A little while back I was invited to an afternoon tea hosted by the Co-operative. (Which has always been my favourite place to get my dried fruit bits covered in yogurt.) The whole experience was just gorgeous. First of all we were encouraged to bring loved ones with us, which was awesome. Second of all, there was a really impressive magician and a string duet. Little known fact? Sam is a sucker for magicians, but even a sceptic like me was tickled by this one. (Especially when he did tricks making things appear in my hands.)
But on to what you all are waiting for: the food! We started with the Co-operative Les Pioneers NV Champagne and it was delicious. I’d definitely consider splurging on a bottle in the future. We’d both had long days so instead of opting for tea, we both had their Guatemalan filtered coffee which was fairly strong and bold.
Then the tea tray arrived and it was a thing of beauty! My favourite of the sandwiches was a tie between the chicken and pesto and the mozzarella, tomato and basil on tomato bread. Sam really enjoyed the feta and slow roasted red pepper sandwiches. They were all good, but fairly standard. And to be honest, with all the sweets in front of me I didn’t really have eyes for the savouries in the first place!
I tried a bit of everything, from the scones to the rainbow cake to the lemon posset. I took varying degrees of nibbles from slight bites to snaffling the whole thing. I thought the rainbow madeira cake was just precious! (This one is minute sized but the wholesale in store one is much larger and retails for £10.) The pear and chocolate frangipane tart (£3.50)was one of stars of the evening for me, it was just gorgeous; as was the passion fruit and lemon posset (£2.99). I think the lemon posset would be a spectacular dessert for a hot day, or a nice end to a heavier meal. For Sam it was the lemon cheesecake (£3) and the billionaires dessert (chocolate cookies layered with caramel, treacle mousse and chocolate ganache £3.49).
The whole purpose of the event was to highlight the fact that the Co-operative can be much more than a quick fix grocery shop to pop into for a sandwich at lunchtime. And convert me they did! In fact, I’ve since been back and spent my own money on some of their chocolate goodies (I’m looking at you, Truly Irresistible Chocolate Bombes!)
The sweets won me over that evening! What’s your favourite part of afternoon tea?
