Starting about four or five years ago, English style "afternoon tea" began to gain popularity in Taiwan's urban areas. At tea time many people will spend NT$80 to NT$150 on a cup of Earl Grey tea accompanied by a slice of cake or a few biscuits. But this is the simplest variety of teatime. For the higher price of around NT$200 to NT$300, one can have a choice of teas, served with cake, scones and sandwiches along with cream and jam, on a three-tier silver platter, for a thoroughly English taste. Recently, an even more substantial kind of afternoon tea with buffet has become fashionable in large hotels, where the main selling point is that the price includes "all you can eat."
Afternoon tea in large hotels is served at prices ranging from NT$350 to NT$550, and the accompanying buffet dishes range from Chinese style meat-filled zongzi, chicken wings and steamed dumplings, to Western-style smoked salmon, toasted cheese and caviar; every one a main dish. Even an hour before tea is served at three, people are queuing up at the door. The fine cakes and Western style snacks which are served along with the main dishes have become a side show; first let's get all that food inside us!
According to "visual observation" by hotel staff, the main clientele for afternoon tea is made up of married and younger women with money and leisure to spare. They don't eat much, so simply using food to delight their palates may not be enough to capture their hearts. So now one large Taipei hotel puts on "Flower Art Afternoon Tea" and another puts on "Dancing and Tea," hiring well-known instructors to teach flower-arranging and ballroom dancing to cater to various tastes. Other establishments have put on fashion shows, with quite a degree of success.
But apart from the fine foods, beautiful flowers and exquisite dancing at Taipei's afternoon tea venues, what about the tea? Believe it or not, most of the fine hotels serve the same thing: Lipton's black tea in teabags!
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Her mind's on other things: the main attraction of "afternoon tea" in Taiwan today is not the tea, but the "all you can eat"menu. (photo by Hsueh Chi-kuang)
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