Afternoon (Tea) Delight At Majeka House [Review]
Growing up, I was never the type of person who enjoyed hot beverages. I don’t drink coffee and because the only tea we ever had in our house was good old fashioned, Five Roses I never really got into the whole tea drinking scene. But then I grew up and realised that there was a whole other world of tea available to me – a world where tea wasn’t just a sickly looking, mud coloured cup of hot water. I ventured into this new-found world, sampling everything from Rooibos to green tea and quickly became somewhat of a tea snob. But why am I telling you this? Because this tea snob has just had the pleasure of experiencing the new afternoon tea offering at the oh-so-awesome Majeka House, Stellenbosch. It was such an incredible experience and I must insist that you get your butt into gear and pay them a visit soon.
For those of you who have never been to Majeka House – either because it’s too far or you’ve missed all the hubbub about this super amazing guest house – you NEED to make a plan because boy are you missing out. And this isn’t one of those times when someone says: “Oh my gawsh, it was soooo amazing” just to make you have some serious FOMO. It is amazing and a whether you’re visiting the famous Makaron restaurant with Chef Tanja Kruger, having a day of pampering in the Majeka House Spa or lucky enough to stay the night in one of the guest house’s beyond beautiful rooms it will be a visit to remember. Of course today I’m focusing on gushing about their new Afternoon Tea offering so lets get back to that shall we?
The great thing about Majeka’s afternoon tea is that it’s all about celebrating the art, ritual and occasion of tea. If you’re a tea snob like me then you will probably know that the ritual of afternoon tea started way back in the day with (the 19th Century to be exact) when the seventh Duchess of Bedford invited London socialites to stylish soirées at which a selection of teas and dainty sweet and savoury eats were served as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. Now Majeka House is carrying on the tradition with a decadent afternoon tea being served in the guest house’s library, on the super cool patio or outside in the tranquil garden everyday between 14:30 and 17:00.
With a delicious and decadent selection of eats and treats created by Chef Tanya Kruger and a wonderfully unique range of unique teas hand picked by the Majeka team along with the help of tea expert, Mingwei this afternoon tea experience is the perfect way to celebrate a special occasion. For R200 each, guests can enjoy a selection of sweet and savoury eats served on a three-tier cake stand along with a variety of loose leaf teas form the tea trolley and a coffee or a glass of sparkling wine. I love that afternoon tea offers a 4 different afternoon tea ‘menus’ (green tea, red berry, chocolate and vanilla) each of which was inspired by the colours and flavours of green tea, rooibos, black Ceylon and vanilla Ceylon teas. As for the tea, there are 12 loose leaf teas blends to choose from in the Majeka tea collection, one of which was created specially for Majeka by tea expert Mingwei.
I was invited to experience afternoon tea at Majeka before the launch and was lucky enough to get the opportunity to attend an ancient Taiwanese tea ceremony with Mingwei. During the ceremony we got the chance to sample some exquisite teas and some yummy treats. My favourite teas from the bunch were definitely the Majeka House Exclusive (a herbal infusion with liquorice root, aniseed, Rooibos leaves, fennel seed, elderberries, rosehip peel with a touch of hibiscus, lavender, sunflower, rose and calendula flowers), the Strawberry and Lemon (Chinese green sencha tea flavoured with strawberry and lemon) and Blood Orange (Rooibos tea blend with blood orange essence). And, if you’re stuck with which tea to choose then Majeka’s trained tea ‘sommeliers’ will help you pair the perfect tea with your food.
Speaking of food – we got to tuck into quite a few samples from the afternoon tea menu and while they were all super delicious my favourites were no doubt Majeka’s unique bread-less Cucumber Sandwiches, the Chocolate Brownies (which were beyond moreish) and the Scones (hands down the best scones in the Cape!). The Profiteroles with Matcha Mouse were also amazing and I loved the sweet and bitter combination in these little puffs of heaven. Other things to look forward to on the menu include savoury Madeleines, éclairs, fruit tartlets, miniature roulades, macaroons (a house specialty), meringues and marshmallows.
Afternoon Tea at Majeka House is by booking only. For more information on Majeka’s afternoon tea visit the Majeka House website.
