Afternoon Tease - review

Returning to Cambridge after Christmas I was delighted to discover that a lovely little café had opened up on King Street behind my college.  It is a lovely little place called Afternoon Tease which serves delicious homemade and freshly-baked cakes, brunch and lunch along with Kandula teas and coffee (featuring Cambridge's very own Hot Numbers Coffee).

 Everything is served on beautiful mis-matched china and if you're lucky the milk comes in one of these adorable little milk bottles.  I've tried several of the teas now from the English Breakfast tea to the slightly more unusual Ceylon Black and next on my list to try is the Ceylon pink!

Tea served in beautiful china

I always wait for my tea with excited anticipation as you never know which of their many teapots you are going to be given.  When I last went I was delighted when we were given the cow teapot, which I love, and the more unusual pineapple teapot which I hadn't seen before.

I love their range of teapots

I apologise that the pictures above do not do the cake served at Afternoon Tease justice (it may have something to do with the fact that I could hardly wait to start eating them and so took less time over the pictures!)  The picture on the left is of the chocolate cake - possibly the richest I have ever eaten - needless to say I will definitely have this again the next time it is on offer.  I am not usually a fan of carrot cake, but Afternoon Tease has converted me!  It was lovely and moist and the cream cheese icing gave it just the right amount of sweetness.  The next time I visit I really want to the try chocolate Guinness cake which has looked very tempting when I've visited previously.

The very first time I visited I tried the crumpets from Cambridge's Dovecote Bakery, served with your choice of jam, honey, marmalade (I honestly can't remember all the options).  They, like everything else, were incredibly tasty, light and fluffy and were a perfect breakfast, rivalled only by the bacon bap I had there the other day!  They also serve chunky sourdough toast which once again are served with your choice of topping - great if you want something simple but still tasty and filling.  Next on my list is the banana loaf which you can have with butter and cinnamon or griddled and served with streaky bacon and maple syrup - I had a bite of a friend's when I was there last and I will definitely be going back for it.

Ceylon Black tea

After 12 Afternoon Tease serves a lunch menu which from what I've seen on Facebook usually includes a sandwich or toastie and soup.  Unfortunately I've not managed to try anything off the lunch menu yet as I'm generally busier with lectures and supervisions in the afternoons but I hope I'll find time soon to pop in for lunch.

Afternoon Tease is the perfect place to go, whether you want to catch up with friends over a pot of tea, or while away some time reading with a nice piece of cake to keep you going.  I would definitely recommend this place to anyone and will be returning frequently.

You can follow Jo Kruczynska (owner of Afternoon Tease) on Twitter or Facebook, alternatively check out her website and blog here.  I love seeing her daily menu updates with appetising pictures of the food she'll be serving.

Afternoon Tease can be found at 13 King Street, Cambridge, CB1 1LH - Enjoy!