Planning a Tea Party: Part Two

Types of Afternoon Tea

Full Tea

This is what Americans think of as a "high tea". Full tea is often served on a three tiered tray with a variety of light snacks, including savory as well as sweet.

Full teas are typically served with:

• Variety of Tea
• I prefer a Chai blend, but if you want to serve a traditional array of tea, go for:
• Assam- A malty flavored Indian tea
• Earl Grey- A blend of black tea with bergamot oil that gives it a licorice flavor (and Jean-Luc Picard's favorite)
• Darjeeling- Another Indian tea with a hint of almond
• Lapsang Souchong- A Chinese tea that is dried over smoking pine needles
• You can choose your own favorite, but consider how the flavor will work with your food choices. If you're having a lot of rich flavors, I might not go with a green tea. However, a white tea, or floral tea, would be a light flavor to counter the richness of any rich food you might serve.

• Scones
• Sweet, vanilla scones served with clotted cream and jam
• Savory scones served with butter

• Finger Sandwiches
• Cucumber and cream cheese
• Smoked salmon
• Chicken or egg salad

• Miniature Savory Snacks
• Quiche
• Soup

• Deserts
• Petite fours
• Brownies
• Miniature Cakes

Light Tea

A few steps down from the full tea, the light tea is served with scones, clotted cream, preserves, and a variety of small deserts. If you don't have the means to serve a full tea, the light tea is the best choice. You can still have the elegance, without the expense or as much effort.

Cream Tea

A cream tea is well suited for a small gathering. Only tea and scones, with clotted cream and preserves, are served with this tea. It's perfect for an afternoon refresher before or after a meet up.

Good Tea Brands

• Teavana
• Lupicia
• Numi
• Harney and Sons
• Taylors of Harrogate
• Tazo

Recipes and Tutorials

• Petite fours
• Scones
• Tea Sandwiches
• Mini Quiche
• Clotted Cream
• Lemon Curd
• Preparing different types of tea

Thank you for reading! I'm sorry it took so long to get this post up, please check out the first post in this series and read about the History of the Tea Party.

-Lunette <3