The Perfect Scone Recipe

Much as I love baking there has always been one sizable chink in my armour: the ability to make good scones. On the occasions when I have decided that nothing but a homemade cream tea will do I have attempted to make scones, but something always goes wrong. They're either too small; too hard; or too biscuity - always edible but just not right. More often than not I just throw in the towel before I even begin and opt for rock buns instead. Yesterday though I had the most delicious homemade cream tea and this time the scones were perfect. OK, I need to fess up. I didn't make them. It was actually my supremely talented sister but I have been given step-by-step instructions and I'm pretty sure I could replicate their deliciousness all on my own.

Review: Tea Pod, London Bridge

There's no doubt that going out for afternoon tea is a special treat: the cakes; the scones; the little sandwiches. But tea-drinking is not just about leisurely afternoons spent overdosing on sugar: sometimes you just fancy a good cuppa. At home this is no problem - I need only open my overflowing tea cupboard and take my pick from the forty or so teas (!) therein. But what to do when I'm out and about?

An Art Deco Delight

I really love the idea of pop-up restaurants. The chance to visit someone's home and have them cook for you is exciting and definitely satisfies the nosey-parker in me. Although I'd only been to one pop-up afternoon tea before I have been keeping my eyes open for any others that looked appealing. Then, out of the blue, I got an email from my lovely friend B who told me about an Art Deco inspired tea party that her and her partner S were going to. Frankly, the words Art Deco and tea put together in a sentence are enough to make me go just about anywhere but when she told me it was in Peckham - just up the road from me - I was beyond excited.

Tea on the Go

For many of us, Christmas means a lot of time spent driving between relatives delivering Christmas cheer and indulging in one-too-many mince pies. One of the worst things about being on the road is drinking horrid machine coffee from a paper cup; I mean, I don't even consider drinking takeaway tea in those circumstances as, although I love a good cuppa, I'd rather avoid tea altogether than drink an underwhelming cup. I guess I'm just not one of those "can't live without tea types"; I find it relatively easy to give it a miss if there's only a disappointing bog-standard tea on offer.

Review: Napoljonska, Mitte

Do you sometimes get stuck in a rut afternoon tea-wise? No? Well maybe it's just me. Really good tea and cake experiences are just not that thick on the ground, so when I have the chance to indulge I find it very difficult to pass up on one of my old favourites where I know I'm going to get exactly what I want. But sometimes you have to branch out and try something new.

Review: Jade Vital, Kreuzberg

The promise of a nice cup of tea is enough to encourage me to do pretty much anything. So when a friend told me about a place near her Berlin flat that served up a massage accompanied by a cup of tea I was intrigued. I am not the world's greatest massage fan but the thought of being pummelled whilst trying to sip a scorching brew sounded exciting if not a little dangerous. I decided I'd give it a try.

Review: Soho's Secret Tearoom

Do you ever find yourself in that situation where you discover something and wonder how you hadn't known about it before? That's what happened to me a couple of weeks ago when my friend M had a stopover in town on her way from Tokyo to Düsseldorf. I was wracking my brains trying to think of somewhere to take her when I decided to do a bit of Googling for inspiration. Narrowing my parameters to Soho, Covent Garden and Piccadilly (nobody wants to spend a stopover trekking around town) I saw a couple of references to Soho's Secret Tea Room. At first I ignored them not realising this was the actual name of the place and then I did a little bit more digging. Here, apparently, was an old-fashioned tearoom in a hidden room above one of Soho's most traditional pubs. Why had I not heard of it before? How long had it been there? Was it any good?