Last Saturday, as a birthday treat me and my sister decided to try afternoon tea at the Copper Café. The Copper Café is situated in the city centre, opposite Theatre Royal and Concert Hall. The Copper Café has an extensive menu, offering all day brunch until 4pm, afternoon tea, lunch, dinner, and also some bar snacks. I have never tried afternoon tea before so this was a first time experience, but overall it was excellent quality for a reasonable and decent price!
Firstly, after deliberating over whether we wanted wine or coffee with our afternoon tea, we opted for the non-alcoholic and ordered coffee. Both our latte and mocha came with really cute flowers…
The afternoon tea then came with the typical sandwiches, cake and more cake. The sandwiches consisted of egg mayonnaise with watercress, smoked salmon and cream cheese, and salt beef and horseradish. You are also allowed to change any to a different option, whether that be gluten free or veggie, which are available providing you give them 24 hours’ notice. So if you do book, make sure to mention this!
The sandwiches were generally well prepared and had a variety of flavour. They were really filling and overall a very generous portion. However, I was not a fan of the salt beef and horseradish as I found it too salty and did not mix well with the salmon sandwich. But the cakes soon sorted out my weird aftertaste!
After the sandwiches came fruit scones. These were honestly the best I’ve ever had, full of flavour and were definitely a nice transition into the cakes part of the afternoon tea. Although they were very enjoyable, I did have to leave some to make room for the rest…
Also make sure you order tap water BEFORE you start eating the scones. We both began to struggle as we found the sourdough sticking to our mouths, which can be avoided with a little help from some water, along with more coffee.
After the scones came the selection of puddings. By now, you are quite full so I would choose the pudding you like the most in order to avoid disappointment. The Copper Café offer a winter spiced crème brŭlée, a mini chocolate brownie, and a slice of cake on offer that day which happened to be the coffee cake.
My sister and I managed to have the crème brŭlée and the chocolate brownie, which were both small and light on the stomach. The crème brŭlée felt like a cute mini Christmas pudding and had the right balance of cream, spice and cinnamon. Unfortunately, I am sad to admit that we did not manage to try the coffee cake as, by then, the thought of having any more food was not an appealing option for us!
Overall, my favourite element of the afternoon tea was the fruit scones. Despite sticking to the insides of our mouths, I don’t have scones often and these were truly amazing and so creamy.
My least favourite element was the salt beef and horseradish sandwiches, as they were a bit too salty for my liking. But as mentioned before, you can change some of the sandwich options so I will be sure to do this next time I visit!
I would recommend if…
- You are looking to go somewhere fancy but with reasonable pricing – £12.50 each for afternoon tea and coffee is a bargain!
- You are looking to celebrate a special occasion such as a birthday or for a Christmas meal.
- You have friends or family visiting you – this is a unique café to show people visiting Nottingham.
- You are visiting Nottingham for the day and want to have a nice meal out.
Enjoy!
Images Sources
All others writer’s own