Friday, January 21, 2011

Bea's Afternoon Tea.

Afternoon tea is such an English tradition, that I could not let Aaron visit London without indulging in this customary sugar rush.


This famous tea and cake consumption, usually taking place between 2.30-5pm used to be a more common practise, but these days it is seen as a decadent treat, given that a) it involves eating highly calorific goodies, and b) it takes place when most people are at work.


The staple to afternoon tea (aside from a cuppa) is scones with clotted cream and jam. In addition to this you can also get various cakes, petit fours, small triangular sandwiches (with the crusts cut off!) and - if you are feeling frisky - a glass of champagne.


Now, considering that afternoon tea consists of tea and cake, the often exorbitant prices ranging up to £100 and sometimes more, are a little extreme in my opinion - and that's where the delightful Bea's of Bloomsbury comes in. You can get your daytime sugar fix and wash it down with a pot of tea (or a coffee if you wish) for a mere £12, and I can assure, you won't be disappointed!






Each of our afternoon teas came with a scone (complete with clotted cream and jam), a cupcake (we had one chocolate with pistachio frosting and one vanilla with passion fruit frosting) a mini brownie, a mini blondie, a homemade passionfruit marshmallow, a mini meringue and some other little cakey thing (I can't remember what it was called!) - all yummy!






This is a sweet afternoon tea, so no sarnies, and if it all sounds a bit too decadent, then you can go for the half option of just tea and a scone.




We loved our afternoon tea - the scone was divine, the brownies were rich and dense, the cupcakes were great flavours and the meringues were crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Yum. I am not a fan of marshmallows to begin with, and although this one was interesting in texture (bouncy to the touch!) and more flavourful than the usual kind, it was not really my thing.




By the end of our tea I was stuffed! I spent the whole time we were in there admiring all the delicious looking sweets on the counter, and I can honestly say that by the end of it, I couldn't have eaten another thing, no matter how scrumptious it all looked!

2 comments:

  1. All of that for 12 pounds? That is about $18 here? Lisa Tea Treasures charges almost twice that, and it's been years since I had tea at the Rotunda in the city, but I know it must be at least $30-$50 per person.

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  2. Yep! It's a really good deal. I remember I went to Lovejoy's in SF a few years ago and it was more pricey than £12...

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