Blackswan Beijing Afternoon Tea

Having to always travel across the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, I am always badly in need of caffeination. Luckily on our first day of Beijing, there’s a new travel art museum that features an elegant café shop.

 

To give you a little history, this place is personally founded by Mr. Luo Hong, a Chinese billionaire entrepreneur that is extremely passionate about travel, environmentalism, and photography. One day, to spread his joy & work, he created this art establishment for people to enjoy & admire across the world.

Unfortunately, Miki & Paul aren’t billionaires… so until then, let’s just sip on some tea instead…

 

 

 

I love the entrance! Its design & fashion has a certain Coco Chanel flair with everyone styling the classic LBD (a.k.a. “little black dress”). The discreet color contrasts well with all the white marble decor.

 

 

 

 

Once inside, we are treated to a view of pristine oriental beauty. From the landscape trees to the floating mist in the lake, this scenery feels like a page straight out of a Chinese folk tale. If you’re lucky, you’ll be sitting right next to the black swans!

 

 

 

First, a black swan dark chocolate toast!

 

 

The pastries are from Pierre Gagnaire, a Michelin award-winning chef that specializes in French dessert for this café.

All their delicacies are quite yums. Not too sweet, chewy texture, and a lot of flavor. Personally, I like it more than the afternoon tea at The Langham Pasadena & The Peninsula Beverly Hills where I feel all their eats are a little too hard & dry.

 

Just like The Savoy in London, they have quite an extensive tea selection too.

 

 

 

 

 

If you’re not in a tea mood, you can also opt for the signature black swan latte.

 

 

 

Call me a sucker for ambiance, because seriously folks… everything magically tastes better with this view.

 

 

 

 

 

After the tea tasting, every guest is treated to a complimentary admission to the Luo Hong Art Museum.

 

It’s quite inspiring to see how much one person can travel, capture, and share so many beautiful moments to people around the world…

 

 

 

 

Overall, I’m truly impressed with Mr. Luo’s vision. From beginning to end, you get transported into his world and get entranced by stunning surroundings that blurs the line between reality & art.

 

In a way, his black swans is just like how we should see this world.

For love is not perfect… sometimes life can be unjust & not fair… heck, every moment has its ups & downs….

But if we take a step back & see through its dark imperfections and simply embrace life as a whole… we just might see a beautiful black swan.

 

Damn, that was some good tea.