Enjoy yourself in style with your friends in seven steps

 

High Tea Parties are the very latest trend to spend quality time with your friends or family. This tradition is making a comeback and we can see why! Catching up with friends in the sun while enjoying a cup of tea or coffee with delicious light snacks. An ideal spring activity to take advantage of the first sunny days.

High Tea is not just your standard cup of tea at 4 o’clock, but a centuries-old English tradition. In the 19th century High Tea signalled the end of the working day and was therefore a time for pure relaxation and pleasure. Delicious tea was always also accompanied by a small buffet consisting of light snacks, cakes and pastries to satisfy the hunger.

The High Tea party is now enjoying a revival and we combine old with new. Discover in seven steps all the things you need to give a great tea party in your own home.

Step 1: Location

Weather permitting, you can go outside and sit in the garden. Relax in the sun with the birds singing around you and the picture is complete.

If it’s a bit too chilly, sit on the veranda or go and sit next to a big window -  you’ll then get the feeling that you’re sitting outside.

Step 2: Crockery set

The most important thing is elegance. Immerse yourself completely in the ruffled edge English style. The more over-the-top the better. Choose a white linen tablecloth, traditional crockery, typical English fine china cups and tiered cake stands.

Don’t have any traditional crockery? Go and have a look in your grandmother’s attic or wander round a charity or vintage shop. You can pick up wonderful items for just a few euros.

Step 3: Accessories

Wonderfully fresh pastel colours match the white crockery. Green and pink go with white perfectly. Bring nature to your table with green candles and napkins and make use of pink accents and flowers to create a cosy atmosphere for socialising.

A few tips:

  • Use your most traditional candlestick and light pink or white table candles to give your table a classic elegance.
  • Fill champagne flutes with water and place a floating candle in each one. Add more colour with a few flower heads.
  • Hang jars or glass pots in a tree or on your terrace and light a few Clearlights.

Step 4: Flower arch

For the more advanced: you can make a flower arch to go over your table. Use ivy and roses to create a timeless romantic effect. Hang a few candles under it and find yourself transported to another world.

Step 5: Tea

No High Tea without tea! This is how you make the perfect cup of tea!

  1. The perfect temperature: for black tea boil the water to 96°C, for green tea it should be 70°C.
  2. Use loose tea rather than bought tea bags as the taste is much more intense.  Use empty tea bags or a tea strainer to remove the loose tea.
  3. Check the infusing time of the tea; tea that has infused for too long is bitter. Check the instructions on the tea packaging. For a large pot of tea, this is on average 2-3 minutes.
  4. Never squeeze the liquid out of the tea bag! This gives the tea a bitter taste.
  5. Add milk, sugar or honey to taste.

Step 6:Light snacks

Cake, scones and macaroons are traditional items on the High Tea table. But you can also make small sandwiches or serve small cups of soup. Perhaps you can make a cheesecake yourself, or choose a tart or biscuits from your favourite baker or spread fresh, healthy toppings on mini toasts.  This is our favourite:

Quick delicious cupcakes

You will need:

  • 125 g butter at room temperature
  • 125 g caster sugar
  • 125 g self-rising flour
  • 2 tablespoons milk at room temperature
  • 2 eggs at room temperature
  1. Heat the oven to 170 degrees and place the shelf in the middle of the oven. Prepare a cupcake baking tray with paper cases.
  2. Cut the butter into small blocks. Put the butter in a bowl and add the sugar a small amount at a time. Each time you add sugar, mix the butter and sugar mixture with the mixer on medium-high speed. Mix thoroughly until the mixture is light and fluffy.
  3. Add the eggs one by one. This makes the mixture lighter. Mix thoroughly with the mixer on medium-high speed after adding each egg.
  4. Add the self-raising flour a little bit at a time. Keep mixing on medium-high speed each time you add a small amount of flour.
  5. Finally add the milk and mix for another 1 minute on medium-high speed until the mixture is fluffy and smooth. Using a tablespoon place a small amount of mixture in the centre of each paper cupcake case. Fill the cases 2/3 full.
  6. Bake the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes in the oven at 170 degrees.
  7. Once they have cooled, you can start to decorate them. You can even do this with your friends as a fun activity during the High Tea Party.

Step 7: Enjoy in style with Spaas

Enjoy this unique experience with your friends! This great afternoon is also very instagrammable – so when you share your memorable moments, tag us with @spaaskaarsen so we can enjoy it too.

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