From marmalade and tea infused scones to lavender infused tea – afternoon tea at Mariage Frères was one of the most contemporary afternoon tea experiences I’ve had.

I visited Mariage Frères tea emporium which claims to offer the world's “largest collection” of teas, with their London branch located in a Georgian Townhouse in Covent Garden.

This Parisian-based tea house offers a wide selection of teas from fruity, contemporary and vintage blends, and also offers customers the chance to sample an afternoon tea.

It’s located in King Street; a stone’s throw away from Covent Garden Market and a short walk from nearby theatres and museums.

Upon first walking into the building, it looks like something out of a set for a period drama. The old style tea emporium has an old world charm, with dark wood and shelves upon shelves of different flavour tea.

Afternoon tea is served upstairs in a room with views of King’s Street Outside, and has a Parisian black and white monochrome décor.

The afternoon tea changes seasonally, and the current theme of the afternoon tea is in line with the Lunar New Year and the Sakura festival in Japan.

The afternoon tea includes savoury options in the form of a brioche type of bun served with different fillings, tea infused scones, and three sweet treats themed around Lunar New Year.

The tea menu took me completely by surprise, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a menu with so many different options for tea before.

I did struggle trying to read all of them that were on the menu, so I resorted to asking one of the servers for a recommendation.

The server asked me some questions to determine what my preferences were and recommended a lavender and rose infused tea.

The savouries consisted of three brioche buns filled with different fillings including salmon, chicken and chickpea and tagine.

They had a lot of flavour, however they were very filling on account of the thick dough consistency, and I was conscious that I had even more food to get through.

The tea infused scones were served with butter and marmalade as opposed to the traditional jam and cream affair.

It was certainly a novel experience and something I’ve never tried before, although I don’t think the experience would be enough to steer me away from the traditional route.

The sweet options were three mousses in different flavours, themed around Asian flavours including matcha, cherry blossom and almond.

One mousse, fashioned into the shape of a rabbit to represent the year of the rabbit, was made with matcha and a mint sauce centre.

The flavour was rather strong on account of the mint sauce, and on reflection I’d probably have tried this last due to its strong mint tase.

There was also a mousse which consisted of Sakura (cherry blossom) and dark chocolate, which was probably the richest flavour out of all three.

Finally, I finished with an almond mousse on a tarte base, which was fashioned into the shape of a sheep with gold leaf.

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This had to be my favourite out of all three, with a light sweet flavour, and the pastry base of the tarte.

The experience was a departure from the traditional afternoon teas I’ve had in the past, and was an interesting mix of contemporary flavours, giving it a more cosmopolitain feel.

All in all, this afternoon tea is one of the most contemporary I’ve tried in London, and it offers a unique experience for anyone looking to try something new.