Afternoon
TAKING afternoon tea is a tradition dating back 300 years. And, while the modern working age doesn't allow for everything to stop at 3.30pm, thousands of people still have a cup of tea at their desks, with an accompanying snack as a necessity.
These might be chocolate biscuits, muffins, mini Danish pastries, eclairs, or the perennially popular teacakes, scones and cakes.
To check out what is available on the market, Chef gathered together a panel of tasters from the food service sector - chefs, operations and catering managers - to sample 13 products. The venue for the tasting was Brooke Bond's new teahouse, Ch'a, in North Street, Brighton, which opened in May (Brooke Bond is part of Van den Bergh Food service).
All products were cooked and prepared to manufacturers' instructions before being tasted blind. Butter was used on some of the products where required.
Detailed questionnaires were completed and the tasters were asked to bear in mind what they required from a product on a professional level, as well as their own personal reactions to each product. They were also asked to assess the products on an individual rather than a comparative basis.
Teacakes for two?
A mixture of traditional products and more innovative creations found favour with the tasting panel. Mini Danish pastries from Delifrance, Fruited Tea Cakes from Kara, and Farmhouse Cake from The Handmade Cake Company were rated for their value for money, and the appeal they would have to customers, both in appearance and taste.
However, appearance let down other products. "It looks too manufactured" was a phrase applied to some of the items being tested. "You want things to look home-made without having gone to the effort of baking them" was one taster's opinion.
Judging criteria
Each product was assessed by the tasters on the following criteria:
l Visual impression: was its appearance appetising or unappetising?
l Aroma: did the product have a distinctive aroma? Did the aroma match the product?
l Texture: was the product appropriately moist/dry, coarse/fine? What did the tasters particularly like or dislike about it?
l Flavour: was it bland, natural or artificial? Did it have plenty of taste?
l Overall rating: bearing in mind the cost, quality and value, the tasters were asked to consider whether they would be prepared to serve the product in their own establishments.
The tasters
MARIA GRIECO is operations manager for Ch'a, and was our host for the tasting. The shop offers a combination of tea, sandwiches and bacon butties to a daily average of 180 customers in the 32-seat teahouse.
Customer spend is around £2.45 per head, with best sellers being shortbread, carrot cake, teabreads and bacon butties. When she assesses potential products, Grieco looks out for "a variety of items within a certain price range and with a slight twist to them".
CHRIS PAGE is catering manager for Gardner Merchant at Southern Water, Worthing, West Sussex, looking after around 135 diners a day in the 100-seat staff restaurant. He is also responsible for a directors' table and about 40 seats in private dining rooms around the building.
Afternoon tea spend is 80p per head, with Fabulous Baking Boys' in-house-produced products the most popular. Matching the portion size with cost is high on Page's list of requirements from any product.
CAROLINE GLASBY is an area manager with Sutcliffe Catering. She is based in the south-east, and looks after 12 units ranging from office, factory and delivery sites catering for 900-plus covers to 24-hour, seven-day-a-week units. Altogether, a total of 2,400 meals are served each day in the dozen units for which Glasby is responsible.
Average spend on afternoon tea break is 50p to 75p and Glasby is looking for good quality and value for money in the products served to her diners.
JOHN BECKWITH is executive chef with Van den Bergh Foods. His remit includes recipe development - principally sauces - cooking demonstrations and product quality control.
He frequently takes part in taste tests for Van den Bergh, comparing its products with similar items on the market. Quality consistency and appearance are high on his list of product requirements.
OWEN ENGLISH works for Roux Fine Dining as a sous chef at London's Twentyfour restaurant. The operation has a 72-seat à la carte restaurant, a 32-seat private dining room and an 80-seat buffet area in which English caters for 155 people a day. Customers include lawyers and financiers spending an average of £37 a head. Customers spend about £7.50 a head on afternoon tea, the favoured products mostly being made in-house, including chocolate eclairs and muffins. n
Caterer & Hotelkeeper would like to state that the opinions given in the tasting are those of the tasters alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the magazine.
Additional research and information byZoâ Barnard.
