English High Tea in Austin

I love tea. I love all tea. I especially enjoy hot tea…year round. It’s 100 degrees outside in the Texas summer and I’m inside sipping hot tea most of the day. I like iced tea, too, but hot is my favorite. Truthfully….I’ve never met tea I didn’t like!

I also (totally random fact about The Educational Tourist) collect tea pots. Yes, I’m a total nerd that way. Here are a few of my favorites. I even have some gorgeous ones just for Christmas.

So, I love tea and I love tea pots – of course I had to try English High Tea, right?

I’ve had high tea a few times over the years – at the Ritz Hotel in Paris and at the Browne Palace in Denver. Most recently I took the kids for their first English High Tea experience! I chose a quirky locally owned place in Austin for their introduction and we had a great time!

English High Tea in Austin, Texas

We chose the British cafe called the Full English and I called to make a reservation. I was glad I did because once we arrived I realize it is a very small place so getting a reservation is really important. Don’t stress over a place to sit – call ahead.

Austin is a really quirky place and we just love that. As a matter of fact, Austin’s city slogan is actually “Keep Austin Weird” so I figured this place would be a wonderful combination of ‘Austin Weird” and “British High Tea formality” and that is exactly what is it!!

What exactly IS English High Tea? Well, basically it is having cute little snacks and tea mid afternoon – like a tea party for grown ups!

CLICK HERE – Learn all about the history of English High Tea!

The English High Tea Menu

The menu for English High Tea is usually quite similar. You’ll have tiny sandwiches without crust which have been cut into tiny triangles. They’ll be filled with any number of things but most commonly you’ll find egg salad or cucumber.

We are a nut free family after recent allergy testing which showed my son to be HIGHLY allergic to tree nuts- even more than mine! We requested that we not have ANY nuts in anything – even though we ordered for three people, and they honored our request without even batting an eyelash.

At the Full English British cafe in Austin, we had several sandwiches – egg salad, English cheddar with the in house homemade chutney and cucumber vinaigrette. They were just adorable and so good! The chutney was really fantastic.

Also on the menu for any English High Tea are sweets. In addition to my love for tea…I love sugar. Nothing is ever ‘too sweet’ for me. You know some people say, “Oh, it was just too sweet. Yuck!” when referring to wine or a dessert. I always offer to switch with them because I guarantee I will love anything described as ‘too sweet’. We were, of course, delighted to try each and every tiny beautiful sweet. They were ALL heavenly.

Kids enjoy trying ‘clotted cream’ and checking out real scones.

What is the number ONE thing on any menu for English High Tea? The tea, of course! This British cafe had a very large menu of different types of tea – with caffeine, without caffeine, herbal, traditional, bagged or loose leaf. Ask for a suggestion if you aren’t sure what you would like to try.

If you are having tea for a party with several people you can choose one tea each or one large teapot of the same kind to share. Honestly, I wanted to try some new things and since I love tea pots, I wanted to get to see several! So, we chose traditional English Breakfast, peach and African Nectar. They were all wonderful.

My daughter decided to try milk in her tea, like the Brits do and loved it! She thought putting our her pinky would really make the experience ‘divine’ and I think she was right!

You can get coffee….but that just didn’t seem right! LOL!

Full English British Cafe

2000 Southern Oaks Drive

Austin, 78745

512 – 240 – 2748

Hours: 

Monday -CLOSED

Tuesday – CLOSED

Wednesday and Thursday – 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Friday – 9:00 am – 9:00 pm

Saturday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Sunday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

If a full English High Tea isn’t your thing…how about traditional British breakfast including bangers! Bangers are a British style sausage and here they are made from scratch. You can ask for gluten free version if you need. You can even order some to take home and cook yourself.

Another specialty is British bacon. So, apparently, British bacon is really different than American bacon. The British style bacon is made from a different part of the pig and it is leaner. The British bacon served at Full English comes from a the oldest business in Britain who has made meats for people as far back as Henry VIII.

Breakfast is served all day so come hungry for a fun British experience.

Not into bangers but still want some traditional British food? The menu includes fish and chips! It just doesn’t get any more English than deep fried cod and potato chips.

We had a fun afternoon experience here and recommend it for a fun mixture of a very English snack time and a quirky Austin flavor.

We love the decor, too! It had a little bit of a British feel and a little bit of a weird Austin vibe. I especially enjoyed the quotes in the bathroom like this one!

Have English High Tea as a fun, cultural experience for the kids. It is good training, too, because you never know when you might have tea with the Queen!

Tea is enjoyed all over the world!

CLICK HERE – Tea is served in Turkey

COMING SOON –  OKC Museum of Art cafe serves High Tea

Happy Travels – Cheerio!

Natalie, The Educational Tourist