To celebrate Mother’s Day and honor the influential Mother figures in your life, may I suggest serving Afternoon Tea? Let me share with you how to throw an afternoon tea party. 

 

Afternoon Tea is a most elegant and proper custom and has many entertaining applications.

 

For example, it could be just you and a friend in for a little gossip or a garden full of little girls in tiaras or a collection of your favorite mothers and daughters in a multi-generational Mother Daughter Tea.  Whichever you choose we have the blueprint for success.

 

 

First a Little Lingo

What most people call High Tea is actually Afternoon Tea. You see, High Tea is a meal, like dinner with meat and potatoes. Not a scone in sight! Afternoon Tea is served usually between 2:00 and 4:00 and includes adorable little savory sandwiches, scones and petite sweets. Historically it’s meant to keep upper class people from starving to death between the noon luncheon and dinner at eight.

 

How to Make Tea 

 

The center of the whole ritual is the tea so making a really good cup is essential. 

 

While, it’s perfectly acceptable to use tea bags, especially here in the States. Alternatively, if you want to be quite fancy, use loose tea in a teapot.

 

To begin, bring fresh cold water to a rolling boil.  You should allow ¾ cup water per serving of tea. Traditionally, you’d add 1 teaspoon loose tea per serving plus one more teaspoon “for the pot”. 

 

Next, be sure to warm the teapot with hot water. You swish hot water around the pot and dump it out before adding the loose tea. Follow with boiling water and steep for 3-5 minutes. Use a tea strainer to serve.

The Empress Tea Strainer

Afterward, you serve your tea with sugar, cream and lemon slices (never serve cream and lemon together!).

 

The person who is pouring the tea and asking people how they like their tea is referred to as “mother” as in; “Shall I be Mother?”. Which means; “Shall I pour?”

 

Be certain to accompany your tea with beautiful trays of tea sandwiches, savory bites. Scones with clotted cream and jam, and lastly, tarts, cookies and other bite sized sweets. In that order.  

Wait. What? What the heck is clotted cream? I wish it had a better name. In short, clotted cream is made by allowing some of the whey to drain from heavy cream resulting in a sweet creamy spread similar to soft cream cheese.  It’s naturally sweet so it doesn’t require added sugar. It’s really delicious.

 

What defines a Tea Sandwich?

Tea Sandwiches are delicate sandwiches without crusts. Use thinly sliced white and wheat bread for color contrast. Remove the crusts but be sure to save them to make bread crumbs. Cut the prepared sandwiches into small squares or triangles.

Here are some recipes for delicious traditional sandwich fillings.

 

Cucumber – Blend together 4 ounces cream cheese, ½ teaspoon dill, ½ teaspoon lemon juice. Spread on white bread and top with a layer of thinly sliced cucumber.

 

Curried Chicken – Mix together 1 ½ cups diced or shredded cooked chicken, ½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt, 1 ½ teaspoons curry powder, ¼ cup raisins, 2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion, ¼ cup diced celery.

 

Pineapple Carrot Spread – Combine 4 ounces softened cream cheese with ½ cup diced fresh or canned crushed pineapple and ½ cup finely shredded carrot.

 

Zesty Salmon – Combine 1 (14.75 oz.) can salmon – flaked with bone and skin removed, ½ cup mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon horseradish, 3 tablespoons minced dill pickle.

 

Deviled Ham – In a food processor, blend 2 cups ham – cut into small cubes, ½ cup mayonnaise, ¼ cup prepared mustard, 3 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 tablespoon hot sauce (like Tabasco).

 

Incidentally, all of these sandwich fillings are wonderful anytime, not just for tea.

 

When you invite your guests, ask: “Care to join me in a cup of tea?” If they don’t answer “Do you think there’s room?”; find funnier friends.

 

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