I'd Rather Be Eating: Afternoon Tea at The Rose Tree Cottage!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Afternoon Tea at The Rose Tree Cottage!

Does it seem like all I do is have afternoon tea because I really want you all to think that I do this all the time but in reality this is quite a rare treat for me. This past Sunday I had afternoon tea at the first tea house built in California. The first!! The Rose Tree Cottage is as close to English afternoon tea as you will get here in California. It is afternoon tea the way it is meant to be...proper and ceremonious. We drove through some older parts of Pasadena that I don't travel to very often. Lots of construction going on in that area so it may have a new look soon.

It took some looking around to actually find it since it is actually a large house in the middle of a residential area and covered by large bushes. When we finally spotted the British flags, we knew we had arrived.

My lovely sisters and (not-pictured) BIL accompanied me on this fine afternoon to the Rose Tree Cottage to help me commemorate my Blog's 4th blogday and my first blog posting. Doing what else but have afternoon tea!

Picture this! We get to the front door of this large house and ring the door bell, a few seconds later an elder gentleman dressed as a butler and a young lady dressed as a maid greets us at the door. He ask if we needed to freshen up before tea but I was already fresh as a daisy so we passed on the freshening up part and was lead to our corner table. My sisters tell me that they cannot take me anywhere. But I tell them that I am the one taking them here...touche!

They have a strict no-photography policy here because every once in a while they are visited by dignitaries and celebrities and they want to ensure that they these people get some privacy, so I "borrowed" these photos from Yelp.

The meal started with a glass of non-alcoholic sparkling cider of some sort. It was really good. It was clear in color with a piece of raspberry floating in it. Next up was the pouring of the house tea. They only serve one kind of tea here and that is English Breakfast, which was fine with me because I love that tea. You can get it either with or without milk. You can drink as much as you like. Just don't ask if you can have Boba with it.

Then the finger sandwiches come out. Top tier is Yorkshire pie (stewed beef in a pastry shell), we were advised to eat this first while it was still warm. The meat was tender and very flavorful. From what I can remember, the sandwiches included buttered cucumber, chicken mango and egg salad asparagus. One side of the sandwich was regular white bread and the other side was wheat. It made for a nice presentation. I think my favorite was the egg salad. I dare say it is the best egg salad I've had yet. I liked the savories very much.

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[no photo] The second course was warm currant scones served with a mixed raspberry jam and Devon cream. The scones were biscuit-like and crazy good. My favorite by far! Everyone agreed that the jam was amazing.

Finally they bring out this little plate very much like this one here with Petit Fours, butter cookies and our plate also had little squares of toffee bread pudding. So good! There is a gift shop on the other side of the house that sells almost everything used during the tea service from the China to the scones to the bread pudding. You just need to heat and serve.

As a note, if you decide to come here, please keep in mind that they have a set menu. They serve afternoon tea their way. Don't come expecting a large selection or to pick and choose. There are places that offer this option but this is not the place. Keep an open mind. Relax and let them serve you. Aside from feeling not proper enough to eat here, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. I will wear a large hat next time. Maybe some pearls. Yes it is *that* kind of place.

They have three seatings, 1:00pm, 2:30pm and 4:00pm.