Ashley and Nicola Bywater welcome you to Pommes Teashop, online
Welcome to Pommes Teashop - "A Little Taste of England"
UNFORTUNATELY, DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL (SUCH AS END OF LEASE) THE TEASHOP HAS BEEN CLOSED. PLEASE DO NOT LISTEN TO SILLY RUMOURS STATING THAT WE HAVE BECOME BANKRUPT/IN LIQUIDATION ETC BECAUSE THEY ARE UNTRUE AND TOLD BY PEOPLE THAT HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO. DUE TO THE LARGE INVESTMENT MADE BY US, WHICH WE DID NOT GET BACK, THIS SHOP WILL NOT REOPEN/RELOCATE ETC IN THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE. THE CORNERSHOP HAS BEEN SOLD TO COVER ALL DEBTS AND THE BYWATERS WILL BE STARTING AFRESH.
WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK EACH AND EVERY CUSTOMER FOR THEIR SUPPORT OVER THE 4 YEARS WE TRADED AND WE WISH THEM ALL THE VERY BEST FOR THE FUTURE.
NOW WE HAVE PERMANENT RESIDENCY (THANK YOU WYNNUM HERALD, 4BC RADIO, JOHN LAWS, CHANNEL 7 TODAY,TONIGHT AND THE COMMUNITY) AND WISH TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE AGAIN (AND EVEN HAVE SOME TIME OFF!)
THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN
ASHLEY AND NICOLA BYWATER
The History of Afternoon Tea
Catherine of Braganza is credited with making tea the official royal court beverage after her marriage to Charles II in 1662. Tea, at this time, was very expensive, highly taxed and a rare commodity.
However, it was not until the 1800’s that tea was affordable enough to indulge in the new custom of afternoon tea, made famous by the 7th Duchess of Bedford, Anna, who was infamously always hungry by mid-afternoon and could not wait until dinner, which would have been served about 9.00pm and so would ask her staff to serve bread and butter slices, cakes, biscuits and tea at around 4.00pm. In honour of the Duchess of Bedford, we have two traditional set menu afternoon teas – the Duchess of Bedford Afternoon Tea (with finger sandwiches, a slice of cake, scone with cream and preserve and a pot of tea or coffee) and the Duke of Bedford Afternoon Tea (with finger sandwiches, mini sausage rolls, scone with cream and preserve and a pot of tea or coffee) – both served on tiered cake stands in the traditional style.
This novel ‘afternoon tea’ idea became such a fashionable pastime of the British upper classes that grand hotels adopted this idea and new tea houses, such as Lyon’s in London, began opening early in the 19th century. It is still a favourite pastime to indulge in an afternoon tea in top London Hotels such as The Ritz, Claridges and The Savoy.
Afternoon tea continued to be popular throughout the Edwardian period (1901 – 1910) and when popular dances such as the Argentinean Tango arrived, the grand hotels began hosting tea dances to combine favourite activities. These tea dances continued to be important social events until World War II. However some hotels are reviving these traditional events and their popularity is rising again.
It is interesting to note the popularity of Pommes Teashop in Australia, in fact, several teashops have opened in the last 12 months, all claiming to be the best. All we can say is that Pommes is owned by English people, making English recipes and importing English items. We do not sell to any other outlet, nor do we ‘share’ recipes with anyone. We are, in fact, unique.
English afternoon tea is served on English china with silver cutlery and white linen or lace tablecloths and napkins.
Dainty finger sandwiches with classic English fillings such as roast beef, cucumber and cream cheese or egg and cress are served (with no crusts) with either mini savoury pastries (such as sausage rolls) or slices of home made cake, such as Victoria sponge cake, lemon cake with glace icing or sticky pastries.
Next follows the ‘piece de resistance’ – warm, freshly baked scones, smothered in hand made clotted cream and strawberry jam – an experience not to be missed! (Several articles have been written on the psychology of whether to put the jam or the cream on the scone first!)
The Pommes Teashop Experience
will strive to bring some of this indulgent, traditional atmosphere to a new audience in Australia.
We will offer homemade cakes, scones and hot puddings with English specialities such as handmade clotted cream (made to a traditional, secret recipe) and flavoured custards to go with the puddings such as mint custard with chocolate coconut slice or caramel flavoured custard with apple crumble.
We will also offer a teashop with a unique English atmosphere with our colour scheme of forest green and cream, charming brass wall lights and hand made wooden furniture. As well as keeping to tradition with either traditional English monotone china or white china and lace tablecloths on all tables.
Pommes will also try to bring a little bit of nostalgia to its shop by displaying antique, rare and novelty china such as cake stands, cheese wedges and fine bone china trios, all made in England, along with a small library of books on aspects of England and its culture.
In addition to our teashop, we now import a large range of English, Irish and Scottish items such as chocolate bars, pick and mix sweets, jars of sweets, grocery lines (such as Bisto, Paxo, Mcvities, Jacobs, Walkers etc), Tayto crisps, Scottish drinks (Irn Bru, Vimto, D&B, Tizer) and many other products. We are continually updating our stocks and have several deliveries a month so if there is anything you crave, we may be able to help you.
We aim to offer the best quality, service and value in a totally unique setting.
Thank you for visiting my page at Angelfire.
Please come back and visit again!
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