Classic English Afternoon Tea Party

Here’s my menu (and some recipes) for my version of a classic English afternoon tea at home.

Hotels like to offer champagne or a champagne cocktail as a starter, but this is not required. It is nice if you’re celebrating something though, to start with a toast, so on those occasions, I do like to start with something fizzy.

• Kir royale (optional)

I like to offer a selection of at least one Indian and one China tea; and then, because I know not everyone likes tea (what can I say?), an herbal tisanes is a thoughtful option.

• Yorkshire Tea (or Yorkshire Gold Tea) – Yorkshire tea is an Assam blend, so (to my mind) it satisfies the Indian tea requirement
• Formosa Oolong Tea – satisfies the China tea requirement
• Herbal tea (many options, including Chamomile or Peppermint, or even Good Earth Sweet & Spicy Original herbal tea)
• Lemon slices, milk (not half-and-half, please!), sugar cubes

The sandwich, or savoury, course starts the meal. Cucumber is the only required sandwich. Everything else is optional, but it’s nice to offer three or four options. If you’re serving your teatime treats on a three-tiered stand, the finger sandwiches would go on the bottom plate.

• Cucumber and watercress on cream cheese or Boursin, on white bread, open-faced (required)
• Smoked salmon and lemon-dill butter on wheat bread, decorated with capers, also open-faced
• Roast beef and whipped horseradish on wheat bread
• Chicken-tarragon salad on oatmeal bread
• Curried chicken salad on raisin bread, open-faced, with a dollop of mango chutney and a small cashew
• Thinly sliced ham and mustard butter on rye or wheat bread
• Egg salad on white bread; if served open-faced, topped with a slice of hard-boiled egg and chopped parsley; if not serving curried chicken, consider adding curry to the egg salad
• Camembert and fig jam baked in a phyllo cup, garnished with rosemary
• Salmon mousse in a puff of pâte à choux

The scones course follows the sandwiches; these would be served on the middle plate of a three-tiered stand.

• Plain Devonshire scones (required)
• Fruited (with, ideally, black currants) Devonshire scones, or cream scones
• Clotted cream from Devon
• Lemon curd
• Srawberry jam (required)

Three (or any odd number) is always nice when displaying an array of anything – from pillows to desserts! But, sometimes my hostess-ego gets activated, and I offer a few more than just three. (These would be served on the top plate of a three-tiered stand, if that’s what you’re using.)

• shortbread
• madeleines
• Victoria sandwich (or a coffee-walnut cake, Battenberg cake, steamed pudding, or any special cake)
• treacle tartlets (or Maids of Honour, fresh fruit tarts, or at Christmas-time – mincemeat tarts)
• tea bread (pumpkin-raisin, banana-chocolate chip, cherry-almond, or the like)
• macarons or meringue kisses
• Eton mess, or trifle, or cranachan

Finally, just in case everyone wants to linger a little longer but can’t eat one more single thing, a digestif is a nice way to end the afternoon.

• Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry (optional)

And that’s it! The pace and structure of afternoon tea – what makes it predictable – makes it so easy to feel comfortable. It’s no wonder it’s such an iconic tradition.

NB: True confession – I don’t always use a three-tiered stand. Or if I do, I only use it for the savoury course and put my scones and sweets on seperate serving plates. Sometimes I just have too much food and too many options to fit on the stand plates!