How to enjoy Afternoon Tea at home
There are few greater pleasures in life than a luxurious Afternoon Tea. If you can’t make it to our beautiful tearoom, here Orange Pekoe founder Marianna Hadjigeorgiou shares some of her expert tea knowledge and indispensable advice for creating a traditional Afternoon Tea at home.
Afternoon tea is very feminine; it’s relaxing and just so traditional. Sweet cake washed down with warm perfect brewed tea is quite simply perfect! My top tips for creating a wonderful Afternoon Tea experience at home are;
A touch of sparkle
A glass of Champagne is a lovely way to start afternoon tea at home. We source our Champagne and Prosecco from local independent wine merchant Lea and Sandeman. We offer Champagne Afternoon Tea at our tearoom, as well as Rose Petal Prosecco, where we add beautiful sugared rose petals and rose syrup to the glass, giving the Prosecco a beautiful pink tint, a subtly sweet aroma and a delicate rose flavour.
Choose your tea
We travel far and wide to source the finest, hand-picked tea leaves in the world. Traditionally, our most popular teas for Afternoon Tea are:
Our Orange Pekoe Afternoon Blend - a light and sophisticated tea fit for a Queen! We created this beautiful blend in 2012 for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. It combines a rich, malty Assam tea with a flowery Darjeeling and a large leaf tea from Tanzania. It is delicious with or without milk, and pairs perfectly with tea-time treats.
Our Orange Pekoe Earl Grey combines the finest China black tea leaves with just the right amount of aromatic bergamot essential oil. The beautiful citrus flavours and aromas of this classic tea make it refreshing and uplifting, and delicious with cake!
Our Assam Mokalbari is a single estate tea is from the distinguished Mokalbari Tea Garden. It is a large whole leaf second flush Assam with lots of golden tips, making it smooth and light with plenty of wonderful aroma. It is a truly delightful afternoon tea.
Our Flowering Jasmine Tea Balls are very special and visually spectacular and add real wow factor to any Afternoon Tea. It is a premium green jasmine tea hand crafted by artisans in China and really it needs to be enjoyed in one of our beautiful glass teapots, because as the tea ball is immersed in water it unfurls to reveal a stunning flower!
How to brew
All of our teas are available to purchase loose and have brewing instructions on the packaging as different teas require different brewing conditions – e.g. boiling water or not, the length of brewing time, etc. We do not believe in leaving the tea in the pot as this can causing over steeping and bitterness to the tea. Our biodegradable tea bags, which can be purchased at our tearoom or online, are so easy to use and make enjoying loose leaf tea at home incredibly straight forward.
Presentation is key
If you can, use a special tea set, something that only comes out for treat times! Vintage tea set – everyone should own one!
Food glorious food
Finger sandwiches should be made from freshly sliced delicate bread – the key is to make them as fresh as possible. Eat them as you make them even! Just so that they don’t dry out. The fillings can be made in advance but the sandwiches should only be made just before you wish to serve.
Always offer a selection of fillings; our favourites include coronation chicken, homemade egg mayonnaise (we make ours with truffle at our tearoom), sustainably sourced smoked salmon with cream cheese or lemon and cracked pepper, Montgomery cheddar with homemade chutney and honey roast ham from the butcher with English mustard or piccalilli.
Scones are essential, of course! Warm them gently in the oven before serving or serve them freshly baked. We bake all our scones in house and freshness makes all the difference. Serve them with Cornish clotted cream, and lots of it! And if you can, use homemade seasonal jam for an extra personal touch. If not, then go with the best you can afford.
And finally, always serve a slice of homemade cake! We love a traditional Victoria sponge or a light lemon drizzle, but most cakes work well. At our tearoom, our talented chefs bake all our cakes from scratch in house every day – if you’d like to order a delicious cake or some freshly baked scones for your Afternoon Tea, or another special occasion, please get in touch.
Treat yourself (or a friend)
From when Time Out declared us ‘London’s Best Tearoom’ to when Tatler listed us as one of ‘The Best Afternoon Teas in London’, we proudly continue to enjoy international recognition for our Afternoon Tea offering. If you’d like to join us at our tearoom for our famous Afternoon Tea, you can read more about this special experience and how to book here. We also offer beautiful gift vouchers for our Afternoon Tea, Champagne Afternoon Tea and Cream Tea, so you can give the gift of this delicious tradition to a loved one.
Afternoon tea to go
New for this year, we have created our delicious Orange Pekoe Afternoon Tea Box which can be enjoyed at home or in the park. This mouth-watering box comes filled with delicious, homemade cakes, fresh sandwiches, scones, jam, clotted cream, fresh fruit and more, as well as a small pouch of our Afternoon Tea loose-leaf tea. A bottle of Champagne can of course be added as an extra treat! Our Afternoon Tea Box is priced at £20 per head, and we require 24 hours’ notice; for more details and to order please visit contact the tearoom on 020 8876 6070.
