Saturday, June 26, 2021

FRIENDS FOR AFTERNOON TEA

 Today I had a little Afternoon Tea for
some ladies from my church.  They are
wanting to have an Afternoon Tea for
their ladies group this fall so I offered
 to give a tea 
 to help educate them
about Afternoon Tea Time.


I do most of my baking the day before
and bake the scones and final touches
of putting things together the day of
my tea.



If you are having Afternoon Tea 
the two most important things to serve
are SCONES  and even if it is hot - offer
some hot tea.  Most agree that offering
3 small savories and 3 small sweets is
 lovely .  Ladies usually eat about 2 of
each item if they are mini sized.


As you can see I used my mix and match
spring and summer tea wares.  We
started with salads and strawberry scones
and then savories and on to sweets.
Since I had 4 ladies (beside myself)
 I used my Afternoon Tea trio servers
for the savories and then
for the sweets. The number of
people you would be serving
really changes your serving style.



Here is what we had today:
Iced tea and hot tea
A salad with mixed greens, peas,
mushrooms, blueberries and crispy onion
rings with oriental honey dressing
Strawberry Cream Scones with Cream
Our savories were: Corned Beef
finger sandwich on rye, cheese, red pepper
 and asparagus tarts and Chicken Salad
mini Croissants.
Our sweets were: lemon tarts with
mixed fruits, Chocolate Peppermint
Brownies and Raspberry Cheesecake
Bars.


I have shared my downstairs tearoom
before but this room is closeby for
last minute
"preparation".


 It is best not to confuse people 
by calling your luncheon or your
Afternoon Tea by the term "High Tea".
High Tea was an evening meal for
the working class with cold meats, cheese,
bread, pickles and a pot of tea.  Here
in America this term has been engaged
in business to upgrade the event making
it seem more substantial. 


Information for large group teas:

When churches give teas they often
make use of buffet tables because of the
 fact that a large group is being served.
  There are different ways a tea can
work for a large group.  The key is to
make the table interesting and elevate
cake platters and some decorations.
Keep your serving pieces at different heights
by stacking them. Otherwise, everything
 is flat down on the table.  A buffet is so
 much more interesting using vintage
 dishes, clear glass or plain pieces or silverplate.


Generally with a large group, one
lady is asked to be the hostess for a
table of eight ladies.  She sets that
table with her own dishes and decorations
appropriate to the theme for the day.
If there is a buffet table for the 3 small 
savories, it is nice to have a separate
area for the desserts.  (3 mini size desserts)
The scones and tea can be brought to
the table by the hostess.  Obviously,
there are different ways this can work. A 
salad can even be on the table when
the ladies arrive and all begins.
Remember to allow 2-3 pieces of each type
 of finger food for each person.

10 comments:

  1. Everything looks beautiful and your menu sounded perfect, Bernideen. How wonderful for the ladies to have you teach them about tea.

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  2. You have everything needed to provide a welcoming feeling for the tea ladies, all the pretty tableware, sweets and savories and your baked goods. We had a tea at my church and asked ladies to wear hats, which is a fun touch.

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  3. What a lovely idea! Thank you for sharing this information with us. I have often wanted to do a tea party for our church ladies, but just don't have the ability to do it by myself. This gives some great ideas on what to serve and how to serve a larger group. The baking/serving could easily be shared by a couple of ladies who understand the concept of afternoon tea (or morning tea). I enjoyed attending your tea party, and thank you for the helpful insights!! Everything looks so beautiful!! And I know the ladies had a wonderful time!

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  4. Bernideen,
    A great post on Tea, what to serve, what to call it, etc. Thanks so much for sharing!!! Loved it and your Tea Room looks lovely!!
    Hugs,
    Debbie

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  5. What a beautiful setting for showing some ladies a delightful tea event.
    Everything in the room is so pretty just for gazing on. And your food
    menu sounds very tasty and tasteful. I really do like the look of the
    blue area carpet.

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  6. Those ladies were in for a fabulous treat for sure.
    You always go to so much work for your teas and they are better than any tea room. Everything you do is top notch Bernideen

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  7. I’m certain the ladies enjoyed being treated to tea at your tea room! The ladies at your church will be blessed by it too!

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  8. Thanks for the tip on prepping much of the menu the day before. It certainly streamlines the prep work the day of the tea. The menu sounds delicious!

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  9. Love this post, Bernideen. It's always fun to introduce novices to the intricacies of giving an afternoon tea!

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  10. Looks like a lovely afternoon Bernideen! I'm sure the ladies enjoyed themselves in the company of such a fine hostess and all the pretties to look at, inside and outside! Your tier stand with the cup and saucer on top is so cute, I have not seen those before.
    The video is very informative and helpful, thanks for sharing! You should have a YouTube channel, and make videos! :)

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