Our first ever Afternoon Tea event on Saturday 23rd was a huge success!With buzzing feetbacks like “The Best tea we have had” “Better than The Ritz” “Delicious Tea from China and Taiwan, Can I buy some to take home”
What more would you expect from your customers than some lovely reviews?So Thank you my dear customers, and Thanks to my dear husband who sacrificed his afternoon break to make all the delicious food.This idea started from a chat with one of my dear foodie customers, who knows about her food in and out of Cambridge, and a big supporter of local businesses like ours. She suggested that with David’s skills, and lack of availabilities of good tea in Cambridge, it would be a very good opportunity for us to explore. In my previous blog, I talked about different types of tea from China, and this is a perfect chance to introduce them all to customers too. The winner was the Anhui Monkey Tea (green tea with beautiful long strand leaves), and the Taiwanese High Mountain tea. Most of the customers who had the tea asked to buy more to take home with them.When I send the advert out to my customer mailing list, one kind lady told me there is a difference between Afternoon Tea and High Tea. Here is the quote:“Afternoon Tea is a British food tradition, an afternoon treat of tea, sandwiches, scones and cake. But, often the term High Tea is used. These two are often confused, but actually, they are different.Afternoon tea is served around 4.00pm. When afternoon tea became fashionable in the early 19th century, thanks to the Anna, the Duchess of Bedford it was never intended to replace dinner but rather to fill in the long gap between lunch and dinner at a time when dinner was served at 8pm. Lifestyles have changed since those times and afternoon tea is now a treat, rather than a stop-gap.The origins of Afternoon Tea show clearly it was the preserve of the rich in the 19th century. For workers in the newly industrialised Britain of the time ‘tea’ had to wait until after work and be substantially more than just tea and cakes.Workers needed sustenance after a day of hard labour, so the after work meal was more often hot and filling and accompanied by a pot of good, strong tea to revive flagging spirits. The addition of the word High is believed to differentiate between the Afternoon Tea served on low, comfortable, parlour chairs or relaxing in the garden and the worker’s High Tea served at the table and seated on high back dining chairs.”Very interesting, and there are other article about their differences which I will not quote here, and the conclusion I have is that in traditional terms, they are difference as in to whom, where and when they are served, in recent years, they are often used as one, but High Tea is often used for exquisite afternoon tea in high end hotels and restaurants.
Since Customers said ours is better than The Ritz’, I will still call it “High Tea”.IMG_7879.JPG
Aslo I just received some lovely Mini Pu’er Mini tea cakes, thanks to Sean (or his Dad). Tried one last night, it was so good that I decided to share with one of my dinners who was the desinated driver and had being drinking just water, the tea cheered him up
My teashop collection has a good selection of Teas from China and Taiwan, feel free to email or call to ask for more details, and if you are eating in soon, ask for Tina.A great gift option to give to family and friends too.
Our first ever Afternoon Tea event on Saturday 23rd
