Tea for two at Cliveden – for £550

Created by executive head chef Carlos Martinez, the tea includes white truffles at a £2,500 per kg, beluga caviar at a £4,000 per kg and Da Hong Pao tea, which is harvested from 1,000-year-old plants and costs over £2,000 per kg.

Also on the menu is Cliveden chocolate cake with gold leaf, using the world’s most expensive chocolate, Amedi Porcelana, which is paired with the most expensive coffee in the world, Kopi Luwak. Harvested in South-east Asian, the coffee beans are digested by civets before being washed and roasted at a cost of £50 per cup.

The hotel’s £100 platinum club sandwich is also part of the menu. For afternoon tea, it appears as a mini canapé and is made from 30-month air-cured Ibérico ham, poulet de Bresse, white truffles, quails’ eggs, semi-dried Italian tomatoes and 24-hour fermented sourdough bread.

All this is washed down by a glass of vintage Dom Perignon Rosé.

James Parkinson, executive head chef at Von Essen, said: "We wanted to create the best afternoon tea experience in the world and I think with this selection, we have achieved our goal".

With no official world record for the world’s most expensive afternoon tea, Cliveden has applied to the Guinness Book of Records to have its afternoon tea recognised.

The hotel will donate 50% of any profit to Marie Curie Cancer Care from each of its world’s most expensive afternoon teas sold between 12 June and 12 July 2011, as part of the charity’s Blooming Great Tea Party campaign.

Cliveden’s platinum afternoon tea tasting menu

Home-made scones, baked to order
Wild strawberry and Cognac reserve with Jersey clotted cream
Da Hong Pao tea
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Balack-smoked salmon, beluga caviar and pickled cucumber
Assam smoked oolong
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Platinum canapés (including mini £100 sandwich)
Two glasses of vintage Dom Perignon Rose
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Selection of Cliveden cakes and pastries
Jinjunmei China black tea
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Cliveden chocolate opera cake with gold leaf
Kopi Luwak coffee

£550.00 for two people

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