Guest Post: The Ultimate Anglophile’s Complete Guide to Afternoon Tea

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post from Jean of The Delightful Repast. Jean is a passionate fellow Anglophile who also happens to have a British mother and grandmother. An avid tea aficionado, she has kindly written her guide to the Ultimate Afternoon tea for us.

Yes, I know many people in England these days have neither the time nor the inclination to partake of afternoon tea. Nevertheless, the classic British-style afternoon tea is something I enjoy frequently and that keeps me in touch with my English heritage. My English friends have told me I’m more English than the English!

It is usually one’s mother who determines the family’s food traditions, and my mother’s family was English. My father’s family was also English, but they had arrived in America much earlier—1620, to be precise, on a little boat called the Mayflower.

My first posh hotel afternoon tea was at the Empress in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was only fitting, since I had heard so much about it from my mother and grandmother who had emigrated from England to Victoria (then eventually to California). And, of course, we had tea at home. I was not more than four when I began drinking tea.

When my grandmother came to stay shortly before my birth, she and my mother bought a new teapot to mark the occasion. I still have that lovely teapot I have always called “my birth teapot.” Of course, I’ve added many more to my collection since that time. Throughout my childhood, my grandmother would come to stay for about a month at a time, during which I was her constant companion. She slept in my room and I would get up in the middle of the night with her to drink tea, as was her nightly habit.

I think of her and my mother nearly every day as I do the things they did, such as putting the kettle on and making tea several times a day, cutting my scones into wedges rather than the usually seen rounds, having several books and magazines going at a time and getting distracted from my tasks to sit down with a cup of tea and have a read.

I give afternoon teas for my friends and have ”converted” many to tea over the years. I’ve had smaller and larger teas, but usually have four to six people, sometimes indoors and sometimes in the garden in the gazebo. I make two or three different tea sandwiches; scones with Devonshire cream, lemon curd and strawberry or raspberry jam; shortbread and other sweets. Afterward, I bring out the strawberries and Champagne, sometimes Pimm’s Cup. A few friends, “honorary” Englishwomen all, have gone on to host afternoon teas themselves, so I have the pleasure of being a guest as well as a hostess. You will want to get your friends on the bandwagon—afternoon teas are a lot of work!

The good thing is, nearly all the work is done in advance, so you have time for a bit of a lie-down before donning your posh tea frock and greeting your guests. And, if you are not yet in the habit of giving afternoon teas, do keep it simple until you have a few under your belt. Here’s all you need to know:

1. The three requisite courses—sandwiches and savories, scones, and dainty desserts—can be extravagant or simple. Whether you go all-out with several offerings in each category or serve just one type of sandwich, scone and sweet, beautiful presentation and a good pot of tea will delight your guests. Indoors, I have guests serve themselves at the tea table and sit round the living room. Outdoors, we sit at the tea table in the gazebo and have a sideboard for the things that won’t fit on the table.

2. Invite your guests to dress for the occasion. It will add to the ambience. For the ladies, this means dresses, hosiery and heels, gloves (removed before eating, of course) and even hats, if they have them. For the gentlemen, the male equivalent.

3. Since afternoon tea is a brief occasion, perhaps two hours or so, the hostess would do well to include the word “precisely” in front of the time on the invitation (as in “precisely three o’clock”). And, please, don’t call it “high tea,” which is the informal main evening meal sometimes called a “meat tea.”

4. Many Americans think they don’t like tea, but that’s because they’ve only ever had the insipid brew that comes of dipping a low-quality tea bag into a cup of tepid water. To make a proper pot of black tea, just before a kettle of freshly drawn water comes to the boil, warm the teapot with hot water, empty it, add one teaspoon of tea leaves for each 8 ounces of water. Immediately pour in the freshly boiling water, let it stand for 5 minutes, stir, and then strain into cups. If one prefers to use a tea ball, be sure it is large enough to allow the tea leaves to unfurl. Serve with sugar or sugar cubes, thin slices (not wedges) of lemon and a small pitcher of milk (never cream).

5. Make one to three kinds of tiny, crustless sandwiches (six to eight total per person), and cover them properly before refrigerating for a couple of hours until serving time. You might also include savory tartlets, mini quiches or bite-size meat pies.

6. Scones, another afternoon tea essential, can also be made ahead; just reheat at the last moment. Homemade are vastly superior to store-bought and so easy to make. Serve with strawberry or raspberry jam, lemon curd and Devonshire cream.

7. Make or buy a selection of dainty sweet treats, perhaps three of the following: shortbread or other biscuits (cookies), miniature cream puffs, mini muffins, petits fours and pecan tartlets. Though not strictly required, Champagne and strawberries are elegant additions to the tea table. I’ll soon be posting more afternoon tea recipes on The Delightful Repast.

© Copyright 2010 Jean of The Delightful Repast delightfulrepast.blogspot.com