The Time I Had Afternoon Tea at Mariage Freres
Mariage Freres is a French gourmet tea company founded in Paris in 1854. The Covent Garden location opened in 2018 and has been dazzling thirsty Londoners and travellers ever since. Part tea emporium, part museum, Mariage Freres is a destination to be visited for its history alone however, their afternoon tea offering is c’est magnifique.
The first thing you’ll notice when sitting down for afternoon tea is the tea selection. The book of offerings is extensive and can be overwhelming for for the casual tea drinker but the helpful staff was happy to narrow down the choices to the perfect tea.
In keeping with the spirit of the day, I choose a summer Darjeeling and ordered the Covent Garden Afternoon Tea with a tea infused cocktail.
The selection of tea infused cocktails favours seasonal flavours and, like the food selection, is updated seasonally.
I ordered the Opera Sunrise, a green tea flavoured with red fruits, blue berries, lemon, basil, ginger, tequila, served in a teapot.
By far, this was the best summer cocktail I’ve had this year. It was fruity without overpowering the green tea flavour. And seriously, who doesn’t love a cocktail served in a see through teapot?
The sweets, savouries, and jams are all tea infused and lean toward fine French dinning.
The savouries consisted of:
Croque-Monsieur Mariage" with Artisan Smoked Salmon*
Chicken Ballotine, Polenta Infused with Earl Grey Provence® Tea, Peanut Tuile
Smoked Salmon Cheesecake Flavoured with Lilly Muguet® Tea, Mango and Avocado Biscuit*
Prawn Flavoured with Chaï Parisien® Tea, Matcha Rice Ball, Soya Tartlet
Black Olive Soufflé Infused with Chai Chandernagor® Tea
*As I am unable to eat salmon, the chef kindly made substitutions where needed.
I like to follow the savouries with a top up of tea while enjoying my scone. Mariage Freres delivered perfectly sized French and English scones served with "Gelées Extra de Thé" tea jelly and butter, though to be fair, I missed the clotted cream.
Continuing on with tea infused flavours, the selection of patisseries showed off the chef’s skill at marrying traditional cakes with classic teas. Despite eating my fair share of savouries and scones, I managed to sample each sweet patisserie delight and would be hard-pressed to pick a favourite.
Mariage Freres in Covent Garden was the perfect place to people watch, sip tea and enjoy the selection of afternoon tea treats. Afternoon tea selections change with the season so return trips will bring something new. To reserve a table click here