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.
