High Tea at Royal Delft
One of my favorite activities I’ve done in Delft was open painting day at the Royal Delft pottery factory. After the event was over they hosted a contest on Instagram and I won. My prize was high tea at Royal Delft. I couldn’t wait to go try it out a fun tea in Delft, but it took a while to find a babysitter and a time Jeff and I could sneak away to enjoy an afternoon away.
We checked in at the front desk for our tea and were told to go directly to the brasserie.
The tea room is lovely and looks out over the courtyard. The table is set with Royal Delft pottery. It’s so pretty. Sitting at the table admiring all the place settings made me want more Delft Blue in my life.
You can pick up your pottery and peek at the back – it is of course real Royal Delft. You can check and see if it is hand painted or stamped by checking for the painter’s signature. You can also look at the design. Hand painted pottery has more shades of blue while stamped only has a few different shades.
There are a selection of tea bags to chose from once they bring you the pot of hot water. You can try a variety during your tea.
They bring out a three-tiered tray with all of your tasty tea bites.
The middle sandwich tray was our favorite. The two wraps were both delicious! One is made with parmesan, parma ham and pine nuts and was so delicious I almost wished I had stopped eating there.
The savory platter was also quite nice. We had a variety of options. The scones were good, although not very traditional nor the best I’ve ever had. These options though were still very nice and filling.
The sweets tray looked amazing but all sort of tasted the same. Jeff and I both found the top tier to be overly sweet. The ones in the plastic cups were hard to eat since the spoon didn’t fit and the coating didn’t appear to be edible. When we were done tasting these we mostly wished we had just eaten the other two trays and stopped there.
When we finished our leisurely tea we took Royal Delft up on the offer for a tour of the factory. I had previously visited but Jeff had not, plus they had updated their audio tour and audio tour guide system since my last visit.
The system now allows you to pick your language and pick which audio segments you listen to. You can walk around the museum and factory and scan the exhibits you are interested in listening to. I loved seeing the pottery for the Dutch King and Queen.
Despite having been on the tour before, I still enjoyed revisiting all the amazing pieces of pottery on the tour.
The modern pottery is of course my favorite. I loved looking in the factory at all the hand-painted pieces waiting to be put out on the shelves. We even learned that they are often painting commissioned pieces.
I almost love to look in the store almost as much as any other part of the tour. It is always interesting to see the new little things they are selling.
If you want to enjoy high tea at Royal Delft you’ll need to make a reservation in advance. Reservations can be made online. I always highly reccomend a tour to one of the pottery factories in Delft on any visit. A tea would make a lovely addition to your visit should you have the time.
