Lovers of the tradition of afternoon tea mimic a custom that began with Anna Russell, the Duchess of Bedford. Faced with a fainting feeling mid-afternoon because of England’s late dinner hour, she is said to have asked her butler to bring her bread, butter, and tea around 5pm. She then asked her friends to join her and the social practice spread among the upper-class until its practice was widespread.
What may be even less known than this is that Anna Russell was a contemporary and friend of Queen Victoria who began her reign in 1837. Hence, many tearooms choose a Victorian theme for their decor and ambiance. I will sheepishly admit, I did not connect the historical dots until very recently. For many lovers of afternoon tea are also Jane Austen fans, probably the most well-known individual from the England’s Regency Era. And just in case you didn’t know, the Regency Era came BEFORE the Victorian Era. Most likely, while Jane Austen drank tea (see the book Tea with Jane Austen for more information) she didn’t practice the custom of afternoon tea so many of us have come to enjoy.
I once tried to plan a Jane Austen themed tea based on the book Tea with Jane Austen. The author includes a number of recipes written as they were in the 19th century along with an updated version. But I abandoned the idea because I wanted a menu filled with more traditional afternoon tea fare which was not included. Now I know why. And I know some of you want to try this theme as well, as my search terms show.
So for the historical purists among us, an authentic Austen-themed afternoon tea would be difficult to reproduce. However, your afternoon tea can take on any theme you want. Some of the ways you could incorporate Jane Austen into your theme could be:
with fashion. The empire silhouette is back in style, with a woman’s waist falling directly below her bust. Regency women did not wear corsets or hoop-skirts, smart girls! Now, one would wear hats and gloves and remove the gloves when dining.
with the language of the fan. It is my understanding that the secret messages sent with the fan women carried began before the Victorian era. And it’s just fun.
with music. Mozart was already around!
to provide your guests with a copy of one of Austen’s novels as a party favor. Dover Thrift Editions are extremely reasonable, such as this copy of Mansfield Park.
to invite a dance instructor and ask for instruction in the Cotillion, the dances we see in the Austen-based movies. Even with only girls, this could be great fun.
So while Jane Austen was only eight years older than Duchess Anna, she died forty years before her. It’s possible Ms. Austen was never invited to afternoon tea. Now, Beatrix Potter’s life, on the other hand, was most likely filled with appointments for afternoon tea. And a Beatrix Potter-themed tea would be extremely easy to recreate. Blackberries and chamomile tea, anyone? I was in awe of the number of beautiful tea-related scenes in the recent movie, Miss Potter. This was accurate, since Miss Potter came of age when the Victorian Era and the tradition of afternoon tea were in full swing.
Do you think it matters? How would you incorporate Jane Austen into your afternoon tea party?
Many of you looking to the web for tea party ideas end up here at Tea Party Girl. The top five search terms of all time resulting in over 4200 views to TPG are:
tea party
tea parties
Christmas tea party
tea party food
tea party menu
Now, I find this important for a couple of reasons. First, one of the ways I’ve chosen to address this need is to provide step-by-step seasonal tea party planning guides such as my latest, “The Guide to Planning a Tea Party–Winter Edition“. I can help you think through the steps needed to implement your event and provide some seasonal suggestions for the menu, decorations, music, and tea.
And as a loose-leaf tea lover and drinker in a teabag culture, I hope new visitors to TPG will catch the vision for the role TEA is meant to play in the tea party. If they spend some time here, they can learn a bit about the role tea’s played in history and culture over the millennium. And hopefully they read the article, “The Top Seven Mistakes Tea Drinkers Make” or “The Tea Party’s Most Important Ingredient” and give tea its proper honor at their event.
But the purpose of this article is to encourage the tea party planner to create their tea party their way. In other words, once you’ve mastered some of the basic information on the etiquette, table setting, and brewing of the tea, be sure to use your creative side, experiment, and have fun thinking about how your event can reflect YOU. A tea party is like a wedding in that regard. Yes, there are steps to follow, etiquette to consider, and most brides wear white. But ultimately, you want your uniqueness and heart to permeate your event.
The best event will strike a balance between the art and science, the “how to” and the “want to”. Here’s some examples of what I mean.
Know your style. I prefer the mix and match look. But others, with a more sophisticated style want an all-white table or all the teacups to match. Either works.
Work with your colors. I prefer pastels, cherry reds and pinks, and teal greens. I strongly dislike blue, orange and tomato red. Sometimes I have to get creative around Thanksgiving because I don’t own anything in the traditional colors. Choose what you love over what you think is right.
Serve the food you want. Yes, a cucumber sandwich on white bread with cream cheese is traditional. Scones are usually always served with clotted cream and jam. Are you wanting to use your creativity to produce a beautiful and traditional afternoon tea? Then go for it! But consider food menus apart from tradition, too. How can the food add to your theme? For example, Paris-themed teas are becoming increasingly popular. Do they HAVE cucumbers in Paris? I have no idea. Do some research and plan your menu creatively. An excellent resource for ideas is Tracy Stern’s Tea Party: 20 Themed Tea Parties with Recipes for Every Occasion, from Fabulous Showers to Intimate Gatherings.
Before I had any confidence to host a tea party or any event for that matter, I looked high and low for resources that would tell me exactly what to do. But the events I’ve enjoyed the most are the ones I’ve spent time creatively thinking through. How about you? Do you prefer someone else providing you a step-by-step guide? Or do you allow yourself to imagine how to bring some of your unique creativity to the event? Which method are you the most comfortable with when planning an event?
First, thank you for the comments! I’d love to hear from more of you. Please keep them coming, and let me know the number one struggle you have taking care of your home.
Last Tuesday, Dawnya Sasse of Start a Tea Business dot com interviewed me on a live call with her students for her Online Tea Business Class. It was a thrill to talk about what it’s been like to build this blog and the opportunities blogging can provide for tea businesses. There’s a link below that you can click to listen in, an interview available only to her students and the readers of this blog. If you are interested in starting a tea business, Dawnya’s resources are a great place to start. Thanks to her training, I’m sitting in my own home writing to you instead of floundering in a traditional tea room somewhere. Even if you’re not interested in a tea business, enjoy the interview as a blogger or a fan of Tea Party Girl.
Dawnya Sasse interviews Jenny Wells of Tea Party Girl dot com
Here’s a few other tea party tidbits I’ve been saving up for you:
I’ve been waiting patiently to share these Valentine’s with you. I gave them as a gift to an in-real-life friend first (she also reads this blog and I love surprises!). Not very tea party-ish, but so, so, fun! Especially if you were under eighteen in the 1970s. Be sure to check out superfay’s entire Etsy shop.
Did you know Hugh Grant and I hold something in common? Neither did I. If you don’t know much about Hugh Grant and are the more proper among us, read about the rest of his life at your own risk. But he could be interesting to have tea with, don’t you think?
One of the first blogs I found when I began my own was Risa of The Partea Planner. She lives in beautiful Orange County and runs such a successful event planning business that specializes in tea parties. Risa was featured in this month’s Teatime Magazine with a beautiful photo-rich feature. She shares some of her best tips for hosting a tea party event, from plenty of experience! I highly recommend seeking out a copy of the magazine and reading the article for inspiration and practical advice. But if you can’t get your hands on one, at least visit her blog for some of the pictures. The flowers she chooses for her parties alone leave me breathless.
Just in case you’re either one (rich and/or famous) and read this blog, consider purchasing from this incredible New York company, MarieBelle. And no, I don’t receive a cent for promoting them (yet!). But if you celebrate Valentine’s Day and ever give chocolate, wouldn’t you just love to give works of art as pictured on their homepage? I found the picture of their chocolate at Adagio Teas’s website and Christine Rillo’s article, “Love, Tea is in the Air“. And then to my delight, as I went to MarieBelle’s homepage, one of their headings listed Cacao Bar/Tea Salon. Could it be true?
Oh, that I could hop coasts in a day like the rich and famous (much less purchase chocolates such as these) and visit. Imagine! Unfortunately, they call their afternoon tea “high tea” and their hot chocolate bar is larger than their tea selections. But I am enamored simply because they have elevated tea to “foodie” status, those of us who pay good money for fewer bites of the best ingredients understand. Yes, we would rather taste less of the best than drink gallons or eat buckets of the cheap fare. Instead give us artisan chocolates, local produce, free-range meat, real (yes, that means raw) cream, bakery whole-grain bread, and small-farmed coffee and tea.
In a world of wine and coffee bars, co-ops and CSAs, finding a decent cup of tea out in public is rare indeed, especially outside a Victorian-decorated tearoom (and often not even there!). I hope MarieBelle’s Cacao Bar and Tea Salon knows how to make great tea. But at least I could sit among twinkle lights and the fragrance of rich chocolate nibbling their homemade pastries while I found out. It is worth noting as well, that the first time I tasted decent tea in public was at Alice’s famous restaurant, Chez Panisse, at five dollars a pot (and this was before people paid this much for adulterated coffee drinks). “Worth every penny,” my mom encouraged. She was right!
Anyone else who lives a little closer to New York City want to find out for me? Don’t worry, you can take your coffee-only friends along. MarieBelle’s Cacao Bar/Tea Salon offers espresso as well.
with a beautiful photo-rich feature. She shares some of her best tips for hosting a tea party event, from plenty of experience! I highly recommend seeking out a copy of the magazine and reading the article for inspiration and practical advice. But if you can’t get your hands on one, at least 