Brown's Hotel Afternoon Tea Review - London Tea in Mayfair

Today I want to share my Brown’s Hotel afternoon tea review with you. This iconic 5-star luxury hotel in Mayfair is one of the most famous places to experience the tradition in London. Set in The Drawing Room, the tea service offers a range of options for both food and drink. There’s live piano music, too. I’ve been offered a complimentary afternoon tea at Brown’s, and I can’t wait to show you what I’m experiencing.

Brown’s Hotel Afternoon Tea

I’ve come to Mayfair with a friend to enjoy Brown’s Hotel afternoon tea.

Established in 1837 in a row of elegant Georgian townhouses, the hotel itself is a British institution. It claims to be London’s oldest hotel, and it’s been serving afternoon tea since the middle of the 19th century.

If that sounds like it might border on stuffy, don’t fret. Brown’s manages to walk the line between heritage and style, and The Drawing Room blends the best of Victorian London with the finest of contemporary decor.

Now that we’re here, my friend and I can’t wait to see what the hotel has in store for us. With the weight of history behind the name, we hope it lives up to our expectations.

The Drawing Room

When we arrive at Brown’s Hotel for afternoon tea, we’re greeted and shown to a table by a large alcove with a fireplace. We look out onto a series of partitioned spaces with comfortable chairs and live music coming from a piano in the middle.

The tables are set with white cloths, linen napkins, and red roses, not to mention champagne flutes ready for celebratory toasts. The delicate porcelain cups and saucers are adorned with floral patterns that round out the room.

Brown’s Hotel Afternoon Tea Menu

Soon our server brings us the afternoon tea menu. It has two options: a traditional one with the classic sandwiches, scones, and pastries, and a plant-based one with sandwiches, pastries, and an optional Japanese Matcha.

The plant-based selection has inventive items like a cashew hummus sandwich and a quinoa cracker with avocado and pickled radish.

Both afternoon teas can be enjoyed with or without champagne (but with champagne is always more fun, right?).

Brown’s has an extensive tea menu, too. From traditional black teas to green, oolong, white, herbal infusions, and a fruit-and-floral premium range, there are a lot to choose from.

There’s even a seasonal library featuring the Chinese tea ceremony of Gong Fu for those who take their tea as seriously as their sandwiches, scones, and pastries.

Our server returns to take our order, and we go with the traditional afternoon tea menu but with one order of the regular sandwiches and one with a pescatarian selection (the plant-based tea sounds great, but we love scones).

We also order glasses of the Ruinart Rose champagne and select herbal infusions from the tea menu.

Afternoon Tea

We toast to the afternoon when the bubbles arrive, and soon we receive pots of tea and a three-tiered tray with two plates of sandwiches.

The tray contains all the classics. From cucumber, mint, and cream cheese to smoked salmon with dill and coronation chicken with apricot, they’re all staples of a traditional London afternoon tea.

When we finish the sandwiches, another tiered tray arrives with scones and pastries. The scones are a mix of plain and sultana, and they come with homemade strawberry jam and Cornish clotted cream.

As afternoon tea etiquette dictates, we hold the old “jam or cream first” debate as we enjoy them.

When we’re finished, we move on to the sweets. We share everything from a strawberry maritozzo to a peach-and-yogurt slice, a cherry pistachio tart, and a hazelnut choux. They’re rich and filling, but they’re not all we have coming to us.

While we’re enjoying them, our server comes back with a plate laden with slices of black forest gateau, Victoria sponge, and chocolate cake. It’s generous, but it’s too much. We wave the white flag.