Into his teahouse sweeps Edmund Fry, garbed in a flowing white robe and stole and fresh from his stint as an Anglican minister on a local movie shoot.

“More tea?” he inquires of two women, as he wields a flowered teapot.

“I’m about to float away,” says one, covering her cup.

“As long as you float away happy,” says Fry. “But please don’t knock over the china.”

Welcome to the Rose Tree Cottage, one of several venues in the Pasadena area for traditional British afternoon tea, which includes finger sandwiches, scones and pastries. There’s also the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel and the Huntington Library, among others.

As the pace of L.A. life quickens to ridiculous speeds, the relaxing afternoon tea has enjoyed a resurgence all over town. “It’s more popular as the years go on,” said Duncan Hogarth, front-office manager at Hotel Bel-Air, which also serves afternoon tea. “The British custom is catching on.”

The Rose Tree has been serving up scones for two decades, and the Tudor House in Santa Monica has been doing it for longer still. Meanwhile, the Peninsula, Four Seasons and other local hotels have their own tea services.

But perhaps the most striking is the Rose Tree Cottage, a vine-covered bungalow set in a courtyard planted with calla lilies and roses that exudes an air of “quaint elegance,” as patron Joycelyn Mancha describes it.

Scones, tea sandwiches

The cozy tearoom sports round tables with floral skirts, knickknacks, a golden pothos plant trailing along a wall, and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth. Popular instrumental music from the 1930s and ’40s plays over speakers throughout its four rooms.

Along with tea, the Rose Tree serves imported British goodies, from mushy peas to bangers.

On a recent day, tea sandwiches of turkey and cheese, egg and cucumber arrived on a flowered platter, followed by a currant scone, shortbread and a sticky toffee pudding cake baked by Mary Fry, Edmund’s more reserved American wife.

Among the diners was an Anglican minister from Britain, who teaches at nearby Fuller Theological Seminary. “It’s very authentic,” says the Rev. Eddie Gibbs especially Edmund’s “English eccentricity.”

He was referring to a number of Fry’s activities, which include lording over a “Wellie wanging” contest every Dec. 26 when participants try to hit Fry with Wellington boots an old English tradition intended to exercise fattened holiday revelers.

The Duchess of Bedford popularized afternoon tea in the 1850s, when it was customary for the aristocracy to eat a huge breakfast and an evening meal at 9 or 10 p.m. But around 5 p.m., the dutchess would experience a “sinking feeling and wanted to revive herself,” explains Mary Fry.

“Once Queen Victoria heard about it she quite liked her cakes and bread and butter that was that,” she says.

Over the years, the Rose Tree has hosted the likes of Princes Charles and Andrew, but Jennifer Klein is perhaps its most loyal customer having enjoyed tea here for two decades.

“It feels personal,” says Klein, vice president of Bay Films, noting that Fry’s attentiveness is akin to that of a butler. “At a hotel, it feels a little more removed.”

Most establishments begin serving tea during the late morning and continue until late afternoon. Some offer specific “sittings” for those who want to have tea and all the trimmings. Prices typically range as high as $20 per person.

The Rose Tree offers three 90-minute sittings for patrons between 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., but visitors can linger for hours on the Ritz-Carlton Huntington’s overstuffed gold and salmon couches and brocaded chairs, as a harpist entertains and a hostess offers extra pillows.

‘A nice escape’

Here, the tea sandwiches are served open-faced and look like miniature works of art smoked salmon and cream cheese topped with caviar and capers on pumpernickel, and tiny asparagus spears with dill cream cheese on sundried-tomato bread. There’s also a tiramisu petit four and a berry tartlet.

Tea gets poured from gold-trimmed porcelain pots into Wedgwood china teacups.

On a recent afternoon, 8-year-old Elizabeth Weinberger was examining a selection of pastries during her first tea with her mother, Susan. Nearby, several residents from County-USC Medical Center sank into a couch as they feasted on berries and whipped cream, while the lone male among them kicked off his shoes and gabbed on a cell phone.

“It’s a nice escape for us,” says one doctor, who notes that they just finished a 30-hour shift. “Very relaxing.”

A few miles away at the Huntington Library on the former estate of railroad magnate Henry Huntington an architect sat in a sun-drenched corner with a novel and a pot of tea.

“I felt like reading a good book in a beautiful place,” says the woman, looking up. “I’m regrouping.”

There was also a table of 50- and 60-something ladies noshing on pastries and trading diet tips.

Karen Rhodes, another visitor, was celebrating her mother’s 77th birthday. And Salwa Tadros was introducing her family to the joys of afternoon tea. “I appreciate the peaceful setting,” says her nephew, Mark Youssef, a recent medical school graduate.

Outside the green-framed windows were the expansive gardens, including eucalyptus and orange trees and a pergola entwined with wisteria.

Inside, goodies were heaped on a round buffet table decorated with a huge bouquet of fresh roses. They included cucumber, smoked salmon, watercress and chicken walnut sandwiches, fresh fruit and cheese, apple tartlets and tiny custard-filled chocolate cups.

Tadros suspected she might have started a family tradition. “I’ll take you here once,” she told them. “The next time, you’ll come back yourselves.”