Spring and afternoon tea with The Girls go together. We set off to the Teanamu Chaya Teahouse in Notting Hill decked out in spring florals, matching the new buds in the trees. It was afternoon tea with a twist of Chinese tea ceremony, where the focus was very much on the ritual of making and infusing tea.
We made our choices from the list of Chinese and Japanese teas. I went with the Organic Golden Monkey tea because I liked the exotic name and I was born in the year of the monkey. It turned out to be a black tea from southern China, dark with flecks of twisted gold. Our host made it for me. He warmed my tiny teapot, before he infused the tea, allowing it to steep for 40 seconds. “In the Chinese way,” he said, “we make multiple infusions, brewing the tea when we are ready to drink it. Not like the Western way where you wait for the tea to brew.” I liked that. The tea was light and aromatic, and I drank it out of the littlest doll-size Chinese tea cup.
Then came the food in succession – the dim sum rice parcels and dumplings, a plate of open face sandwiches with quirky toppings like bamboo shoots in mayonnaise, cucumber and sweet hummus jam (it sounds like a contradiction in terms), and a plate of sweets. I ate the toppings off the bread so as not to get too full, but by the time the pastries turned up I was pretty much at my limit. I needed a digestive stroll afterward on Portobello Road !
~ Spotted Cow
Wandering Cows 
Sounds like a wonderful experience. I love all the Chinese teas I’ve tried, though I need much bigger cups. I’ll save the small Chinese cups for tea parties with dolls. 🙂
I’m with you on the bigger cups – I definitely needed bigger glugs of tea in between the treats !
I LOVE that you chose your tea based on the name. What a nice experience!
There were too many teas to choose from, most of which I didn’t know anything about. Hence I chose the name that “spoke” to me most ! And yes, it was a lovely alternative to the conventional afternoon tea with tiers of cakes and edibles … although I like those too !
How interesting… brewing the tea when you need it, not waiting for it to brew!
Yes, I quite liked that … although they were teensy weeny cups. I could really have used one that was 3x the size. Ha !
Sometimes size does matter doesn’t it, lol!