“Everything’s Better with Tea & Cake”

The thing about enjoying afternoon tea with young boys in the U.S. is that they’re not very familiar with the tradition and generally see this offering as a perfect opportunity to act bratty and make each other laugh about silly things like pouring tea into a teacup and stuffing their mouths with tea sandwiches.

Such was our experience a few weekends ago when SoCal rain storms had us stuck at home and I was looking for things to keep Benny & Toby entertained, indoors.

Preparing for Afternoon Tea

I called my sister Irene and basically invited ourselves over to her place for an afternoon tea experience. I would take everything needed to eat: sandwiches, prosciutto & cheese, desserts, including scones, cupcakes, mini waffles, berries, fruit tarts, tiramisu cups and petite cheesecake bites.

And everything needed to drink: A variety of tea flavors, Sparkling Rosé and mineral water.

Plus everything needed to display and serve the treats: three-tier stands, a variety of teapots and teacups as well as fresh flowers, vases, champagne glasses and crystal trays.

My sister accepted.

The Menu

To prepare for this afternoon tea, I made a trip to the cake & pastry section at Whole Foods in Oxnard. I bought all the sweets there…everything including the mini fruit tart you see above. The scones were sold in a box and the rest of the treats were prepared in-store and sold individually.

I made the tea sandwiches myself using heart cutouts to make them a bit more Valentine’s Day-themed. I made them using white bread, thinly sliced ham and Muenster cheese. For the cucumber tea sandwiches, I used thinly-sliced cucumbers and a combination of herb-flavored cream cheese and mayo for the spread.

A Bit of History

Afternoon tea was introduced in England, in the year 1840 by Anna Russell, the seventh Duchess of Bedford.

Anna was a very close friend of Queen Victoria, and even served as her Lady of the Bedchamber (basically a fancy title to explain she was in line to become the Queens personal assistant LOL).

But anyway, the Duchess would get hungry around four o'clock p.m. but evening meals weren’t served until about eight o'clock. This meant she had to wait a long time between meals and well, she wasn’t having it.

So the Duchess of Bedford started requesting that a tray of tea, bread, butter and cake be delivered to her room in the late afternoon. This became her daily routine and eventually she started inviting friends to join her… and the rest is history!

Making Memories

My son Benny poured hot water into his tea cup and chose a hibiscus-berry flavored tea bag. I didn’t prepare a pot with a specific tea flavor (note that popular Afternoon tea selections include Earl Grey, Assam, Lavender, Darjeeling and Mint tea).

Me personally? I had a cup of tea AND a glass of champagne because it seemed appropriate.

An Afternoon to Remember

I would say the prep for an Afternoon tea is what took the longest. Making sandwiches can be time-consuming if you want them to have the right look, texture and taste. Multi-tasking to make sure the water is ready for the tea, the table setting is neatly organized and the kids are dressed in a semi-acceptable outfit. Afternoon tea in England is rather formal so I figured it would be a good idea to dress the boys in nice button shirts.

The biggest challenge was making sure the kids didn’t eat the carefully crafted tea bites before they made it to the table! I had to remind them to be patient, darling.

We enjoyed a nice afternoon and ended up finishing most of the menu items.

Until we toast again, thanks for reading friends!

Xo,

Anabel M.

Valentine's Day Idea: Afternoon Tea with young kids