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

Time for a Little Christmas Cheer (part three).....

Hello there,

Welcome back to another Christmas themed afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends. This time we are featuring a rather scrummy looking afternoon tea from the Jumeirah Carlton Tower hotel in London. The hotel has teamed up with master pâtissier Eric Lanlard to create A Very Berry Christmas Afternoon Tea.....

A Very Berry Christmas Afternoon Tea - Jumeirah Carlton Tower
Photo from Website

This afternoon tea savouries for this Christmas feast include Stilton, fig and walnut tart with port jelly droplets, Cranberry and orange bread filled with roast turkey, sage and onion stuffing and chestnut crumbs and Salmon and lobster cracker. I love the sound (and look!) of the salmon and lobster crackers - the perfect Christmas treat!

Christmas afternoon tea savouries - Jumeirah Carlton Tower
Photo from website

Scones are served with clotted cream and preserves...but after seeing those savouries I bet you are all waiting to hear about the sweets on offer! Well, guests can indulge in a "Festive chocolate candle" which features fig cream, salted butter caramel, caramelised puffed rice and a white chocolate flame. Or perhaps you'd prefer a piece of deconstructed Christmas cake, which is served with a marzipan emulsion and an injection of XO Brandy! The final sweet treat is a "Mandarine Napoleon Tart" - a butter pastry filled with Calamansi cream, Mandarine Napoleon soaked vanilla sponge and topped with wild winter berries and hibiscus flowers.

That all sounds amazing, but I but you'd prefer to actually see some of these sweets.....

Sweet treats at Jumeirah Carlton Tower afternoon tea
Photo from website

I rather fancy some of the deconstructed Christmas cake!

This Christmas afternoon tea is served daily from now until the end of December in the Chinoiserie lounge. The tea costs £40.00 per person, or if you fancy adding some bubbles and strawberries it will be £50.00 per person. To find out more visit the Jumeirah Carlton Tower website.

If you try this afternoon tea we'd love to hear from you - please get in touch!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Other People's Festive Afternoon Teas

Hello there,

You might remember our posts a couple of months ago where we featured photos that our friends on Twitter and Facebook had taken of afternoon teas they had enjoyed.

Well, those posts were so popular that we decided we needed to see what festive afternoon teas people have been enjoying.

Are you sitting comfortable and are you ready to drool? There are some scrummy photos coming up.....

Intercontinental Park Lane's festive afternoon tea

To start us off Claire from The Secret Tea Society enjoyed a 12 days of Christmas afternoon tea at Intercontinental Park Lane. Look at the pastry swan peeking from the top tier!

 

Harriet's Secret Tearoom's pretty festive afternoon tea

Emily and her mum enjoyed a festive afternoon to at Harriet's Secret Tearoom in Melton Mowbray. Read more about their lovely tea on Emily's fab blog!

One Aldwych's scrummy afternoon tea

 Hazel from Cupcake Daisy took some time out from her busy baking schedule to enjoy One Aldwych's festive take on their wonderful Charlie and the Chocolate Factory afternoon tea....complete with gingerbread pops and some surprising candy floss!

 

Crackers with your festive afternoon tea at Tea Total

 April Moores enjoyed a festive tea complete with crackers at Tea Total in Lyndhurst. I like the look of those mini puddings!

 

Bond and Brook offer an elegant festive afternoon tea

 Anomalous London enjoyed an elegant festive afternoon tea at Bond and Brook in Fenwick of Bond Street

Netherdene B&B offer a fab festive afternoon tea

 Netherdene B&B in Cumbria have been serving up their guests this festive treat, complete with scrummy looking mince pies and Christmas cake.

 

Jumeirah Carlton Tower's imaginative festive afternoon tea

 Tazmin from sapphire Event Design recently enjoyed the Eric Lanlard festive afternoon tea served at Jumeirah Carlton Tower hotel in London - I'm still a tad bit jealous of this afternoon tea, it looks so scrummy!

An international afternoon tea served at the Conrad Hotel in Bangkok

 A festive tea slightly further afield was enjoyed by J Lim - this is the afternoon tea currently being served at the Conrad Hotel in Bangkok! That Stollen looks wonderful!

 

A lavish festive afternoon tea feast served by Exquisite Vintage Teas

Finally Exquisite Vintage Teas have been creating these wonderful festive afternoon treats.

 

See....I told you there were some scrummy photos to enjoy! Thank you to everyone who has shared their afternoon tea photos with us, I do love hearing about your tea adventures!

 

I hope you've enjoyed our photos, if you've enjoyed an afternoon tea recently and would like to share your photo with us please get in touch. You can leave a comment here, email us or get in touch on Facebook or Twitter!

 

Finally, we'd like to thank all our fab readers a tea-riffic Christmas - I hope you have a wonderful time.

 

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna