Afternoon Tea Is My New Happy Hour
One tradition I have with Mom since last year, as many weekends as possible I go over and we have our own afternoon tea party with delicious cucumber and green chutney sandwiches and lotus biscoff biscuits sometimes we enjoy our tea in silence and sometime we talk about family and friends. So, this year I have decided to start a tradition of hosting a Christmas Afternoon Tea Party .
Sharing with you all the information that I have been reading on:
Afternoon tea is a tradition that dates back to the 1840s. It was first started by Anna Russell, the seventh Dutchess of Bedford, who was the lifelong friend of Queen Victoria. Anna, would feel hungry in the late afternoon and was looking for a way to curb her appetite during the long wait between lunch and the late evening meal. She first started by having a light snack with her tea privately in her boudoir, which is a private sitting area or bedroom. She later popularized it among the English aristocrats by sending out formal invitations to friends and affluential women to join her for afternoon tea at Woburn Abbey.
Types of Afternoon Tea
A pot of brewed loose tea served with milk and sugar is the only must-have for a traditional British tea service, although thin lemon slices (never lemon wedges) frequently are offered for those who prefer their beverage with lemon rather than milk.
Cream Tea: If you also serve scones, jam and clotted cream (also called Cornish, Devonshire or Devon cream), it becomes a “cream tea”.
Light Tea: A cream tea plus sweets, such as biscuits (cookies), cake, or pastries, such as individual fruit tarts.
Full Afternoon Tea: This is what is often referred to incorrectly as “high tea”. It consists of three courses:
- Savories, such as finger sandwiches (sandwiches with the crusts removed and cut into “fingers”) or small finger food appetizers.
- Scones served with jam and clotted cream.
- Sweets such as cookies, shortbread, cake slices or individual serving-sized small cakes, or pastries.
Champagne Tea: A full afternoon tea served with a glass of champagne.
You can have a one course, two course or three course menu.
One Course Menu
- Pot of hot, freshly brewed tea, served with milk and sugar (granulated or cubes)
- Warm, freshly baked scones, jam or preserves or my favourite homemade lemon curd
Two Course Menu
- Pot of hot, freshly brewed tea, served with milk and sugar (granulated or cubes)
- First Course: Warm, freshly baked scones, jam or preserves or my favourite homemade lemon curd
- Second Course: sweet biscuits (cookies), petits fours, bite-size or individually portioned pastries, such as mini fruit tarts.
Three Course Menu
- Pot of hot, freshly brewed tea, served with milk and sugar (granulated or cubes)
- First Course: Finger sandwiches (preferably a selection) and/or hors d’oeuvres/canapés.
- Second Course: Warm, freshly baked scones, jam or preserves or my favourite homemade lemon curd
- Third Course: sweet biscuits (cookies), petits fours, bite-size or individually portioned pastries, such as mini fruit tarts.
Afternoon Tea Varieties
Earl Grey – A blend of black teas scented with oil of bergamot
Assam – A strong black tea from India
Lapsang Souchong – A smoked black tea from China
Darjeeling – A delicately flavored black tea from India
If you like dainty finger sandwiches, then here are 25 best afternoon tea sandwich recipes which includes my favorite cucumber sandwiches.
If you need any Tea table setting ideas, please go here
May all of your afternoons always be filled with tea and friends.