Royal Afternoon Tea at the Adlon Kempinski (Berlin, Germany)

I am a big fan of food and fancy events, hence a stylish afternoon tea is right up my alley. I have tried a few different ones already, including a very classical British Royal Wedding Afternoon Tea in London (UK), a whimsical themed Beauty and the Beast afternoon tea, a Disney Afternoon Tea with a nice Oolong Tea in Orlando (USA), and a very beautiful Afternoon Tea at the Butchart Gardens in Victoria (Canada) and an Afternoon Tea at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney (Australia). Now it was time to see what Germany had to offer.

 

The British Afternoon Tea...

The afternoon tea ceremony has its beginnings in England. It was first created by Anna Russell, the Duchess of Bedford and a lifelong friend of Queen Victoria in the early 19th century. During that time, dinner was served later and later in the day and except for breakfast there was only a light lunch. The afternoon time was quite long and the Duchess found that a tea with sandwiches or cakes was the perfect addition and best enjoyed in company.

 

Searching for the best afternoon tea in Berlin...

Germany is not very famous for its afternoon tea, but you can find everything in Berlin :) There are a few fancy hotels including the Regent Hotel, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and the Hotel du Rome that offer a high standard afternoon tea. They are all luxury hotels offering quite pricy afternoon tea, even compared to the afternoon tea prices in the UK. However, I desperatly wanted to try a German afternoon tea and compare it to my previous experiences. After an intensive research, I chose the Adlon Kempinski Hotel as it was the only one that offered unlimited accompanying tea. For me, afternoon tea is a ceromy that takes at least 90 minutes but can easily reach up to 4 hours in good company. The tea is accompanied by several courses of food. So, let's be honest, you do need more than just one cup of tea for that. I also enjoy trying different kinds of tea, especially flavors that are maybe not so common (e.g., Oolong tea, White tea, etc.).

 

The Adlon Kempinski Hotel

The Adlon Kempinski is a luxury hotel with a hollywood style story. It is situated right next to the Brandenburger Gate. It was build in 1907 and was torched in 1945 during the war. It was then torn down completely in 1984 and rebuild after the German reunification. Several famous people have stayed there, including former US president Barack Obama. It is also well known for the infamous scene of Michael Jackson, dangling his 9 month old son from the fourth floor balcony in 2002.


Royal Afternoon Tea at the Belle Etage

The Hotel offers afternoon tea during the week in their beautiful lobby area around their famous elephant fountain. On weekends, it is served on the Belle Etage, overlooking the lobby. They offer a traditional Royal Afternoon Tea or the Berlin themed afternoon tea (containing more meat options and Berlin themed sweets). We chose the traditional one and there were several little highlights, including the table side flambéeing of the Baba au Rhum and the soft live piano music playing the Ed Sheeran song "Thinking Out Loud". As a big Ed Sheeran fan, that was a very enjoyable moment :)

I also really appreciated how accomodating they were to one of my friend's dietary restrictions. They changed the menu accordingly, substituted the sandwiches to delicous sandwiches with fresh grilled veggies and chicken, a nice non-alcoholic plum crumble cake (instead of the Baba au Rhum), and also certain substitues in the sweets. 


The food was served in three courses: 

1. Finger Sandwiches: One with egg salad and cucumber, one with ham and cream cheese, one with cheddar cheese and pickles, and one with chicken and cream cheese (all on different kinds of bread).
2. Baba au Rhum: Usually a yeast cake saturated in rum, they served a very light and airy mini bundt cake saturated in rum and flambéed table side.
3. Three Tiered Étagere:  First Plate - raisin and plain scones with jam and clotted cream. Second Plate - a cream puff with red current, a dark chocolate mouse with salted caramel and pecan nut in form of a white/black pepple, and a cocolate tarte with a lemon cream filling and a merengue top. Third Plate - a fancy mango mouse with a passionfruit jelly filling and a raspberry mouse with a matcha cake filling.with scones and two plates of sweets. 

And with the check you get the last little treat - a fruit tea truffle :)


Unlimited Ronnefeld Tea:

Accompanying the food, they served unlimeted tea from a small but exclusive Ronnefeld Tea selection. There selection included white silver tip, jasmin pearls and oolong tea. I do love a good oolong, and not just because its name literally translates to "Black Dragon" :) My favorite tea was the lightly nutty but mellow "Superior Fancy Oolong", followed by a very fruity "Morgentau", a green tea with rose petals, cornflowers, and marigold.