My first high tea
 

Thanks to Groupon, I bought two half-price coupons for a 'Queen Anne' high tea, one for two persons and one for four persons.

I love tea but I've never been to a real tea service before. I've looked up Devonshire cream, which sounds delicious and inordinately unhealthy, but can someone born in the British Empire please explain to me what a lemon curd is? What is Crème Anglais and how is it different from Devonshire cream? I'm not a big olive fan, so I'm not sure how the cream cheese and olive sandwiches will sit with me.

BTW, I intend to wear a top hat with a 10/6 card in it.:biggrinha


http://www.simpsonhousetearoom.com/menu.html

Lemon curd us very much the same flavour you would get in the lemon part of a lemon meringue pie. In fact, lemon curd is what some use to fill them.

High tea is lovely and frivolous. Expect a few savouries too if its a real high tea.

Devon Cream Tea is basically a pot of tea, a scone, jam, and clotted cream. everything else is optional.
BTW the meaning of all items is English rather than American, being a Brit working for a Yank company I know the same word means different things - as the famous Anglo-American Winston Churchill once said, we are "two countries divided by a common language".
BTW(2) I see that Colorado beat Washington to the punch about legalising weed for recreational use as from today.
Forget Houston or Cape Canaverel, the true space cadets are in Denver:D
"way to go, Colorado" or however that's written!

I always thought that Crème Anglais was custard.
So you are having custard and jam sandwiches
"Don't eat too much Richard."
"It's okay, it's only a trifle." :lol:
Oh dear, I really make myself laugh.

It all looks lovely, although it has been tweaked for American tastes and appetites. It's a cross between a Cream Tea, a High Tea and Afternoon Tea really, but why not.

Interesting omissions on the sandwich front are prawn or ham. I wonder if this is because of a more visible Jewish population in the area? I'm not assuming that because of you (at least I hope I'm not); it may just be what sells well.

Interestingly there are less cakes/ pâtisserie. And yet more substantial savouries available (soup, salad). Which is what puts me in mind of Afternoon Tea. No boiled eggs either. Can't be High Tea without a fresh egg apiece. Oh sorry, that's Yorkshire Tea ;)
It's from an advert for Yorkshire Tea is all.

All in all it looks like a great choice and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
Do take photos.

(If you search under Hartwell on the Cellar you'll come across my fancy Afternoon Tea, although I wouldn't say it was typical)

really? all those different kinds of tea?

Now, to my American ear, "tea" is what you drink, out of a cup, usually hot, but sometimes iced and then it's called "iced tea". What I think from context is that "tea" is being used in this context similar to what I'd call "meal", or local cuisine.

qcc?

Maybe it's an East Coast thing. My wife has gone to high tea a few times, so has my mom. Fancy hotels sometimes offer high tea in their dining rooms. There are also cutsie little restaurants that do.

It's like BBQ.

You can go out for some BBQ, in which case you are referring to the food.
You can go out to a BBQ, in which case you are referring to the event.

In the south the assumption is opposite: "tea" is with ice unless you specify it as "hot tea." My visiting uncle was quite frustrated when the waitress told him, "Well, uh, I could maybe take some of the iced tea and put it in the microwave?"

Try being a tourist in New Zealand...

"Tea" is a hot drink
"Tea" is a cold drink
"Tea" is a early light snack
"Tea" is the main meal of the day
"Tea" is your hostess's way of saying it's time for you to go home *


* if you are a Yank, the sign is "coffee"

thanks, that's helpful. unless you're a purist and bbq means the method, not the food and ffs not the sauce.

simplest way if looking at is this:
TEA is a drink that can only be made by pouring boiling water onto tea leaves (sorry America, a cup of hot water with a tea bag on the side IS NOT tea, no way Jose - and it doesn't matter where or how much you paid, that's indisputably not tea).
AFTERNOON TEA is a pot of TEA with a light plate of cold sandwiches, cake, scones and similar items.
HIGH TEA is based around TEA and is AFTERNOON TEA plus light cooked hot meal items to support you until dinner, I guess that was necessary in the days 150 years ago before central heating, when people moved around or on horseback instead of sitting on their arses or in cars like we do now.
DINNER was the main meal of the day consisting of soup, fish, roast meats, trimmings and as many vegetable accompaniments as you could manage, dessert, cheese. Plus wines to suit each course.
SUPPER was a light snack meal usually cold for when one returned home from one's evening out, say to DINNER or the theatre or the tavern. Or of course one could miss supper and have a nightcap from the grog* tray.

yeah, I know, those old buggers really knew how to live.

*grog in this case does not refer to the Royal Navy rum ration issued to ratings.

In some parts of Britain, tea also refers to the main meal of the day - what would be called dinner in other parts of the country (theres also a class component to that - associated with Northern working class). Dinner meanwhile was the midday meal. Which is why the women who oversaw the school meal were called 'dinner ladies' .

I spent most of last November in the Florida Keys and was constantly asked 'hot or cold' if I asked for tea. A barman at Key West DID pour iced tea and microwaved it before serving it poured over fresh mint. I loved it :)

Tea is a delightful and civilized experience. I used to go regularly with my girly girlfriends, until our tea hostess sold her business. We went to her house for Tea after that, and also have made our own resplendent teas. It's a lot of fun and you can get surprisingly full on those tiny little sandwiches. I've been to quite a few tea houses in the area, I look forward to a full report. We need a new tea place!

Count me in the next time I am back home!