This past weekend my friend Kasey (yes, the same one who visited me in Korea last year) stopped by London on her way home from a work trip in Germany. It was a perfectly timed trip as our other good friend from college is currently on work assignment here. The three of us love to get into trouble around the world and haven’t been on the same continent in about three years.
Kasey and Alicia
We skipped out on doing anything remotely touristy in London, but Kasey did have one request: afternoon tea. With such short notice, and my bank account looking pretty grim, I knew a tea like the one I went to at Claridge’s was not happening, so I started doing some research on cheaper afternoon teas in London.
It ended up being much easier than anticipated. I quickly found a blog post raving about The Tea Rooms, a small tea cafe in Stoke Newington that serves up afternoon tea for a mere £20 per person. And for only £3 more you can get a glass of Prosecco before the tea service, an option in which we obviously partook.
Claire and I
I made our reservations for 2 in the afternoon in order to avoid another “we stayed out and partied too long and missed our 10 am Korean cooking class incident”. Which was a pretty good call considering Friday night was a rather late one. Nevertheless, we managed to pull ourselves together in time to get over to The Tea Rooms’ East London location.
We were immediately seated at a wooden table covered with mismatched tea cups, saucers, and cutlery. The whole place had a quirky, whimsical vibe that made it easy to sit around and chat for a few hours. The waitress gave us each a menu card with a list of teas, from traditional blacks to more creative herbal blends. Kasey and Alicia went with honey and ginger, Claire had a masala chai, and I chose the vanilla rooibos.
After the tea was served, two towers of tea snacks were brought out. In traditional tea manner we worked our way from the bottom up. On the lowest level were four types of sandwiches including some traditional tea favorites like cucumber and cream cheese. In the middle there were scones, both plain and raisin, to eaten with big dollops of clotted cream and homemade raspberry jam. Lastly, we each had three desserts- a lemon curd pudding, a cake with fruit filling, and a chocolate cupcake.
The Tea Rooms was a lovely place to spend an afternoon catching up with girlfriends and watching the rain pour down outside. It wasn’t as traditional an afternoon as Claridge’s tea, but it was comfortable and fun.
After tea, the weather had cleared into a beautiful fall day and we decided to walk the 1.5 miles back to Highbury & Islington Station. It ended up being a great decision as we passed by some beautiful sights as the sun began to set.
Stoke Newington looks like a great place for an alternative London afternoon tea. Being from London, I’ve never considered having afternoon tea like this as a thing to do (it seems so touristy and cheesy), but this looks like lots of fun…and very unpretentious (at least compared to Claridge’s!) It’s now going on my todo list for when we’re back in London, that’s for sure!
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It was exactly that- unpretentious and a lot of fun. I definitely recommend as a way to escape a rainy or cold afternoon.
Isn’t it great to find these kind of hidden gems? I have yet to explore Stoke Newington – it’s embarrassing to admit that I used to live not far away and never managed to make it there (oops..). But then, London is huge and I’d need a lifetime to know it well!
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Yes, I’ve had to come to terms that I won’t be able to see everything in London while I’m here. But you should definitely explore Stoke Newington, it has recently surprised me with all its charm!
I’m gonna go ahead and say it: As a Brit, I’m obviously addicted to tea because it’s the best thing to drink since ever. BUT, I’ve never actually been to afternoon tea. Can I use the excuse that I’m Welsh raised?
Haha
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I think it might be a super touristy thing to do. But you should do it at least once because it is really fun!