If you have been reading my blog, you may have noticed that I enjoy an afternoon tea or two, as you can see from my time visiting a quirky afternoon tea and an earlier blog post of afternoon tea and a waterfront festival. With that said, in July my friends treated me to another afternoon tea with a difference for my birthday. That difference was a Samba theme!

What is a Samba afternoon tea?

So, Samba afternoon tea is basically an afternoon tea with a bit of Brazil thrown in. I’m talking Rio Carnival vibes, with music and dancing, glitter and lots of skin on show.
Where can you find this I hear you ask? Well, look no further than Alma De Cuba in Liverpool. The premises is an old church (St Peter’s) on Steel Street, not too far from the Central train station.
The afternoon tea is every Saturday afternoon from 2 p.m – 4 p.m. It includes a traditional-ish afternoon tea with the entertainment of Samba dancers. It is perfect for a girls afternoon, birthday or hen party; as it really gets the party vibe going. Just to note, you have to book in advance as the place does get busy.

The Afternoon Tea

We were shown to our table and give the choice of tea or coffee to go with the afternoon tea. I opted for coffee as well as the option of a prosecco. You can’t go wrong with a bit of fizz, can you?

The afternoon tea was quite traditional with various sandwiches, scones and other sweet treats over a three-tiered cake stand. 
The sandwiches were on different types of bread, including a brioche bun and croissant. The fillings of these included ham with mustard, cheese and pickle and salmon. There was also a chicken wrap, which was yummy!

After the sandwiches, it was time to try the scones. These came with the traditional accompaniment of cream and jam. The scones were delicious and really quite filling. I usually put the cream on before the jam. How do you take your scones?

Following the scones, it was time to sample the other sweet treats. These were macarons, which had a mint/mojito type flavour, lemon meringue tarts and chocolate tarts. The chocolate tart I tried had a hint of chilli in it, which I didn’t expect at first but really quite liked once I had finished.

The Samba

During the time we were eating the afternoon tea, three Samba dancers appeared, in full costume. They proceeded to dance to the music that had started playing and interacted with the audience. The dancers informed us that they would carry out a bit more dancing before leaving to let us finish the sandwiches and sweet treats. On their return, they were to continue with further dancing with the opportunity for us to join in.

When the dancers returned they brought quite a few samba headdresses, and you bet I wanted to try one on. One of the dancers helped to place on the headdress, and let me tell you, they are quite heavy. I’m not quite sure how they manage to dance with these on their head! 
We were then able to pose with the dancers before they helped us out of the headdresses. 

Once the photos were over and most people had tried on the headpieces, the dancers invited us to dance with them. This part was so much fun, with a giant conga around the tables ensuing. The dancers really knew how to get the crowd going and we all had loads of fun. A true afternoon fiesta!

This was such a fun afternoon, and one I would definitely do again. I am always on the lookout for different afternoon teas. Do you have any recommendations? Have you attended the Samba afternoon tea before?
Let me know in the comments below!

As always, thanks for reading!