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Hi! I'm Amy, and I'm a shopping writer who's pretty obsessed with food. That means I get tonnes of delicious-sounding PR emails a day, and while I absolutely love hearing all about the newest drops, it's been a while since something pricked my ears as much as M&S' recent £12.50 afternoon tea launch.
So when myself and my M&S-obsessed colleague Jess got invited to attend a preview of their new offering, you'd better believe we jumped at the chance. After all, I've written about how much I love their cafe offerings before – still, if I'm being honest, we were wondering just what we could expect for such a low price point.
When we sat down, though, we realised we needn't have worried. Alongside a pot of tea, the gorgeous two-person trays were packed with eight pretty sandwiches, two delicate macarons, some palmiers (a slept-on pastry IMO), mini cupcakes, a pair of massive scones, some butter, clotted cream, jam, and fresh strawberries (phew). Alright, alright, we were definitely going to have enough between us.
We dove into the sandwiches first, which included a light and airy egg and cress salad option, a chicken, cucumber and rocket sandwich, and a flavour-packed tomato, tangy pickle, and sharp cheddar delight. Both of us, though, were a little surprised to find the perfectly-balanced ham and mustard one was our fave – look, there's nothing wrong with a well-made classic.
Jess is more of a savoury girl than me, so she skipped the scone. I'm physically incapable of ignoring desserts, though – I loved its soft, fluffy interior almost as much as I liked stacking jam, Cornish clotted cream, and strawberries into mine. Plus points for the fact that it was (I believe this is a chef's term) bloody massive.
I'm not going to lie here: I did also commit an atrocity with the two moist mini cupcakes that came on the side, but only because Jess didn't want hers (another reason to go two-person, IMO). I liked the chocolate/vanilla combo, and Jess said that the macarons that she tried instead were not-too-sickly, melt-in-the-mouth perfection, so my sins were sort of atoned for? Let's say that.
And then for my favourite add-on; perfect little flaky palmiers with crunchy cinnamon sugar. Jess (famously a savoury girl) liked hers, and I loved it dipped in my tea (side note, their Earl Grey was honestly among the best cuppas I've had in a while at any price point). These aren't on many afternoon tea boards, and they should be!! You tell 'em, Mark and/or Spencer.
Jess and I kept commenting on how perfect the portion sizes were too. We left feeling the perfect amount of indulgently full – rare for an afternoon tea, where for some reason portions tend to be either too massive or absolutely minute. Oh, and Jess was obsessed with the adorable mini milk jugs (fair enough, really).
All in all, we'd def come back to try this. It's launching in 31 select M&S stores today, and at £12.50 a person, you just can't beat that quality-per-pence ratio (both Jess and I have had some wince-worthy £50+ afternoon tea bills before, and this was well able to compete with those). Plus, it'd make a pretty sweet Mother's Day pressie, right?
You can nab yourself (or someone you fancy a meet-up with) an M&S voucher here.