The power of a cuppa

“Mornings can go either way,” says Andrew Halstead, a security and surveillance entrepreneur from London, who has been coming to New Delhi every three months for the last two years. “A power breakfast can swing both ways. It can go right, but a late riser can also be very grouchy. But high tea is another thing.”

When in the Indian capital, Halstead always stays at that most colonial of hotels, The Imperial, where he has “upwards of 10 meetings” daily. In the last year, says Halstead, at least one was at tea time.

The growing popularity of high tea in hotels, usually served from 3 pm to 6 pm, is an example of India’s colonial hangover. High tea’s clientele is growing between 15% and 20% a year, say hoteliers. The clients are the BlackBerry crowd, keen to network in relaxed surroundings near the end of a work day. Usually, high tea is served at top luxury hotels, places that price rooms at Rs 20,000 a night or more, and charge for high tea about what drinks and dinner would cost per head at a mid-range restaurant.

Vijay Wanchoo, general manager at The Imperial, who did a high tea special season for five weeks in October 2010, says, “We hosted a full British high tea, sometimes accompanied by a piano performance. It was a big hit. Our business clients see many benefits in high tea.”

Wanchoo says his clients find the glass-domed Atrium lounge a relaxed setting in which to do business. And mornings are often hurried, while tea can take a less frenetic pace. In addition, at a time when expenses must be carefully calculated, it is also cost effective.

The Imperial’s platter includes four types of tea—Assam, organic, Earl Grey, and Makaibari. The popularity of this meal—the guest list for high tea at The Imperial has gone up by more than 20% a year—has led the hotel to come to a special agreement with the Makaibari estate, and its famously fastidious owner Rajah Bannerjee, to train six of the hotel staff in the art of brewing and serving tea.

“Tea is a super specialty subject,” says Wanchoo, who is also putting tea plants in pots in the Atrium to heighten the mood of the high tea hours. “We needed our high tea staff to absorb the feel, setting, and mood of tea. Nothing is better than Makaibari, for these are the men who will lead the high tea product to the customer even as we introduce more complex varieties, such as silver tipped teas which are plucked only on full moon nights.”

A classic high tea, three- or four-tiered, comes with a variety of delicacies: hot, buttered scones; homemade jams; cakes; little sandwiches filled with cucumber or salmon; and a butler at hand.

Anish Trivedi, former investment banker and financial consultant, says the working day in India is changing, and the meeting time, slipping. “There aren’t many 7:30 am meetings,” says Trivedi, adding that travel time in most prime Indian cities is rising as they get more crowded, so breakfast appointments is difficult. “Now there are more meetings at high tea zone which is increasingly a preferred time. It’s not burdened by post lunch lethargy and not yet time for drinks. So more people are choosing it.”

In tech capital Bangalore, many CEOs at The Leela Palace, one of Bangalore’s best-known and most expensive hotels, choose high tea above the popular power breakfast at its Jamevar restaurant. To please a wide variety of palates, Chef Balasundaram at The Leela has introduced country-themed high teas—French, Italian, and Mexican, with finger food from the land of inspiration.

“Our high teas are usually packed,” says Balasundaram. It helps that nightclubs in Bangalore shut by midnight, forcing the city to start its evenings earlier. “It is a new market with great potential.”

Even at 361, the restaurant in the three-month old Oberoi Hotel in Gurgaon, the demand for high tea is soaring. Food and beverage manager Prashant Gupta, formerly on The Imperial staff, serves homemade jams, smoked salmon sandwiches, and scones with clotted cream. Along with the teas, mostly first flushes, he serves a range of fruit mélanges or infusions.

“We often have 10 people making bookings for the high teas. A lot of post-lunch and pre-drinks negotiations and conversations happen over high tea,” says Gupta. “High tea is the new networking ground,” adds Balasundaram.

Andrew Halstead praises the effort to promote high tea. “Only in India is this quintessential British tradition being kept alive as a fresh everyday local demand concept. Here, two for tea often means a deal done.”