So what should you have on hand for guests to doctor their tea and scones?The bare minimum is cream and sugar. This would be totally fine for tea with a friend or just a few friends.
If you want to have a more formal/fancy tea, I would suggest putting out not only cream and sugar but also honey. Some people prefer to have honey in their tea as a natural sweetener. Some also prefer to have a sugar substitute but I don't feel that in our health conscience day that it is necessary to provide sugar substitutes as long as you have honey on hand. You can serve flavored creamers as well for those who like to experiment with flavor combinations.
It's also perfectly acceptable to mix tea flavors. A guest may wish to mix blueberry and vanilla together or green and mint together for example.
Other condiments that you may want to have on hand for the scones and other pastries/breads, might be:
whipped cream
curds: lemon and raspberry curd being the most popular but try combining the two or something totally out of the ordinary like apple cinnamon curd, pineapple curd, passion fruit curd, etc.
jellies/jams/preserves such as strawberry, raspberry, apricot, peach, blueberry, etc.
apple butter
chocolate mousse
whipped cream combined with jams or curd
whipped honey butter
Now, keep in mind that having a cup of tea with a friend need not be complicated. Sugar and cream, a hand full of grapes, and a cut of coffee cake is just as delightful as a table full of delectable finger pastries at a fancy garden party.
Do you have a favorite tea condiment that I've failed to mention? If so, post it under the comments for others to enjoy! I'm always up to trying something new!
I will resume posting tea recipes and tea accessories next week as well as my overdue Favorite Gadget Thing of the month! Until Monday, sip a cup of tea and friendship with me across the distances, whether they be short or long.
5 comments:
Some tea rooms serve clotted cream or Devonshire cream. I think whipped cream works just fine!
Yes, good point. Clotted cream and Devonshire cream are a special part of the cream that is obtained through a special process and difficult to get in the US. Whipping cream, whipped hard almost to the butter stage but not quite (very cold with a cold bowl, and cold beaters)is the closest thing I've been able to make at home and seen. My homemade whipped cream frosting recipe is exactly what I use. It would be great if we could get clotted cream more easily here.
Where do you buy all this tea stuff? Special teas, the curd,? a regular grocery store?
You can get some of it at regular grocery stores...especially the tea and usually lemon curd (by the jams and jellies). You can also find lots of recipes online to make your own curds.
But, I do buy a lot of my stuff from local tea shops. CostPlus World Market also carries quite a supply of teas and accessories.
Even some coffee shops carry some exotic tea flavors for purchase.
You can buy premade vanilla bean scones from Starbucks that are quite good.
As far as actual accessories I usually find them in tea shops, tea houses, gifts shops, thrift stores, etc.
It all sounds yummy. I will sip my tea and think of you! :0) My favorite is a nice chai latte, though, so I don't usually add anything else to it!
Post a Comment