Strawberry Fields Forever, Tea Time On Friday

As those of you know who follow me regularly, I host a Ladies Bible Study group in my home every Friday.  And I like to change it up a bit every now and then and today was one of those days.  In addition to our Bible Study, we had a Tea Party.  We had such a great time sampling teas and eating scones. I will share our table with you my dear readers.

When I am hosting a tea, I like to pick a theme first.  One of my tea sets is not a formal set, in that the pattern is more modern.  It is also bright and cheery.  The bright red strawberries and lime green stems & leaves just make me smile. Hence the Strawberry Fields Forever title. 

Since the tea set sorta shouts, ‘No formality here!’…, I used my lime green tablecloth, staying away from the more traditional, soft table coverings. You can view another of my tea time posts here.  It was a more formal afternoon tea, although my photos leave a lot to be desired as I posted this tea time in my early days of blogging. In that post I explained the history of tea time. The foods I used then and the foods I used for this informal tea are a bit different….as are the colors.  Below are two photos from that post…’Ladies Afternoon Tea at Miller Manor’

So now that I had my theme and tea service, I chose the food.  Let me interrupt my diatribe to say this.  Normally, I would check the calendar for a perfect date and time…and I would choose a guest list.  But remember this was my weekly Bible Study group, so I already had a captive audience and a set day and time.  All I had to do was ask them to wear hats and not eat lunch before they came….which they all were more than happy to do. I will say, I still sent out formal invitations, because I believe everyone loves to receive an invitation in the mail…slow as it can be.  I started my table prep about 3 days before the event.  That way I could “live” with it for a while, deciding what I could add OR take away.

Going along with the Strawberry theme, I chose three teas.  Taylors, Strawberry & Vanilla, Yama Moto Yama, Strawberry Green Tea, Harney & Sons, Hot Cinnamon Spice. 

I also chose two other teapots other than the main tea pot star, keeping with the red/pink colors.  I sat the teapots on gold metal warmers.  For serve ware, of course one must have a 3 tiered serving tray for ANY High or Low Tea time…., but I also added a Nora Fleming white ceramic tray and positioned a big bright red strawberry Mini in the intended holder.  

My Centerpiece strayed from the tradition of using the 3 tiered tray as a centerpiece because I wanted to use daisies in a large strawberry pitcher I have had for years. …which by the way I had to remove after we started our tea because I couldn’t see the lady at the end of the table and I felt like I was talking to the daisies. You know what I am talking about, we have all been there…however, I find I like to use what I like and just remove it to the sidebar for conversation. I later placed a mirror under the strawberry pitcher.  You might notice the little tea pot bag holders at each place setting.  I gave those as party favors to my guests.  The photo below was in my early staging before I had all my elements in place.

At each place setting, I used name cards, Kate Spade strawberry napkins, small gold forks and spoons, bubble water glasses, and the teapot party favor.  Later I added the Menu at each place setting….because everyone would like to know what they will be eating.

Next in my planning…one of the most important elements…the food.  For the hearty part of the tea, I decided Chicken Salad on Mini Croissants and Egg Salad on Crostini would suit everyone.  For a lighter fare, a simple ‘sandwich’ …. Cucumber slices on rounds of bread and spread with a compound butter and herb mix.  I like to use dill but you could use any of your favorite herbs.  You could also slice the rounds of compound butter and place them on the bread rounds. Hey it’s your tea party…do what you like. 

So now that the Savory part of my tray was planned..(Tradition says the Savory should be on the bottom tier.)…I planned the Scones Tier, which is the middle tier. Obviously, we are thinking strawberry here, so I decided to make a Strawberry & Cream Scone with a simple glaze drizzle.  I have to tell you that my scones probably don’t taste like the traditional English Scones because I don’t want to eat a biscuit, I want something with a little panache.  In other words sweet flavor. My scones, pictured below,  may not be pretty but in my opinion, they sure do taste good.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Bites are another addition to the middle tier and are so simple.  I used a strawberry shaped cookie cutter to cut out bread and spread strawberry cream cheese on one piece and topped it with another piece of bread and a sliced strawberry. For my third Scone entry, adding  Strawberry Jam Puffs, which is another simple recipe made with puff pastry and strawberry jam. Easy Peasy.

Sweets should be placed on the top tier according to Tea Time etiquette…so here is where I served premade Mini Macarons, small custard cream puffs and chocolate eclairs from my local Super Market’s freezer.  The ladies loved them.  I threw in strawberry cake slices from a strawberry cake mix and topped with the same glaze I put on the strawberry & cream scones….which was heavy cream, powdered sugar and clear vanilla. I served clotted cream as the English would do, but personally, I drink my tea without anything in it….and I like my scones the same way. For tea time, I like to use sugar cubes though they are for those guests who like a sweetness in their tea.

I also kept a pitcher of cold water with lemon and lime slices, along with the extra tea pots of hot water.  The great part of this Tea Time was I gave all the ladies containers to take home what they wanted, so clean up was a breeze.

My Strawberry Tea Set is made by various companies because I bought them at different times.  The cups, saucers, creamer, sugar and tea pot is Kent Pottery. I found the salad plates at a Thrift Store several years ago and they have the Fitz and Floyd logo….but they match the Kent Pottery perfectly.  Perhaps they are affiliated.

I have to confess I drink hot tea every day, usually all day long.  Do you like tea parties? Do you prefer Hot or Cold Tea?

Thank you for reading Strawberry Fields Forever, Tea Time on Friday

Have a Blessed and wonderful Week-end.  It is going to be very hot here in SW Florida…But I plan on staying cool in the pool…and maybe sipping on a glass of cold Iced Tea.🥰

Psalm 23:5: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”