High Tea, Amsterdam

Have you ever read my first blog post? It was about High Tea. B had borrowed his company’s camera for the weekend, and we took it on a walk across town for an afternoon tea date. We took turns taking photos during our meal, comparing contrast, lighting, and composition. When I got home, I wanted to share the photos with my family and friends back home, but instead of writing one e-mail to my mom, one to my sisters, and another to my girlfriends, I decided to put everything online, in one place. Henceforth, Pressed Words was born.

A year and a half later and I’m still doing the same thing. Walking around Amsterdam, taking photos, going on dates with B, and sharing the stories with you. I even still love the occasional high tea, which is what I wanted to tell you about today.

B and I have walked by The London Brasserie in Amsterdam a billion times. It’s on the corner of our neighbourhood, and the British themed menu always catches B’s eye as we pass by. In true UK fashion, they offer a high tea, which I thought would be a nice treat for Valentine’s Day. Leave it to me to spread one day of soppy love out over the whole weekend ;) On Friday night B and I ate ribs and drank wine at Cafe de Pijp, on Saturday night we camped out in the living room and watched movies, and on Sunday, we drank tea. The afternoon started with a walk around town. I wanted to get this photo (do you recognize it?!) of my favorite houses in Amsterdam, to update my blog header – coming soon :)

All of the flowers are slowly creeping out of the ground. It feels oddly early, but at the same time, we didn’t get any snow this winter, and really didn’t have any deep-freeze chills. So I’m not surprised spring is starting early, as we never really had a proper winter. It’s fairly easy for the flowers to pop out of the ground, considering it never froze!We took advantage of the sun’s presence and curved up and around the canals, walking, and counting down the minutes to our high-tea reservation. I know this is not a fashion blog, but aren’t these knee socks the cutest? I did a lot of Topshop-shopping in Edinburgh last week, and I stocked (socked, ha) up on adorable, probably-meant-for-teenager clothing.

* Socks are Top Shop, boots are Frye, jacket is United Colors of Benentton, and bag is Kate Spade*
We arrived for our high tea looking fancy and a tad early. In fact, we were the first ones there!Which was a-ok with us, because we had the whole dinning room and wait staff to ourselves ;) There were red roses and teacups on all the tables, and my date was looking very dapper! To get started, were given a hot pot of water and a box of assorted organic teas. I’m a huge tea junkie, especially on the weekends, so I loved the unlimited tea offered with the meal. I think I tried green tea, darjeeling, organic English breakfast, and earl grey. A very cliche and delicious assortment.And then the goodies started flowing.Sandwiches and scones. . . . . . . homemade whipped butter. And a whole plate of sweets! We took turns, going one for one on the sandwiches and pastries.  And by the end, we had managed to clear three tiers of savouries and sweets :)

There are so many great high tea spots in Amsterdam, and I’ve only just begun to  sample what’s out there. To be honest, I think I preferred Grand Cafe Fossa – my first blog post / Amsterdam high tea experience. Grand Cafe Fossa was located on a huge house boat and the high tea came with a glass of prosecco ;) More my style! That said, the treats and confections at the London Brasserie we’re fantastic, so my sweet-tooth might beg to differ!

I’m going to keep sampling different high tea spots around Amsterdam and will report back. I’m committed to finding just the right high tea, and will not stop sipping, nibbling, and cake eating until I do!

xo Ali

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