I think the perfect High Tea begins with beautiful silver service and porcelain teapots! I'm sharing a photo of my new Towle service ... and yes, I have others, but this style is more in line with the way we entertain these days. I'm all about making things a little more casual and less stuffy!
My tea theme is "The Music of Tea" and I've chosen to include some of my wooden music boxes in the tablescape. My large one is a reproduction of the 1800s style with turning punched disks ... with ballerinas in the window. Mine was made by "Mr. Christmas" and is electric, so I have to hide the cord under the table covering! Children (of all ages) are always fascinated by the turning disk and dancers!
Some of the other special things on my table are two of my collection of Moss Rose teapots. I like to serve more than one kind of tea at "high tea", so I use multiple pots. I actually serve tea with the courses of food ... and yes, I think high tea has evolved into supper ... so I usually have three courses ... soup with a strong blend of tea ... sandwiches with a moderate blend of tea ... and dessert with a delicate floral blend. I always serve iced water (sometimes flavored) with tea ... and sometimes I freeze ice cubes in special shapes and/or colors. In my effort to create topics of table talk, I've included my husband's grandmother's hand tatted lace tablecloth in my layers of table coverings ... and a wooden tray that I bought at an antique shop ... that has been hand made. I love the chiseled pattern on the tray! Notice the wooden box I've used as a teapot perch? I would probably fill similar boxes with the tea sandwiches, scones and cakes ... leaving them open, of course.
Here's my full place setting ... mostly Depression Glass.
I love using the little teapot shaped tea bag holders ... but never use tea bags ... so I've used them to hold sugar stick/stirrers at each place. I'm serving scones with cream cheese and jam, so the bread and butter plate and butter knife is a must. I've used a round soup spoon and the grill knife and fork in my set of silver. Grille knives and forks were designed with longer handles ... to allow users to "dig into" salads and open faced sandwiches ... without getting anything on their hands!
In this final collage, you can see the teaspoon I used. It is actually shorter than the typical teaspoon ... called an "afternoon spoon" ... and is designed specifically for afternoon tea or coffee! The silver plate flatware is Oneida, in the Evening Star pattern ... from the 1950s ... collected at shops and flea markets!
Hope you've enjoyed High Tea at my house. Rest assured ... you will have been visited by at least one of two four-legged friends. They are both built-in vacuum cleaners ... one trained and the other one self-taught! The food was fabulous ... the music was relaxing ... and the company, as always, was the best part! Thanks for joining me.
