Attend : Woburn Coffee House

Woburn Coffee House, 21 Market Place, Woburn.

 Bank holiday weekend calls for a day out in the countryside : we visited historic Woburn, a perfect Georgian village. We were visiting to take afternoon tea at Woburn Coffee House.

 Situated in a 400 year old house on Market Place, Karen and her team have created a beautifully fresh boutique coffee house: a modern traditional interior, combining mix match crockery, and a beautiful walled garden to sip Pimms in the summer months.

 We were presented with an amazing 5 tier platter of finger sandwiches, scones, slices of cake, brandy snaps, Mille-Feuille and beautifully crafted cream profiteroles in the shape of swans.
 Whatever you can't manage can be taken home in a goody box...

Woburn Coffee Shop features a tranquil walled garden, opened up in Summer months for afternoon tea and Pimms.

 Woburn itself is a quintessentially British village - dating back to Saxon times. It's even been listed in The Sunday Times as one of the 'best places to live in Britain'
 The village has lots of cool antique shops, restaurants, gift shops, a farmers market and great scenery - all this, and only an hour from central London...

Woburn Coffee House
21 Market Place,
Woburn,
Bedfordshire.

Reservations : 01525 290050
Web : Woburn Coffee House 
Web : Woburn Village 

Attend : Corinthia Hotel

Champagne Afternoon Tea : The Corinthia Hotel, London

 It's been a while since I've been for afternoon tea, and tea at The Corinthia hotel has been top of the must visit list for some time. So on a bitterly cold March afternoon, it seemed the ideal time to indulge in some treat therapy.

 The Corinthia hotel opened to much fanfare in 2011. The building originally opened as The Metropole hotel in 1885, and the facade retains much of its original grand hotel charm.
 Afternoon tea is served in the opulent central lobby, a light and airy space with huge hanging glass chandelier.

 The Corinthia hotel afternoon tea offers a great selection of teas, many from Tea Palace - I had 'Afternoon at The Palace' - a tea with a refreshing, light aromatic taste and the perfect accompaniment to sweet afternoon treats.

 
 The selection of cakes are served on a tall 3 tier freestanding platter. My particular favorite was the chocolate sponge roll filled with dark chocolate ganache topped with a sugar rose petal. The oversized salted caramel macaron was amazing, dipped in chocolate and finished with flaked almonds.

 Afternoon tea was delicious, it's in a very grand and smart setting, yet with an overall feel of relaxation within a very calming environment. I'd love to go back in the summer and take afternoon tea in the outdoor central atrium court.

 The Corinthia Hotel
 10 Whitehall Place,
 London
 SW1A 2BD

Tea Tuesday : Bistro Tea

Bistro Tea & Coalport China

 I spotted this beautiful Edwardian Coalport tea set in the William Weston Gallery in Royal Arcade, Old Bond Street.
 I love the bold black and white stripes against the delicate flowers - the emerging Art Deco style, against traditional Edwardian details.

 Set of six Edwardian decorated tea cups and saucers. Made by Coalport and with their mark underneath, and also the old Harrods mark which is where they were originally sold. c.1905/1920's.

 I first discovered Bistro Tea whilst staying at Majeka House, in South Africa. The simple, effective packaging doubles as a new smart tea bag design.

 As stated by Bistro Tea, this newly designed tea stick enables proper dosage without wastage, it does not drip, neither does it need wringing. It is also a well designed stirrer.

 They do great tea blends: Fruit Berry, Red Tea, Herbs n' Honey, Green Tea & Black Tea.

Website : BistroTea

Tea set : Bernice Weston, Antiques and Decorative objects
@ William Weston Gallery, 7 Royal Arcade, Albermarle Street, London W1S 4SG

Tea Tuesday : Dilmah tea

Dilmah Tea & Kilner Jars

 I purchased some new Kilner Jars, these are great, British produced glass jars original invented in the 1840's. The traditional design of the Kilner Jar may have changed over the years but the principle of the family business has stayed the same right through to modern day.

 The airtight glass jars are ideal for storing tea. I had some new Dilmah tea bags to store, so the large jar was ideal. I first discovered Dilmah tea whilst staying at The Baros, Maldives.

 Dilmah tea is still true to it's Sri Lanka family business routes, and is the antidote to mult-origin blends now the norm in the UK. Dilmah remain faithful to Ceylon tea produced in the traditional way, perfected over centuries.

 I love the simplicity of the Dilmah tea packaging and their colourful wrappers, they complement the Kilner jars perfectly, making them look ultra modern.

 I also love the pairing of two family run businesses that have grown massively whilst still retaining their original values.

Website : Dilmah Tea

Website : Kilner Jars