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. 

THIS VIDEO IS 

VERY HELPFUL!

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.