Tea Time

Today I went to tea with some friends.  The word tea seems like a simple word, but around here someone asking me to join them for tea could mean one of several things; 1. literally a cup of tea, 2. lunch, 3. meal sometime between lunch and dinner, or dinner.  In this case tea meant lunch.

We went to a tea room in Armadale, the fancy pants part of the city.  When I got there each place setting was laid out with a Wedgewood plate, tea cup, and saucer set.  Each setting was different and very beautiful.  We ordered tea and it came out in a matching teapot with a strainer.  Being the amateur that I am I started dumping my tea in my cup, completely forgetting about the strainer.  I soon figured out that those mint leaves were meant for the strainer but was still confused about the proper way to pour the tea.

I vaguely recalled that I was meant to drink the tea with my pinky up but this felt a bit funny so I man handled it instead.  Then they brought out a three tiered tray of deliciousness.  The bottom tray held little sandwiches with the crusts cut off and tiny little quiches and meat pies, the middle row had some beautiful little macaroons and sweets, and the top had some lovely scones with jam and cream.

I'm pretty sure we were meant to use the tongs, but they were all so tiny that my fingers worked perfectly.  I'm not even sure why they gave us silverware!  Clearly I am not the expert on proper etitquette.  I'm sure my dad would be laughing and shaking his head at me.  He tried to teach me to eat as if the Pope was joining us for dinner.  Unfortunately it never stuck.  He should just be glad I put the napkin on my lap.

The tea was really nice (as in tea option #2), and now that I understand that it involves more than just drinking a cup of tea I suspect I will give it another go.