TIPSY TEA AT THE WINTER COURT

My dream has always been to go to High Tea at some good place in England. I have always loved British novel and tea. I wanted to go to an authentic place and have it. When I knewI was going to Britain that was the first thing I put on my to do list. Just as some of my friends wanted to go up in the Eye and I went along to be a good sport, so did they accompany me to my dream scenario. We couldn’t get in the Ritz on short notice, so we went to the Winter Garden at the Landmark Hotel. It is new by British standards, late nineteenth century. It was all we hoped for. It was a courtyard under glass that looked just like an upscale mall in Virginia that seems to be copied from it. It was light airy and had huge potted palms like the conservatories in many of the novels I read. In the mall in Virginia, they had potted palms, but they were made of copper.

There were seven of us. I had the regular tea menu, but some of the group had a chocolate tea, which I would choose next time because everything about it, but the sandwiches was chocolate. Thank goodness, the friends who did the chocolate tea were generous in sharing, so we got to try it all. The high tea was accompanied by champagne. I do not generally like champagne, but with the tea goodies, it was delightful. Waiters in tuxedos hovered over, refilling glasses and teapots regularly. We got slightly tipsy. We are proper ladies, so it was as much a surprise to us as anybody. We had a delightful giggly time.

I  often go to tea at the Windsor Court Hotel  when I am in New Orleans, so the whole ceremonial effect was  to new to me. The menu was the same. We started out with tea sandwiches = chicken salad, cucumber. egg salad,and salmon. That must be traditional because they were the same on both continents – only the English sandwiches had no mayonnaise or cream cheese on the bread. I found this to be true of all british sandwiches – rather dry. Next came the scones in the US, whereas in England, they were served last. They came with clotted cream. In the US, we had lemon curd as well as the clotted cream and raspberry jam. The sweets were a lovely assortment. Which we enjoyed, but I envied the chocolate tea. I had Earl Grey tea, which is my favorite. We tried several different pots among us. Some of my friends had herbal tea with no caffeine. I always feel like what’s the point if you don’t get your caffeine jolt, especially if you’ve walked a hundred miles around the city. They piano music was softly tinkling in the background. It was all quite elegant. We giggled and sipped our way through a delightful afternoon. Some of the group was not were not too keen on going to tea, but once they got there, they were glad they came. I don’t know whether it was the atmosphere, the whole experience or just the champagne, but the Tipsy tea is a must do if you ever get to Britain.