Tea and Travel
During my last semester of undergraduate studies, I decided to apply for a fun job: working at a local tea room located in a historic house in the downtown area. I had been working my way through college for many years, taking night classes for several years and working full-time, and then started working part-time and taking classes full-time. By the time I reached my last semester, I knew that I would be giving up my job in banking anyway to begin my graduate studies and then a career in public accounting. So the final spring semester as I was taking an 18-credit course load, I looked forward to my Saturdays spent in the tea room. Arriving early allowed me to bake scones and prepare food and be alone with my thoughts, usually while listening to beautiful classical music. The ladies that I worked with were delightful, and we had a lot of fun. And although I had always enjoyed tea, working there took my appreciation to a whole new level as I learned more about different kinds of tea that I had never tried before. (I even wrote a research paper on tea for my non-business elective Advanced Composition class and served tea and scones to my class when I presented my paper.) My new appreciation of tea began a ritual within my home—the daily brewing of loose leaf tea in a tea pot instead of microwaving a mug of water and putting a tea bag in the mug.
A few months later, I went to England to visit a friend, and I was delighted to find that whenever I ordered a cup of tea, I received a personal-size tea pot with a loose leaf tea infuser along with the pitcher of milk and china or ceramic cup (instead of the styrofoam or paper cup with a stale bag of tea that we commonly receive). Also, while I was there my friend made arrangements for us to have a day of walking in the English countryside followed by enjoying tea at a tea room. One of the most relaxing parts of my trip was sitting in my host’s family room, reading a Jane Austen book, sipping tea, while their elderly, calm Border collie named Hamish, lay on the floor at my feet.
Lunch and tea while visiting Oxford.
Cream tea in an English tea room.
My favorite spot in the home of my host and hostess.
Over the years, one of my favorite things to serve guests is afternoon tea. The pictures below are of the tea that I prepared near Valentine’s Day for one of my uncles and his family a couple of years ago. I served quiche, salad (not pictured), curried chicken salad on apple slices, cucumber sandwiches, scones, mock Devonshire cream, miniature cheesecakes and shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate. (All recipes are gluten free).
Photo credits: Ryan Melcher. My husband kindly took the pictures for me while I finished making the salad.
While I do not often have time to serve tea parties like the one shown above, my girls and I do enjoy a cup of tea every day, nearly always made with loose leaf tea and served in china cups. About once a week, I make gluten free scones for my family, and I will be sharing that recipe at some point in the future…
What are some of your favorite teas? Do you have any fun memories of tea parties?