Liberté at the London Hotel, Albany, Western Australia

"High Tea and champagne in Albany - Lovely!"

The High Tea Inspectors left stifling hot Perth and headed to a fresh and invigorating Albany for the booked out event (held every three months), Liberté High Tea.

We were shown into a most elegant room with outstanding table settings (refer photo below). The staff that attended to us were all very pleasant and accommodating, with several high maintenance attendees from amongst my group- ha! A three tiered stand of afternoon tea delights along with a glass of champagne awaited the high tea lovers, with lots of people looking quite splendid for the event which is always a nice touch.

The champagne was flowing freely along with tea and coffee all complemented by the sandwiches and cakes offered. I particularly enjoyed the macaroons, quite delicious.

The string quartet playing background music was enjoyable and contributed to a very fine afternoon.

This event is well organised and a credit to the staff. The Liberté high tea is offered about four times a year. So if your planning a trip to Albany maybe phone ahead and check out when they are holding the next high tea at the Liberté. You could be lucky. We all agreed it was a most enjoyable way to spend Sunday afternoon in Albany.

Tea Lounge, The Hyatt, Canberra

Canberra – Leading the nation in High Tea

When you tell folks that you are going to Canberra – Heart of the Nation – the response will generally be enquiring whether it’s for work or to see friends and family, since obviously it could be for no other rational purpose. But... as you enter the foyer of the gloriously green and sprawling five-star art deco Hyatt Hotel Canberra, and catch a glimpse of the tea lounge, with its buffet table positively laden with gleaming jewels of petit-fours, an abundance of scones, macaroons, hot filo parcels, quiches, sandwiches, cookies and tiny glasses of white and dark chocolate pannacotta - your heart gives a little flutter of afternoon tea delight. Yes, you think to yourself, I Have Arrived!

From 2:30 to 5:00pm every day, the impressive array of old favourites and new twists bedecks the centre of the tea lounge. I would recommend booking ahead (I booked on the day and got the very last table) and getting a table indoors so you can have not only the benefit of easy buffet table access, but also the sounds of the grand piano playing just the right jazzy tunes for the occasion.

At $45 per person, it may give some pause, however, I like to justify these things by not having lunch or dinner and then amortising the cost over these two meals and then you have a bargain. Indeed, you really need to have a good initial appetite and pace yourself well in order to get to have a taste of all the things that take your fancy. I went with a very good friend, and even with having half a serve each of the things we tried, I doubt we would have got to even 60% of the total selection on offer. So make sure you do a full lap of the table and employ the appropriate strategy for an afternoon tea of this magnitude.

Good coffee and tea is included, as is a glass of sparkling wine. The tea cups and plates are nice with their art deco detail and I couldn’t fault the service. Based on the experience I had, this should be on the list of Canberra attractions right alongside the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, and Parliament House.

The George, Perth, Western Australia

"For a most pleasant relaxing afternoon, try "The George" for high tea!"

At The George you will find a modern chic setting for your high tea along with friendly staff who explain the three choices on offer (one with tea, one with sparkling wine, one with champagne). Our group decided on the non-alcoholic version served with a good selection of teas (that can be purchased from Tea for Me, London Court). My choice was a lovely jasmine dragon pearl green tea and it was very nice indeed.

First was a generous serving of home baked scones with homemade strawberry-raspberry-chilli jam and cream. We needed extra jam and cream which was attended to efficiently. A three tiered server was next with open sandwiches, warm tartlets and cakes.

The high tea was well patronised mainly by women enjoying their free time on a pleasant Sunday afternoon with friends, great food, tea and conversation. An improvement for me would be playing the music at a lower volume.

We all enjoyed ourselves and agreed we will return.

The Ritz London Book of Afternoon Tea

"A delightful book by Helen Simpson."

This book, a christmas present is a little gem. I read it whilst partaking in my favourite beverage, green tea from my special pot and tea cup.

Helen Simpson tells us the story of "Tea at the Ritz", "The History of Tea Drinking" along with many recipes, teas and the variety of afternoon teas we can enjoy.

As yet I haven't had the time to try the recipes but I will definitely look at doing some of them.

I am so looking forward to one day having tea at the Ritz and a hearty high tea in Scotland. The High Tea Inspector will be coming soon.

This is a lovely, well written book by a lady who knows all about the world's favourite drink. Enjoy.

Voyager Estate, Margaret River, Western Australia

When you desire more than wine, try the devonshire tea!

On a recent trip to our wonderful south west of Western Australia, we called into the outstanding Voyager Estate. Not for the excellent wines, the morning tea.

This was my third visit to Voyager (all for dining) and each time my party have been impressed.

My intention this visit was the devonshire tea with a green sencha tea and my guest chose the gluten free orange and syrup cake with a flat white.

The scones were warm, soft and very tasty with the strawberry jam and generous amount of cream. The green sencha tea was served in a good sized, lovely pot. Booyah- all most enjoyable. As for the orange cake feedback; "tasty, moist and couldn't get any better"- so a great choice all round.

The restaurant is in a wonderful relaxing room where you can enjoy the very fine dining of the Voyager Estate. Recommend a visit.

High Tea at the Maj, His Majestys Theatre, Perth, Western Australia

"Sold out!" with high expectations from the many lovers of fine afternoon tea.

It has been some weeks since my last high tea outing and finally the much anticipated afternoon arrived. His Majestys Theatre had organised and advertised "High Tea at the Maj" and the tea lovers arrived in droves all looking splendid and in happy spirits to the welcoming music by the excellent trio "Sweethearts".

The two tiered savoury and sweet selections were already on the tables and all that was needed was to order our choices of hot drinks. The staff were extremely busy attending to all the requests, but handled them efficiently and with a very friendly manner. Hot drink choices were coffee, black, green or herbal teas. My choice was a very nice jasmine china imperial tea. From the savoury selections my favourites were the smoked salmon tartlet and the chicken waldorf finger sandwiches. And from the sweet selection the french petit four and the large strawberry dipped in chocolate.

As you might expect from our lovely old theatre the string trio was a lovely accompaniment. A lot of thought went into this event, including the tea selection and a pleasant balance of sweet and savoury treats.

Recommendations for future events would be perhaps to have a staggered start from 1pm onwards, but most certainly this was a good performance and one that calls for an encore.

Cape Lavender, Swan Valley, Western Australia

The Swan Valley is a lovely place to visit in the spring, so the High Tea Inspectors made a booking at Cape Lavender for their "Cape Lavender High Tea".

Situated in Cranleigh Street, I found it quiet and relaxing. The friendly staff offered a selection of hot savouries, sandwiches, baby cakes, mini scones with a generous amount of strawberry jam and cream, all with tea or coffee. My selection was a lovely pot of green tea.

This is just the place to get off the main roads and enjoy some excellent value. At $20 per person you can't go wrong.

They also have a lavender gift shop with everything lavender. I bought some lavender arthritic balm for my husband. I will let you know how it goes.