Afternoon Tea — A Symphony for the Senses

NOTE: This article was published in June 2022, describing tea service in The Tea Room of The Chateau. With coming changes in The Chateau at the end of 2023 and into 2024, Afternoon Tea is also being reimagined at Nemacolin. At this time, tea is offered in Fawn & Fable, and the afternoon tea experience is still one to be savored. 

A quintessential tradition of Old World Europe can be fashionably found at Nemacolin’s Afternoon Tea, beckoning guests with savory sandwiches, pleasing pastries, tasteful tea, and a splash of bubbly for those who wish to indulge.

Turn the corner beyond the Lobby Bar and fireplace, and you’ll find a symphony for your senses: the sounds of classical music, the sparkling of the chandeliers, the cultured history of the art, the tall windows inviting the outside in, and the songs of the red factor canaries welcome one to luxuriate, be seated, and be servingly satisfied in The Tea Room.

The menu offers a diverse assortment of teas to satiate the palate. Take a trip across the pond with a lavender or English breakfast tea, visit the grandeur of the East with a spicy masala chai or cinnamon-plum tea, or find healthy refreshment with a ginseng detox, mystic mint, or golden chamomile selection. Pick one, two, or even three to tickle the taste buds.

Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh has been quoted as saying, “Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the whole world revolves — slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.”

Tea is elegantly served in teapots and on fine porcelain place settings rimmed in 24 karat gold, featuring dainty and hand-painted patterns of flowers, butterflies, grasshoppers, and ladybugs. The porcelain pieces come from Anna Weatherley Designs and her team of master painters in Budapest, Hungary, where it takes hours of intricate work, free-hand rendering, and small brush strokes to produce these one-of-a-kind, no-two-are-truly-identical, and perfectly coordinated pieces. Anna Weatherley has designed fine porcelain pieces for Nemacolin, Princess Diana, the White House, Buckingham Palace, and fine shops and museums around the world.

Devonshire cream, lemon curd, a touch of honey, curated lumps of raw sugar, or a bit of lemon are the complementary accompaniments to your choice of loose-leaf teas that are alive with flavor and expertly brewed and then strained before being served and stirred.

Paired with your tea, you’ll be delighted with flawless finger sandwiches prepared with the likes of salmon, trout, roast beef, crab, tarragon, capers, dill, and deliciousness. The selections change regularly, but you may find caviar and micro cilantro topping miso deviled eggs, brie and wild mushrooms on a parmesan and brioche bun melting in your mouth, or wagyu tenderloin laced with horseradish cream and blue cheese crumbles.

A varietal selection of pastries with pops of color playfully engage your sweet and not-as-sweet tooth with a wide assortment of scones, tarts, truffles, macarons, madeleines, and miniature cupcakes. Raspberry, caramel, hazelnut, coffee, chocolate, pistachio, and lemon may just be a few of the flavors to be found in these desserts that are delectable and edibly artistic, too.

Like many of the dining delights at Nemacolin, Afternoon Tea is so much more than beautiful bites and a fine cuppa — it’s an experience to be savored, enjoyed, and on which to reflect.