mini pegs (to hang your calendar!)

Surprises along the way

Stainless steel tea egg infuser

Tea coaster

Tea guide

Our teas

BRUU pride themselves on creating unique loose tea packed with only the finest natural ingredients. So, expect to find things like whole raspberries, orange segments, rose petals and fresh liquorice in their teas!

To find out more about the advent calendar pop by the BRUU tea website.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Festive Round Up - Bluebird Tea Co

Hello there,

We hope you're feeling tea-riffic today! Here at Tea With Me and Friends towers we've been sampling more festive tea from the latest Bluebird Tea Co collection....plus pulling a rather special cracker!

 Let's start with the tea....which is called Snowball...

Yes....you've read the box right.....there is marshmallows in there! And cacao and coconut....all blended with black tea! 

Bluebird Tea's most famous Christmas tea blend even scooped a Great Taste Award this year, so I knew I was in for a treat!

This blend includes Ceylon black tea, coconut pieces, cacao bean, cocoa shells, desiccated coconut, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips and red cornflowers and it looks sooooo cute....

Bluebird Tea Co - Snowball teabag

Just look at those mini marshmallows!!!

This tea is brewed for up to four minutes and can be enjoyed with or without milk. I went for it without milk and enjoyed a really lovely cuppa! The tea when brewed has a lovely warm amber colour and smells sweet.

The tea also has a sweet and coconutty flavour, but not too sweet....in fact it's quite hard to describe the flavour. So hard that I took some teabags into my colleagues for them to try too....they also enjoyed the tea, but couldn't describe the flavour properly either! 

It's a bit like a party in your mouth when you drink this tea....it's a bit sweet with a spark of coconut and a hint of chocolate. More than anything it's warming and makes me smile!

Bluebird Tea Co - a cup of snowmall and a dinky mince pie

Bluebird Tea Co also has a creamy Snowball latte recipe on their website at the moment, take a peek here!

This week we've also been getting ready for Christmas by pulling a tea-riffic Christmas cracker....a cracker that contains tea!

Bluebird Tea Co Cracker......yes, there is tea in there!

Each box contains six of these tea-riffic crackers - inside the crackers you'll find a paper hat, an individually sealed Bluebird tea bag and a tea related joke. Perfect for tea lovers everywhere!

Now for the important bit......the snap is great! When you pull the cracker it makes a lovely, satisfying "snap"! I was also impressed with the contents....yep....more lovely Bluebird Tea....

For more information about the crackers pop by the Bluebird Tea Co website.

We'd like to thank Bluebird Tea Co for sending us their festive tea collection - pop back soon to see more festive teas!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for a little festive cheer!

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we're feeling a bit festive over here at Tea With Me Towers!  Mainly because we've received some quite tea-riffic post recently.....

Festive tea from Bluebird Tea Co

Christmas cake in a jar from Angel's Kitchen

Yep, that's a box of Christmas tea from the Bluebird Tea Co and a scrummy little Christmas cake in a jar from Angel's Kitchen. I love post days like these!

Over the weekend I decided to sample mt first Bluebird tea from their festive range......and to tuck into that Christmas cake too (don't worry I resisted putting the Christmas music on!). I opted for the Mulled Cider tea first, as I've had a bit of a cold recently and wanted something comforting.

Tea & Cake the perfect combination!

This fruit infusion includes apple pieces, ginger, rosehip, hibiscus, cinnamon, cloves, lemon peel, flavour. The blend smells just like Christmas - it's warm and spicy and looks really pretty...

Mulled Cider tea from Bluebird Tea Co

You need to allow this blend to brew for four minutes, but it's worth the wait. Once brewed you have a really pretty cup of red tea (perfect for the festive season!), which has a wonderful cinnamon aroma.

The taste is slightly fruity, with hints of cinnamon. Its a lovely, warming cuppa - definitely perfect for the colder months. A bit like a hug in a mug! 

And I can confirm it went really well with the cake from Angel's Kitchen...

Mulled cider tea from Bluebird Tea Co and
Christmas cake from Angel's Kitchen!

The cake can be delivered to friends or family (or yourself!) as a cute little Christmas gift! It arrives at your home, well packed in a jar with a little spoon so you can tuck in straight away! 

Angel's Bakery uses local, natural and organic ingredients in all their baking. Want to know what's inside the cake....the jar comes complete with an ingredients label and best before date (just look at that date....mine will be gone long before next July!)

The cake has a generous layer of icing on top, as well as a layer of marzipan....

The fruit cake itself is lovely - it's light and moist and full of fruit. A really lovely Christmas cake! There is also plenty of cake in that little jar - definitely plenty to share if you are feeling nice!

The jars are available at £8.95 each plus £3.50 P&P from the Angel's Kitchen Facebook page

The team at Bluebird Tea Co also suggest adding a slug of dark rum to your mulled cider tea if you fancy something a little more warming.....I can also confirm that this is a very good suggestion! 

To find out more about the festive range at Bluebird Tea Co pop by their website......we'll be sharing more of the teas with you over the coming weeks as we work our way through that box!

We'd like to than both the Bluebird Tea Co and Angel's Kitchen for sending us their Christmas goodies! 

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

The Friday Review - The Tea Route

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we hope you're well today!

It's Friday....it's time to put the kettle on and try a new cup of tea! This time we are sampling some of the tea collection from The Tea Route.

Teas from The Tea Route

The Tea Route is a Greek tea business which offers tea lovers unique tea varieties and flavours - inspired by the diversity of Mediterranean nature. Their range includes Mediterranean herbs, fruits, flowers and fragrant spices blended with exquisitely scented teas. Chamomile, mountain tea, lavender, sage, rosemary, as well as cinnamon, Chios mastic, clove, figs, apricots, oranges, and richly scented blossoms including rose and jasmine are paired with black, green and white teas from the gardens of the Far East. 

We couldn't wait to try this intriguing range!

Let's start with something that was vaguely familiar.....a cup of Earl Grey Lord Byron...

This Chinese black tea is blended with intense bergamot flavour to create a warming and sweet cup of tea.

The leaves smell sweet, with a light citrus fragrance.....

When brewed you are rewarded with a cup of light brown tea, with a really pretty citrus aroma. It has a really mellow flavour, which will brighten a dull winter day.

Next for a tea which is more exotic....Palmyra....

This is another black tea, this time blended with dates, sultanas, sesame, almond, fig and vanilla. The leaves are very pretty, they smell like sweet nuts or popcorn. They made my mouth water!

Once brewed we had a lovely rich amber colour with a lovely popcorn aroma.

The flavour of this tea is quite surprising, it's light and very refreshing with a nutty, sweet taste. A really lovely cup of tea!

We'd like to thank The Tea Route for sending us these teas to try, if you'd like to find out more about The Tea Route pop by their website.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna