Roses Tea Room afternoon tea _460
A sophisticated high tea could make a wonderful alternative Mother’s Day Treat. Emma Pinch reports
IF A builder’s breakfast with paving slabs of bread, sausages like brawny fingers and a brick brown brew is your archetypal male meal, the opposite must be afternoon tea.
From delicate slivers of sandwiches, to the clink of bone china and the murmur of gossip, it’s quintessentially ladylike.
With the vogue for all things Victorian, it’s enjoying a special resurgence at the moment, although it’s quietly been gaining momentum for years.
First on the scene, three years ago, was Roses in Heswall. Greek-born owners Michelle and Andreas Foulia wanted to set up an eaterie with child-friendly opening hours, and a unique identity to set it apart from the bland coffee chains and Italian cafes.
Says Michelle: “We didn’t want to compete with any other business in the area and no-one was doing afternoon tea then. We lived in such an English area we wanted something identifiably English.
“We did 2½ years of research and I fell in love with the idea and traditions of afternoon tea.”
The essential thing about good afternoon tea, is that it looks as pretty as possible and quality ingredients are used, says Michelle.
The menu should include excellent loose leaf tea – Assam, Earl Grey, Lapsang Souchong and flowering teas are good – black tea woven to roses and carnations – plus delicate sandwiches, warm freshly-made scones with clotted cream and hand-made preserve, and a sponge cake, either mini individual cakes or one Victoria sponge.
Her scones include lavender with gooseberry and elderberry jam, rosewater flavoured scones with ginger preserve, and lemon scones with lemon curd.
Scores of hotels are now offering afternoon tea in Liverpool, partly due to tourist demand, but it’s also gaining momentum with domestic audiences.
The London Carriage Works has been perfecting its afternoon tea over the last year.