Lady’s Review of the Afternoon Tea at the Andaz Hotel in London

After ten days of traveling in Peru and Bolivia, I landed in London ready to settle back into my life at home. Unfortunately, I only had one day to do so before leaving for a trip to Iceland. So what did I do with my sole day in the UK? I did the most quintessentially British thing I could think of: I went to afternoon tea at the Andaz hotel in London.

Afternoon Tea at the Andaz Hotel in London

It wasn’t just any afternoon tea, though. It was a themed afternoon tea honoring a queen. The Andaz Liverpool Street hotel offers different themed teas throughout the year, some based on special events (or in this case, people), and some based on the seasons.

Themed Afternoon Tea at the Andaz Hotel

This time it was Queen Elizabeth I’s turn to be the theme. Due to her sponsorship of Sir Walter Raleigh’s expeditions to what is now the USA, the tea was American themed.

Given I’m from California, it was the perfect afternoon tea for me. When they invited me to try it with a friend, I didn’t hesitate to accept.

Afternoon Tea in the 1901 Wine Lounge

Which is how I found myself spending my first afternoon in London in almost two weeks at the Andaz’s 1901 Wine Lounge.

The special afternoon tea at the Andaz hotel kicked off with a cocktail made with a refreshing blend of Appleton Estate rum, mandarin and passion fruit puree, ginger beer, and grenadine.

Savories

From there we started on the savories, which included wraps, pastrami-and-gherkin sandwiches, and a plate of tiny hamburgers, miniature hot dogs, and little cones of fries. It was a very American take on a truly British tradition.

Sweets

Once we polished off the first half of our afternoon tea, we moved onto the sweets. Those began with thick chocolate brownies covered with a dusting of powdered sugar.

They were followed by a plate of miniature eclairs, tiny carrot cupcakes, slices of sponge cake, and peanut butter cookies.

Tea

We spent several hours savoring the sweets and catching up over copious cups of Earl Grey and rooibos. We made sure to follow proper afternoon tea etiquette, too.

It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon, and I was glad to have chosen to spend my first day in London in a long time experiencing something the city does so well.

Afternoon Tea at the Andaz Hotel in the Future

There are still almost two months left until this theme ends, and I’m tempted to return to the Andaz Liverpool Street hotel try out the Queen Anne tea, the Queen Victoria tea, and the Queen Elizabeth II tea. If I’m in the City of London again at any point during that time, that is.

And if I’m not, the future will bring many more opportunities to have afternoon tea at the Andaz hotel in London. I can’t wait to see what themes they come up with next.

Find this post helpful? Buy me a coffee!

New here? Join thousands of others and subscribe to the A Lady in London blog via email.