I was in my late forties before I ever experienced afternoon tea at a tea house. I had seen pictures and social media posts about them, but I never gave it a second thought. I'm so glad to have gone and experienced this because I really enjoyed it. If you follow us on social media I made a post highlighting our meal that you can watch here. I discovered that afternoon tea is the perfect experience to relax, slow down, and spend time with friends or family with simple and delicious food. This experience inspired our May box Afternoon Tea.
We provided almost everything you need to create afternoon tea at home, including a how-to guide and some recipes to make scones, clotted cream, and various tea sandwiches. Let's take a look at the contents!
3 Tier Tray
In my opinion, to have the perfect experience you need the 3-tier tray. Traditionally, the bottom tier holds your tea sandwiches, the middle contains the scones, clotted cream, preserves, and curd. The top tier houses your bite-sized sweets such as macarons, petit fours, or any small-sized pastry. Although not fancy, this tray serves its purpose and can be used multiple times for gatherings where you need to display food.
Tea Cup, Saucer, Teaspoon, and Napkins
Of course, you need a tea up to have tea right? Each box contains one tea cup and saucer for the subscriber. We had fun looking for vintage teacups for each box and also napkins that differ for each subscriber. Don't worry that your cups don't match! Mix and match what you have to create a beautiful tablescape or you can have fun shopping for vintage cups like we did. Fun fact, did you know that tradition says to never let your spoon touch the sides of the cup while stirring, and never leave your spoon in the teacup, instead place it on the saucer behind the cup.
Earl Grey Loose Leaf Tea
Earl Grey is one of the most common teas used when having afternoon tea. This particular Earl Grey is mellowed with a nice creamy taste. This is a medium caffeine-content tea and each bag makes 15 8 oz cups.
To prepare your tea you can either use a tea ball for each cup or brew an entire pot with the leaves directly in the kettle. If you don't have strainers for the top of each cup, you can attach some cheesecloth to the spout of your tea kettle to catch the loose tea.
Preserves/Curd
In order to have a proper scone, you need clotted cream, preserves, and curd. This particular brand was used at the tea house we visited and was so delicious! We packed strawberry preserves and lemon curd in each box. You only need a teaspoon of one or both on your scone because the flavors are so intense.
When you get to the scone course of your tea, break your scone in half and spread clotted cream on one side. Then add a teaspoon-sized dollop of preserves or curd and close it up. There are many different types of scones to make but for this, my favorites are plain or dried fruit such as raisins.
Biscuit Cutters
Last but not least, speaking of scones, we included biscuit cutters. If you are not a baker you probably don't have them in your kitchen so we provided them for you. Each set has three different sizes small, medium, and large. You can choose which size you want your scones to be, but I suggest the large size.
These are stainless steel so you don't have to worry about rust. Don't let these stay hidden in your kitchen drawer either. They can be used to make any type of biscuit or even cookies.
Afternoon tea is so much fun and can be done in many different ways. It's the perfect experience for Mother's Day, a birthday, a book club or garden club meeting, or just spending time with friends. Think outside the box with your decor by mixing and matching your pieces, and table decorations. It is so versatile it can be done indoors, outside on the patio, by the pool, or set up your table in the flower garden. If you have hosted your own afternoon tea party we would love to hear about it!
There is so much joy out there to be discovered. We want to bring that to you every month. More joy, a new hobby, spending more time with friends and family, and doing more of what matters. What are you waiting for if you are not on our email list or following us on social media? You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest.
Simple Joy Box is a curated subscription box designed to help you embrace the art of a slow-living lifestyle one month at a time. We take the guesswork out of finding your new hobby by introducing new creative habits that allow for more self-expression and create more simple pleasures in your day-to-day life. If you are ready to start your slow-living lifestyle, visit our website to learn more about us, and join our email list to stay up-to-date on our blogs.
