Tea and Me

Camellia’s Tea House , you win a prize both for the prettiest packaging of tea and the marvellous goodie bag you sent me with my recent order. Thank you! Regular readers will remember that I found Camellia's after having afternoon tea at the Corinthia Hotel last week and I fell in love with their China Milky Oolong . Having checked out their website, I discovered that 21 April was National Tea Day, and to celebrate they are giving away a small mystery bag with all orders placed between 21-28 April. Thus inspired, I ordered the Oolong (and it tastes and smells every bit as good now as it did during afternoon tea – yes, I am drinking it as I type) and their  Chocolate tea – which smells divine, but I haven’t yet tasted it as it’s a black tea and I try not to drink black tea in the evening. So, onto the contents of my ‘mystery’ bag. If you don’t want to know what was in it, I suggest you look away now – although the bag itself is lovely, especially with the bright yellow...

Well . . . sort of. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to be taken for afternoon tea at the Corinthia Hotel’s Crystal Moon Lounge in London as a late birthday present from my friend Beryl. As it’s tea-related, I thought it would be good to share my afternoon and the lovely sandwiches and cakes they served us. As both a tea lover and a cake lover, I am a big fan of afternoon teas (I am actually considered the Queen of Afternoon Tea in my office because I’ve had so many – my 50 th birthday seemed to consist of nothing but afternoon tea for several months) and to my mind the Corinthia is one of the best venues in London and I have been there several times now. Unlike better-known establishments, the Corinthia is extremely easy-going and they don’t impose a 90-minute time limit that the more touristy places such as the Ritz, the Savoy and the Dorchester do and they always, unfailing, provide excellent service and a good level of knowledge about the products they serve. We spe...