Bea's of Bloomsbury

Meringues = eton mess.

Bea's of Bloomsbury.

Bloomsbury, London.

A story of serendipi-tea:

Bea's is a bakery cafe that my roommate and I happened upon while walking through Bloomsbury. Little did we know, it is headed by Chef Bea Vo, a Nobu pastry alumna who set off on her own to create this labor of love and found success along the way. It's a humble little spot that doesn't need too many words and is best explained through pictures.

Fruit salad, a duffin, and chai tea.

Come throughout the day and see a magically different display every time. 

Breakfast offers muffins, scones, breads, and pastries along with the curious "duffin".

Duffin!

What is a duffin you ask?

A muffin-shaped cake doughnut filled with tart berry jam.  Breaking it open reveals a buttery, dense cake kept moist by the toasty sugar crust. 

Assam Breakfast Black Tea.

At around 3PM, afternoon tea begins! For something lighter than the "Afternoon Tea" , there is the "Sweet Tea" with all the usual confections minus the tea sandwiches.

Solitary brown sugar cube in white tea cup. Modern art with political undertones?

Nothing is nearly as beautiful as the swirl of milk in tea.

Never take your tea with both milk and lemon because the acid in the lemon will cause the milk to curdle.

Top tier: cassis and caramel cupcakes, walnut brownies, blondies.
Bottom tier: homemade passion fruit marshmallows, brownies, scones, mini meringues.

Scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserves.

And what is tea without scones? Bea's scones are tender and quaint in comparison to the hulking, dry monstrosities sold in some US coffee/tea shops. Served with a little warmth from the oven, they are to be slathered with strawberry preserves and clotted cream, a thick cream with sunny color due to high butterfat content.

Cassis cupcake.

Italian buttercream, you either love it or you hate it. 

Here, the moist cupcakes are hampered by unctuous Italian buttercream. Overwhelming lardy flavor weighs down the cassis even though the frosting is whipped so much it seems almost illusory.

Mini raspberry meringues.

Sweet Tea ends beautifully with ephemeral bites of meringue and wobbly passion fruit marshmallow.