Afternoon Tea

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

We can't think of anything we enjoy more than whiling away an afternoon in a beautiful room, sipping fine tea from bone china, listening to music played on a grand piano and picking your way up a laden tea tray from the cucumber sandwiches on the bottom plate, past the essential scones with jam and clotted cream to finish with some of the lightest tarts and patisserie, and perhaps the odd chocolate truffle to completely cap the experience.

Afternoon tea in the grand style is not something to be lightly undertaken. In our extensive experience it is best to eat next to nothing beforehand and arrive ravenous – in the often vain hope of doing justice to the treats awaiting you.

A few “rules” first. To be rated as a grand afternoon tea one requires:

• Warm scones
• Leaf tea offered in several varieties
• Some form of live music
• Architectural beauty

By including music and a beautiful ambience afternoon tea becomes a delight to all the senses of any food loving hedonist with a vaguely sweet tooth and a taste for tea. Whilst we have a preference (as in many things) for grand excess we have also mentioned a few simple tea rooms where the scones are in a class of their own. I will travel a long way for an exceptional scone – but I often find the very best are made by myself and eaten fresh from the oven with good friends over a pot of leaf tea. Like any other foodie event, the real making of a fine afternoon tea is the company in which it is taken.