I only went to Bea's of Bloomsbury this week for lunch but I made sure it was a good one. I got an entire afternoon tea to go and ate it at my desk!

I've been meaning to go to Bea's for ages now and I finally decided it was time after Bea emailed me herself! I didn't particularly like the cupcake I had at Taste of London and Bea asked me to come by and to try one from the shop.

You can see the open kitchen in the back

I decided that I wouldn't take the free cupcake (never thought I'd hear myself say that!) so I could be some what impartial (I don't think I could be harsh about a cupcake anyway). I thought getting an afternoon tea would give me a good sampling of what Bea's have to offer.

There were plenty of choices

I got the afternoon tea to go. Usually the tea to go comes in a nice hamper and you're supposed to take it to the park, but I had to go back to work so they put it in a bag for me. There was a lot of food in there! I decided on a vanilla black tea. The vanilla flavor was nice. I was able to use the tea bag once more later in the afternoon.

That's a lot of boxes. I did pretty much eat everything. I'm not a food critic and I was a finance major not an English major so I'm not a whizz when it comes to words or descriptive adjectives so I've tried to elaborate how it all tasted as best I can. 

I got my tea with an egg, pesto and tomato sandwich (for a little extra). This was way better and more creative than a traditional egg and cress sandwich normally served with tea. The bread was fresh and really soft. I really enjoyed the pesto.

I chose a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting this time. I had a vanilla cupcake with blackberry frosting at Taste of London. The frosting was very good and fruity and not too sweet. The cake I didn't like, but we had ours at nearly 4pm so the cake had been sitting outside since 11am (which could not be helped. They were only allowed to cart things in before 11am).

In her email to me Bea said that in normal conditions the cupcakes are baked throughout the day as they need them (my chocolate one did taste much fresher). She also mentioned that their cupcakes don't use a lot of sugar and hence are not overly moist. They've also been called the anti-cupcake.

What did I think the second time around? I thought that it was very beautifully decorated and frosted. I enjoyed the frosting. It was dark and rich and not too sweet. The cake was not dry but not super moist. I thought it tasted best when eaten with a fork and I could take a bite of frosting and cake together. The frosting helped lubricate the cake (if that makes sense at all). I might have to eat a few more varieties to make a final decision! I do think it's good that Bea has done something different. It would be boring if all cupcakes were the same.

These all came in a box of mini desserts. At the top is a cassis marshmallow. I thought this was great. The raspberry flavor was really strong and the marshmallow was soft, fresh and fruity. I don't think I've ever had a fresh marshmallow before. I'll think twice before eating another Jiffy Puff again.

Going clockwise from the marshmallow was a white chocolate blondie. I thought it was really small but there was so much to eat that it was actually just the right size. I was struggling to finish when I got to the vanilla meringue so I only had one bite. I didn't think it was worth using up the rest of my appetite on. There was nothing wrong with it I just prefer other desserts to meringue. Last mini dessert was the Valrhona brownie. I love brownies that have that slight crisp top from being in the oven.

I saved the scone for last since they're usually pretty filling. Since I had the sandwich a mini scone would have been enough. I'm American and not a scone expert. I'll leave that to the English but I liked it.

Overall, I really liked the tea. I think that it's good value for the price. I would go back and have it in the shop rather than at my office desk!

Total Price (I paid for my tea and didn't tell Bea I was coming): £12.95