Category Archives: Uncategorized

21/01/2014 · 7:30 pm

Sunday Sessions at Afternoon Tease…be gone Sunday night blues!

Are you, like me, one of those unfortunate souls who suffers from ‘The Sunday Night Blues’? The black cloud of gloom that hovers on your periphery from around midday on a Sunday (or if you’ve got a very bad case, plagues you from the minute you open your eyes on Sunday morning); that niggling ‘don’t want to go to work tomorrow’ feeling that, if not dealt with correctly, can ruin the latter part of your weekend!?

Through years of experimentation, I have found the best way to deal with ‘TSNB’ is to gather a group of friends and hole yourself up in an establishment with an ‘extension to your living room’ style atmosphere and which will serve you a nice bit of grub and a few alcoholic beverages but then will very nicely turf you out at 9pm so that you can go home and get a good nights sleep and be bright eyed and bushy tailed for work on Monday morning!

If you are a sufferer look no further, Afternoon Tease is here to help you out in the form of our Sunday Session. We usually close at 5pm on Sundays but once a month we are going to be staying open until 9pm. We’ll be cooking up a hearty one pot meal (think steaming bowls of macaroni cheese or veggie chilli with a big chunk of bread) and will have a selection of affordable wines and beers on sale. Not only that but we will also be in the company of the very talented Will Robert!

You may have seen Will perform at one of Cambridge’s live music venues but he can most often be found busking around town…one things for sure…if you haven’t heard him, you’ve been missing out!

To quote his website…’over the years he developed his own brand of infectious, guitar focussed acoustic music. Experimenting with open tunings, unusual guitar techniques and percussive elements, Will creates an exciting dynamic connecting melody and rhythm through the body of his acoustic guitars.’

Why not have a sneaky listen to some of his tunes in advance, here.

So here it is, an open invitation to come down to the cafe on Sunday 2nd February between 5pm and 9pm (feel free to drop in and drop out as and when you like), come and enjoy some good food & booze, music and company and banish those Sunday Night Blues at Afternoon Tease!

Visit our Facebook event page here to let us know you’re coming…see you on the 2nd.

Christmas in the cafe…and our festive opening hours…

How is it possible that Christmas has snuck up and were only just a week away from the big day!?

The cafe is looking and feeling very festive, with Polish star decorations made by my Mum and a shower of stars around the neon…

Our Christmas cakes are made, have been lovingly decorated by Marth, Ivana and I and are adorning the counter…

We’ve been unashamedly banging out the Christmas tunes every now and again to get into the spirit and have been sharing the treat of opening the cafe advent calendar with our customers :)…

We will be open over the Christmas / New Year period…a haven for you busy last minute shoppers or sale bargain hunters to take a well earned rest and have a restorative sandwich or bowl of homemade soup and a cuppa or pop in simply to treat yourselves to some peace, quiet and coffee during your Christmas holidays!

Our opening hours for the next couple of weeks are below, but…before you scroll down, I’d just like to take this opportunity to wish you, our new regulars, who brighten our days and fill up our loyalty cards and those of you who we are yet to meet, a very Merry Christmas from the Afternoon Tease Team!

PS. It’s not too late to buy Treat Voucher‘s 🙂

Christmas / New Year opening times…

Monday 23 Dec- 9am – 5pm
Tuesday 24 Dec – 9am – 4pm
Wednesday 25 Dec – CLOSED
Thursday 26 Dec – CLOSED
Friday 27 Dec – 9am – 5pm
Saturday 28 Dec – 9am – 5pm
Sunday 29 Dec – 10am – 5pm

Monday 30 Dec – 9am – 5pm
Tuesday 31 Dec – 9am – 4pm
Wednesday 1 January – CLOSED
Thursday 2 January – 8am – 6pm
Friday 3 January – 8am – 6pm
Saturday 4 January – 9am – 5pm
Sunday 5 January – 10am – 5pm

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27/11/2013 · 10:44 am

Afternoon Tease Treat Vouchers…the perfect pressie?

Recently I’ve had enquiries about gift vouchers for use in the cafe…you spoke, I listened and am very happy to announce that as of Wednesday 27th November, Afternoon Tease Treat Vouchers will be for sale in the cafe…

There are 2 options for you to choose from…

The drink and cake Treat Voucher at £5.50, perfect as a stocking filler…

It entitles the lucky recipient to a hot drink and slice of cake of their choice…

or you can purchase a Treat Voucher to the value of £5, £10, £15 or £20, which can be used as currency in the cafe for anything the recipient desires 🙂

The vouchers expire on 01.12.14, if anyone can wait that long to have their cake and eat it, I’ll be amazed :).

We aren’t able to give change for the Treat Vouchers but if you/the recipient would like to spend more than the value of the voucher, the balance can be paid in cash.

The vouchers are printed, ready and waiting for you at the cafe, so feel free to pop in and see us and get something ticked off that Christmas pressie list!

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12/11/2013 · 10:00 am

2 weeks in and just drawing breath…

Wow, well, where to start?…it’s been 2 whole weeks since we opened the doors of Afternoon Tease! It’s passed like a whirlwind and I’d like to start by thanking each and every one of you who have supported me by coming in and for the lovely messages that you have sent…all have been very much appreciated and me and the team have been feeling the love!

It feels strange to actually have the time to sit still and write this blog and to be honest, I’m sure there are cakes to be baked at this precise moment but I really wanted to take the time to give you an update on the blog…I posted the last one abruptly on the day before we opened and then went silent!

For those of you who haven’t managed to make it in for a visit yet, here are a few pictures to fill in the blanks…

My beautiful neon sign…I got my logo, designed by Mr Penfold, transformed into Neon by Outline Displays.

I took this photo just before opening the doors for the very first time on Friday 25th October 🙂

We fired up Francesco (our beloved coffee machine) and awaited out 1st customers.

Those first couple of days were so crazy…adrenalin mixed with nerves and total sleep deprivation made for a real emotional rollercoaster and it took a while for the realisation to hit that the cafe I was working in was actually mine! 🙂 The learning curve has been a ridiculously steep one and I’m very much in need of some good sleep and a day off feels like the stuff of fairytales but gradually over the last couple of weeks me and the team have been getting into our stride.

We are open from 8am until 7pm, Tuesday to Friday, serving breakfast…

Featuring crumpets from Chris at Dovecote Bakery and my Mums homemade jam and marmalade…

and a lunch menu, which changes regularly. Here is an example modelled by Miss Igs herself…

I’ve been getting the menu board written and posted on Facebook and Twitter by mid morning…

So follow us to be kept updated and come and get your lunch fix from 12pm 🙂

We are also open on Saturday’s from 9am-5pm and Sunday 10am-4pm serving brunch on both days until 3pm. As many of you will know, as I’m always banging on about it, brunch is my favourite meal of the day. This was the menu we served up this weekend…

Featuring my very favourite dish of pan con tomate with Serrano ham…

The very talented Tom Milton, came and took a few pics at the cafe in the first week, capturing it in all of it’s brand new spangly glory…here are a couple of my faves…

Tom Milton Photography (TMPY)

I’ve been loving having free reign over 2 ovens and have been trying out some brand new cakes…

Pear and marzipan cake

Plum cake w/ cheesecake ripple

aswell as the good old classics including my chocolate Guinness cake w/cream cheese icing and creating the cake filled counter of my dreams…

I have a few very special mentions to finish this post on…firstly, a huge heartfelt thankyou goes to my my Mum & Dad, without whom, Afternoon Tease would not exist! I am ridiculously in debt to them for all of the hard work, help, love and support they have given me throughout!…

My siblings were also roped in and pulled out all the stops to get the cafe finished…

My Sister building the counter

Beautiful tiling by my brother, Tom

and also a big thankyou to Ivana (Miss Igs), my 2nd in command, friend and general sounding board :)…

and to my awesome team…Robbie, Ashley, Charley and Martha!

Over and out for now but I look forward to seeing some more of you in the cafe in the coming weeks!

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23/10/2013 · 9:59 am

Opening times for Friday 25th and weekend brunch at Afternoon Tease…

I can’t believe it’s only 2 days to go until we open Afternoon Tease!

We’re working like Trojans to make it happen! Today, I will be rolling up my sleeves and cleaning it from top to bottom, ready for a full day of unpacking tomorrow to turn it into a fully functioning (we hope) cafe for Friday morning!

On Friday we will be serving a reduced menu of drinks and cakes only from 8am until 7pm.

On Saturday we will be open 9am-5pm for brunch and again on Sunday 10am-4pm.

We will launch our full breakfast and lunch menus on Tuesday 29th October, when you can expect delicious sourdough toast, crumpets, porridge to help get the day off to a good start and a changing selection of sandwiches available for lunch and cake…of course!

I’m really excited to open the doors and greet our first customers but please bear with us to begin with until we get up to speed, we’re a brand new team, in a brand new cafe and although our service will definitely be with a smile, it may be a bit slower until we learn where everything is 🙂

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20/10/2013 · 9:01 am

The end is in sight…Afternoon Tease is opening on Friday 25th October!

I promised you a photo heavy blog update and I wouldn’t dare rescind on a promise…plus, I just can’t wait for you to see what we’ve been up to!

But 1st, without further ado, I’d like to announce that we’ll be opening the doors to Afternoon Tease on Friday 25th October!

We’re in the final stages now and this week it’s going to all come together, culminating in a huge cleaning session followed by an even bigger baking session! 🙂 I can’t wait to get my hands on the ovens that have just been installed, not to mention my La Marzocco, which is arriving tomorrow!

But here, to whet your appetite are some pictures of what we’ve been up to in the last few weeks…

I finally got to splash some colour on the walls…3 coats of it to be precise……

But I love the finished article.

The counter was added to on a daily basis…drinks fridge, water boiler…

My kitchen started looking like an intergalactic space station…

A very exciting piece of furniture arrived, here’s a sneaky peak but you’ll just have to pop in when we’re open to see it in all its glory!…

My main job last weekend was the floor…I’ve had plans for the floor for a long time and knew it was going to be high maintenance to carry out but was hoping it’d be worth it. I wasn’t disappointed! Welcome to the floor diaries…

Day 1 – Floor is sanded and beautiful oak is unearthed from under the brown sludgy paint…

Here’s a ‘before’ shot…

Day 2 – Miss Igs and I got busy painstakingly drawing a grid over the entire floor…

and then masking & painting the alternate squares of the alternate rows…

It’d be too easy just to paint them, I wanted the grain of the wood to show through, so mixed white spirit with satinwood paint, painted it on and then wiped it off until I had the desired effect…I love making work for myself 😉

Day 3 – After 10 hours of crouching on the floor the day before, I felt like I’d been beaten up but there’s not rest for the wicked so I got back to it, masking and painting the other alternate squares to produce a harlequin pattern…

By the end of day 3, I was knackered but so chuffed to see my floor vision as a reality!…

Day 4 – I had to wait until the evening, when everyone had vacated, to set about varnishing this bad boy! I was using a hardcore floor varnish, which involved the nerve wracking task of measuring and mixing 2 elements that made up the varnish and then using a roller to liberally coat the whole floor…

Day 4 – Was pretty similar to day 3…I had to lightly sand the whole floor before giving it another coat and here it is, 4 days later…

I’m so happy with it and ever so slightly over protective of it…is it acceptable to hand out slippers at the door? 😉

There has been plenty of other activity going on too. A bit of chair painting…

and counter cladding…

which I stained and varnished yesterday…

Just the counter top to be fitted now.

The cafe front has been given a new lease of life by my Mum…

and very excitingly for me, my ovens are in! After cooking in a small domestic oven for so long, I can’t wait to start playing with this kit…

Even writing this blog and looking back at all of the photos, I cant believe how far we’ve come in such a short time! It’s getting so exciting as I see the cafe emerge from under the dust and jumble of powertools!

Just a few more days of hard graft and we’ll be ready to open the doors and welcome you in on Friday 25th!

Remember, if you’d like to keep up with what’s going on at Afternoon Tease, you can sign up here.

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13/10/2013 · 10:30 am

Announcing our all important coffee and tea suppliers at Afternoon Tease…

It’s amazing how quickly things have been moving at the cafe in the last couple of weeks. Its gone from being an empty shell to actually resembling a cafe, more so every single day! It feels really strange to see the vision that has been in my head for so long slowly become a reality! I’m constantly playing the role of jack of all trades and a typical day (not that they exist anymore) might find me baking in the morning, popping to the cafe, whilst a cake is in the oven to let a tradesman in, going to Ridgeons for more supplies, negotiating contracts on the phone, sourcing tiles and bidding on eBay…all with the grand aim of getting through that godforsaken ‘to do’ list and opening the doors to Afternoon Tease!

There’s a big update blog post coming up but here’s a sneaky peak…

I’ve been wanting to announce our coffee and tea suppliers to you for a while now but finding the time to sit down and write a blog has evaded me…I apologise. But I hope that you’ll agree with me that it’s been worth the wait.

I am a complete coffee fiend and from the moment that I decided that I wanted to open a cafe, the quality of the coffee has been paramount! Whilst living in London I fell in love with a newly opened cafe, close to my place of work, called Caravan (in fact I have blogged about it here, here, here and here). Firstly I loved their coffee but I also loved the atmosphere they had created, their decor, not to mention their incredible food! In a nutshell…they just get it! After I moved back to Cambridge, Caravan branched out into a second site in Granary Square, Kings Cross…

and are going from strength to strength. When it came to deciding on a coffee supplier it didn’t take me long to think about Caravan. I really wanted to to introduce a new coffee to Cambridge and one that I believe in. Miss Igs and I took a day trip to the big smoke to visit a few roasteries and I was happy to see that it wasn’t long before Ivana was won over too! We tasted their market blend espresso blend and were sold!…

They roast their own beans in small batches daily and are constantly developing their seasonal espresso blend (the one we’ll be serving) to make sure the best flavour characteristics have been brought out. They are amazingly passionate about their coffee and when we visited a second time we met Estelle, their Head Barista, a lady who knows her stuff! She took us through our paces and showed us how to make the perfect coffee. After all, they want us to be able to showcase Caravan coffee at its best 🙂

We spent the morning tinkering around with their beautiful La Marzocco Linea, the exact machine that is due to be installed at Afternoon Tease in just a few days!…

The team at Caravan have been amazingly supportive and I’m proud to be representing them in Cambridge!

However, it would be a travesty to overlook our very own local coffee roastery, Hot Numbers…

I love Hot Numbers and think it’s played a very important part in the development of Cambridge’s coffee/cafe culture. Simon has paved the way and shown the people of Cambridge that they don’t have to drink bad ‘chain’ coffee. My cakes have been gracing the Hot Numbers counter for a year and a half and will continue to do so even when Afternoon Tease is open. The added bonus will be that you will be able to get Hot Numbers coffee in my cafe aswell! Simon and Steve have developed a delicious decaf, so often overlooked by cafes who, when you order a decaf, get the bag out of the cupboard that’s been ground and open for months…not in my gaff! You can expect Hot Numbers decaf beans, roasted to perfection, ground to order and made into a coffee that you’d be hard pushed to differentiate from the caffeinated version.

We will also be showcasing one of their current single origin coffees to be enjoyed as a filter or aeropress. We’ll be changing the variety regularly depending on what the Hot Numbers honcho’s come up with next!

Now, all of you tea drinkers, fear not! You haven’t been forgotten. I met the lovely ladies behind local tea company, Kandula, when we worked together on a afternoon tea/teas matching event for EAT Cambridge back in March.

Firstly I like them because they are independent and local, but I can also vouch for the fact that their teas are exquisite! They’ve developed a range of classic orange Pekoe Ceylon teas & white & green Ceylon teas, sourced from ethical tea plantations in Sri Lanka, not forgetting their delicious natural infusions.

Its taken me a while to decide the varieties that I would like to stock and I can guarantee that there will be a great selection for you to choose from, including their signature ‘Pink Ceylon’ (pictured above), a delicately smokey green tea blended with hibiscus.

That’s all for now…at the time of editing this blog post, it is very early Sunday morning and I am about to embark on another full day of floor painting at the cafe! A blog post full of exciting progress photos to follow very shortly!

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01/10/2013 · 7:52 pm

5 weeks in…it’s starting to look like a cafe!

It feels like a very long time since I last wrote a progress update on the cafe…time has been flying and not necessarily in a good way! However, today has been a super productive one and when I visited the cafe earlier I took a step back and could see just how far we’ve come!

It may still look a tad like a construction site to the untrained eye but when I think that I only picked the keys to number 13 up just over 5 weeks ago, it’s pretty incredible what has been achieved! These last couple of weeks have involved a lot of hard work…my whole family have worked their asses off to get us to where we are today and I think all of us have had some sleepless nights worrying about the many things that need to be in place before I can open the doors! But, we are most definitely getting there.

My sister came down this weekend and helped build the beginnings of my counter, where my beautiful La Marzocco Linea coffee machine will be perched…

Me and my Mum have been busy painting…trying to banish all signs of the ominous green colour that used to dominate the shop!

From this…

To this…

And I had to make another trip to Ikea (who I have now fallen out of love with in quite a major way after finding that what was meant to be in the box, most definitely was NOT in the box, resulting in Ikea trip #3)…

One major hurdle has been getting our 3 phase electricity connected! It’s been an almighty saga that started before we even moved in and involved me having to make multiple phone calls to UK Power Networks, being sent on many wild goose chases and even having to resort to a shedding a few tears to get to speak to someone who knew what they were talking about! However, last Thursday was 3 Phase D Day…we all waited nervously for the workmen to show up…and they did!

Brand spanking new 3 phase!…

In other exciting news…today my lights were installed…

And I’ve been receiving some very exciting post…

My hot pink coffee tamper…

My new business/loyalty cards…

A new rubber stamp so I can get branding…

and the makings of my all important music system…

Tomorrow, I’m heading to the Big Smoke with a couple of members of my new team (how exciting!) to visit the coffee roastery that we’re sourcing our espresso from. I cant wait to do the big reveal and to tell you all about them…not long to wait now!

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19/09/2013 · 10:35 am

Skimming a ceiling…’just like icing a cake upside down’?

I thought it was about time for another Afternoon Tease progress update! I’m afraid we’re still at the messy construction stage so if you’re expecting pictures of something that resembles a cafe you’ll be sorely disappointed :).

However uninspiring this shot may appear, I can confirm that there’s been a lot of work going on behind the scenes. The most exciting development for me has been the skimming of the nasty artexed ceiling!

Here’s a before shot of the artex in all of it’s textured glory (bleurgh)…

and here it is once it had been tackled by my lovely plasterers! They didn’t look too amused when I commented that I thought skimming looked pretty easy…like icing a cake upside down! I was joking of course, there’s no way I could’ve got it that smooth!

Internal walls have gone up to make my new kitchen…

and the ducting is in for my extraction system (a tad boring perhaps but I said I’d keep you posted :))…

But now for something a bit more interesting. The other weekend, I rolled up my sleeves, donned a mask and set about sanding a patch of floor so that I could do a trial of what I’ve got in mind for the cafe flooring.

When I do the real thing, my lines will be straighter and my masking more acurate but all in all I was very happy with the end result!…

No project would be complete without a trip or 2 to IKEA. So, along with willing assistant (Miss Igs) I headed off to the big blue and yellow treasure trove! We were feeling quite adventurous with how much we thought we could buy and fit into my car so we loaded up 3 trolleys worth of goodies…

However, we realised that perhaps we’d been a tad over-optimistic as we neared my little Ford Fiesta in the car park…

But, we are very determined young ladies and (bar the 2 chairs that I had to return but we won’t talk about them) we got it all in and even managed some pic n mix for the journey home!

Although I’m not personally at the cafe every day, I have a busy team who are and one morning this week as I was biking towards number 13 at 8am to let my plasterers in, I was really excited to see that (what will be) my outside seating area was bathed in lovely autumnal sunshine. All of the thoughts of paperwork, to do lists and worry flew out of my mind and were replaced by pure excitement! I can’t wait to see my customers sitting here, drinking a coffee and soaking up the rays…

Not long now!

In the meantime, however, if you would like to get a slice of the action…come and say hello this Saturday (21st September) when I will be selling my cakey wares at the Castle Hill Open Day. I’ll be in the Kettle’s Yard courtyard from 11am-5pm and have got some treats in store for you including gooey chocolate brownies, caramelised fig friands, raspberry and white chocolate blondies, salted caramel millionaires shortbread and lemon drizzle cake. There will also be a selection of my cakes for sale in the Museum of Cambridge tearoom if you fancy taking the weight off your feet.

I hope to see you there!

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15/09/2013 · 7:23 pm

A face for radio…

I seem to have been frequenting the Cambridge airwaves a lot of late 😉 But hey, I love chatting all about the plans for my cafe to anyone who will listen…

I chatted to Alan Alder from Cambridge 105’s food and drink show; Flavour. You can listen to the podcast here (it’s all worth a listen to hear of new and exciting things that are happening on the food scene in Cambridge but my dulcet tones get an airing at 31mins).

I also talked about my cafe plans with Maria Brannigan, who also write s a food flog ‘Gluten Free & Gorgeous‘ and is roving reporter for Star Radio’s food and drink show. You can listen again here.