An afternoon celebration of tea

Soho's Secret Tea Room

I was very excited to visit Soho’s Secret Tea Room in London this weekend, which I’m ashamed to say I didn’t know about until a friend (and fellow blogger) invited me there for a traditional afternoon tea.  We spent a very pleasant afternoon there, enjoying a very traditional afternoon tea with all the trimmings. 

The tearoom is set up in a traditional, retro style, with old 1940s adverts inside the menu and quirky vintage mix-and-match china and tableware. 

We were a served a lovely, big pot of tea to share, in what has to be my favourite teapot yet!  Depicting a traditional “Toile de Jouy” scene, I really wish I could add this to my teapot collection at home! Toile de Jouy has a special significance for me, as it featured heavily in my vintage-inspired wedding!  

A fabulous Toile de Jouy teapot!

We were also given a timer to ensure we brewed our tea for the correct amount of time – something I always appreciate, as I like a nice, strong cup of tea!  

We enjoyed a cake stand full of treats – sandwiches, scones and enormous slabs of cake!  What better way to spend the afternoon, than whiling away the hours drinking lots of tea, chatting, enjoying good company and eating tasty treats? 

Tea-time treats!

The Tea House, Covent Garden

We continued our afternoon celebration of tea with a visit to The Tea House, located nearby in London’s Covent Garden.  This fantastic, olde-worlde shop stocks a fantastic variety of teas, teapots and other tea paraphernalia - I was in Heaven!

I stocked up on two of my favourite teas – Vanilla Black Tea and Cinnamon Haze black cinnamon tea from Ahmad Tea – as well as some new spoons and steepers for when I use my loose leaf teas and some additions to my Willow Pattern china collection.  I do love an excuse to buy anything tea-related!

Filling the room with the scent of tea leaves and bergamot

Tea-inspired perfume - delicious!

Extending the tea theme, I also tried out for the first time one of my new tea-inspired fragrances - Elizabeth Arden's Green Tea Cherry Blossom - a lovely, light, summery scent, to go with a sunny day of tea in London!  I also recently bought Jo Malone's Earl Grey and Cucumber Cologne to wear throughout the summer, and a fun London home fragrance kit with diffuser reeds - apparently the scent of London is of tea leaves and bergamot, which I think it very appropriate in my home!

What a fun, tea-filled Saturday afternoon in sunny London – it certainly brought a smile to my face!

Until next time, hope your weekend is also suitably tea-filled!

Rachael x