Including the tea drinking tradition.
When I was a lot smaller, I wasn't living in Jakarta. I spent several years of my childhood in Yogyakarta. While my dad worked in Jakarta, me and my mom and my younger sister stayed in my grandparents' house. I was used to the sight of my Mbah Kakung --grandfather drinking tea in the morning. When he woke up, he would sit on his chair next to the kitchen table, where his cup of hot black tea served by my Simbok --grandmother, awaited. Sometimes he would roll two or three cigarettes while he sat there. And I was just looking. Not everyday that he would add sugar to his tea. Sometimes he liked it without sugar. Sometimes with white sugar. Meanwhile on rare occassions, he had his tea with one or two small pieces of palm sugar. Now this was a unique habit. Instead of add the palm sugar to his tea, he had a small bite of the palm sugar, let it melted in his mouth before he drank his cup of tea. I used to imitate this method of enjoying tea and I have liked it since. My grandfather and grandmother have passed away now. But sometimes when we receive a package of palm sugar from our relatives in Yogyakarta, I would repeat the old ritual in the memory of my grandpa --having a cup of hot black tea with pieces of palm sugar, not in the morning, but depends on when i like to have it.
For me, that's tradition.
High tea, is a foreign tradition that I knew later.
When I was still at school, I didn't think much about the international community in this city and how much Western culture has grown here. Now in my adult years, as I have the chance to have a broader look at the city as well as its inhabitants, I've learned how Western-oriented Jakarta and the Jakartans have become. Of course, I don't have problems with that. With the cultural assimilation, we have enjoyed learning about how good Western food can be, how efficient Western management style can be when implemented in modern companies, how simple and elegant Western fashion style can be, how fascinating Western movies can be and a lot more of other great things we have discovered.
Including how enjoyable high tea can be.
Everytime I think about high tea, I can't help but imagine a group of European ladies in their victorian dresses, sitting around a small table, having a friendly chat or gossiping while enjoying tea with some cakes or cookies. I know the tradition is still upheld today in the Western countries, minus the victorian dresses. What I didn't realise that it has also been widely adopted here in Jakarta.
Almost every five star hotel and up class restaurant in Jakarta offers high tea. People in this city have started to adopt it as a lifestyle. An afternoon meeting with friends, colleagues or business partners would be best to do while enjoying an afternoon tea.
Various types of tea would be offered for you to choose. There are Earl Grey, Chamomile, Darjeeling, Peppermint, Jasmine, green tea as well as the fruit-flavoured tea among others. Finger sandwiches, pastries, scones, carrot cake, fruit tarlet are some of the many items offered to you to accompany the tea you are having.
I still have several photos from my visit to The Marmalade Pantry, a restaurant in Plaza Indonesia. The afternoon tea package here is offered at lower prices than at five-star hotels in Jakarta, yet the tea is great as well as the mini cakes and pastries. However, as well as many other things in Jakarta which could change rapidly, you might as well need to call the restaurant first to find out if they still offer the afternoon tea package.
