Taking Tea

Taking Tea
04-03-09

On April 1, 2009 President Obama and First Lady Michelle had tea with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip at Buckingham Palace. Tea with the Queen! Is that just not one of the most incredible dreams come true? Perhaps not for everyone I suppose, but it would be for me.

I love tea parties. Ever since I was a little girl. I had a tea set made of painted tin and another tiny one of heavy ceramic. I even made a tea set out of red clay mud while camping at Mission Lake and dried the pieces in the sun. (And yes, it is possible to combine playing in the mud with dreams of tea parties.) These were fine play things. But I really had real tea parties when I was given a real tea set made of porcelain by a lady named Blanche. I thought that was an elegant and fancy name. The tea set was also quite elegant and fancy. It was white trimmed in real gold and painted with delicate pink roses. There was a tall tea pot, cream and sugar, 6 cups with saucers, and real silver spoons. Many tea parties were held in my room, and the Queen was always on the guest list.

My collection now has many other tea sets, tea pots, and miscellaneous cups. But forty-some years later, that first real tea set is still my most beloved. One cup is broken and gone, and the sugar bowl is missing its lid. Otherwise it sits ready to serve.

The Chinese Emperor Shen Nung discovered tea around 2700 B.C. Tea did not reach Europe until 1610 when Dutch traders brought it from a trading station in Bantam, Java, where it was purchased from Chinese merchants. Things really began to brew when Thomas Twining opened the first tea house in England in 1717.

"Tea started as a drink for ladies as an alternative to coffee which was drunk in coffee houses which were predominantly a man's domain," says Simon Venison of the Park Lane Hotel.

Anna, Duchess of Bedford, is credited with inventing the art of afternoon tea in the early 1800's. During that time the mid day meal was very light, and the evening meal was usually late. It seems Anna got very hungry in the afternoons and came up with the idea of afternoon tea, with cakes and tea and other savory foods as a break between breakfast and dinner. Friends were soon invited over to join in and a tradition was born.

We know that Little Girls and tea parties go together like tea and scones. I am happy to say that Big Girl tea parties are gaining popularity. Gathering and taking tea together allows a genuine connection between people. Sipping tea and having a conversation with an old friend is good for the soul. We like getting dressed up, being served and hearing words like Please and Thank You. We can enjoy a step back to a simpler time. A time when hospitality, graciousness and manners were something people thought about every day. A time when listening to a poet read, or a humorist relate a story was quality entertainment.

This Almond Tea is served at the Annual Victorian Day Tea in Waterville, KS.

3 tea bags, orange pekoe blend
6 cups water
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract

Steep tea bags in 2 cups boiling water for 10 minutes.
Make a syrup of the sugar and remaining 4 cups water.
Boil for 3 minutes, then cool.
Combine the tea, sugar syrup, lemon juice, almond and vanilla extracts and bring to a boil.
Makes 12 servings.

"Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea!
How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea."
-William Gladstone, British Prime Minister.