Afternoon Tea at Whittard Covent Garden Tea Bar, London

I rarely receive afternoon tea invitations. So, when Whittard asked me to visit their Covent Garden Tea Bar to sample their All Day Afternoon Tea, I quickly accepted! With Huw in Wales, and Millie-Mae on a St John First Aid course, my ‘plus 1’ would be Toby (and another excuse for him to wear his smart new clothes!

Location

Whittard has two stores in Covent Garden, London. Both of them are within the Piazza. Of course, we initially headed to the wrong one! We did, however, stop to sample some tea before asking for directions to the Tea Bar.

The Tea Bar is downstairs within the Piazza, close to where the opera singer sings (there always seems to be one singing whenever I visit anyway!) Access to the Tea Bar is through Whittard’s flagship store that also has a brew bar. Given the number of coffee shops in Covent Garden it is nice to find one serving such a huge selection of teas (oh, and rather nice coffee too!) The store has over 100 loose-leaf teas to sample and purchase.

Tea Bar

Don’t expect a spacious, expansive, commercial café space. But DO expect a cosy, comfortable contemporary and homely atmosphere. The Tea Bar is within the arches that connect the two halves of the marketplace.

There are tables for 2, 4 and a separate booth for tea tastings, larger gatherings etc. I didn’t count the chairs, as I was preoccupied with the tea menu (!) but at full capacity I’d say no more than 26-30 guests, making it feel lovely and relaxed.

Drinks

Toby and I were taken to a table for 2 and offered a prosecco (me) and a bottle of lemonade (Toby).

We were then handed the tea menus … wow! I am writing as an ‘English Breakfast’ tea aficionado. I drink it with milk and in honesty don’t really give it much thought. Looking at the menu I tried to question what kind of tea I’d like to try. Black (17 options), Flavoured Black (21 options), Green (7 options), Flavoured Green (10 options), Speciality (16 options), Fruit (too many to count!)? Baffled by the options in front of me, I asked for advice from the manager and between us we agreed that Afternoon Tea from the Flavoured Black Tea menu was good for me. Toby, being a mango fiend, picked the Passionfruit and Mango Flavoured Green Tea.

The hot drinks arrived along with a sand timer, and we were advised at what point to remove the loose tea holder from the teapots.

Afternoon Tea

As our tea arrived, so did our Afternoon Tea. Three delectable tiers of sweet and savoury delights.

We each had four finger sandwiches, with traditional fillings such as salmon and cream cheese, egg and cress, cucumber and coronation chicken. Alongside the sandwiches was a generous portion of water cress.

Moving up to the middle tier, we found two plain and two fruit scones, with mini churns of thick cream and two jams. These were really lovely. The scones were crusty on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside. The cream was so rich and luxurious, and the jams so sweet and fruity. Perfect cream tea!

Top Tier

Leaving the best till last – though why do we do this, knowing we’re likely to be full up? We each had three cakes to try. First there was a bite-sized brownie loaded with raspberries and a raspberry cream, with a white chocolate raspberry lid. It was very nice, but the raspberries were very sharp and rather overpowered the other flavours.

Second there was a filled shortbread biscuit. I wasn’t allowed to try this as Toby had already decided to take them home for Huw and Millie-Mae. We were full by this point, so I didn’t argue with him!

Cake

Finally, the pièce de résistance, and hard to miss on the top tier … two generous slices of this raspberry and white chocolate cake.

This limited-edition cake is perfect for a Valentine’s treat. Well, it tastes glorious, and it’s got a lot of pink! The sponge cake was light with a lovely vanilla flavour. A thin layer of raspberry jam was topped with thick sweet white chocolate buttercream, topped with raspberry dust with a sherbet texture and flavour that is really pleasant. Of course, fresh raspberries topped each slice.

Overall, our visit was lovely. It was intimate, yet we didn’t feel cramped; nor did we feel exposed, but rather very comfortable. At no point was we rushed, even though the Tea Bar had a constant stream of visitors. The staff all had smiles on their faces. It was a very pleasant hour-and-a-quarter learning about tea, enjoying our drinks, food and chatting. It was a little oasis of calm away from the hustle and bustle of Central London.

Disclaimer

We were invited to sample an Afternoon Tea at Whittard’s Covent Garden Tea Bar, but as always our views and comments are our own.