Hello and welcome to today’s Travel to Tea!
On this tea experience I met the Queen! Just kidding! I sat in front of her card board cut out for a photo and celebrated her Jubilee.
We were told to dress up for an Elegant Affair to toast the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Even though the event was in a tent beside the Elkridge Furnace Inn, it felt like an fancy place to enjoy Afternoon Tea; with about 100 other people.
I wish i could say our Deluxe 4-Course Tea felt like a “royal” affair, but that was not entirely so. Don’t get me wrong, the food was amazing! But the whole event was 3 hours long, which was an hour and a half too long. Also, we were sat at a table with strangers and did not have a table to ourselves. We made good friends with them and won the “Fun Facts about the Queen” game. So getting $5 gift cards each to the Inn was a great bonus.
For our first course we tried Queen Elizabeth’s Drop Scone with clotted cream & jam. This was similar to a small pancake and good with the cream and jam. It was paired with The Queen’s Evening Tea (heirloom chamomile and honey). Part of me wondered why we were starting a 3 hour event with chamomile, a plant that helps you sleep, but we enjoyed it regardless.
About 30 minutes later our second course arrived. A small portion of Stilton & Pear Quiche served with Ribbon Courgette Salad was paired with Harney & Son’s Victorian London Fog Tea (smooth black teas with bright citrus, sweet vanilla and lavender). I will add that the event was short staffed, so I had to flag down an employee to get our table some tea.
The third course came to us an hour and twenty minutes into the event and finally addressed the hunger issue i was experiencing. This was my favorite course of a Curry Rarebit Bite, Port and Stilton Sausage Roll, Chicken Curry and Cucumber Sandwiches paired with Fortnum & Mason Jubilee Tea (mellow, sweet black tea with golden brightness).
The final course was brought to us after the 2 hour mark. It was a delicious Rhubarb and Custard Mini Eclair, Raspberry Lemonade Bar, Little Lemon and Thyme Loaf, and Strawberry Sorbet paired with Queen’s Cake Vanilla Fruit Tea.
To sum up: it was entirely too long, we’re lucky we were sat with easy to talk to people, they needed to give us double portions of food, but the food and drink were quite amazing. I’d only suggest going to a tea event at Elkridge Furnace Inn if you have some serious social skills and enjoy chit chatting. So I would have to say this was a unique Tea-venture that I probably won’t participate in again.
Rory, Tea & Me 