Tea Time

I work as a barista at a local coffeehouse so it goes without saying that I love (good) coffee but I also love (again, good) tea. So yesterday I decided to throw a tea party, complete with finger sandwiches, tea cakes, and an assortment of cheeses.

I used my mom's china (that we NEVER use), mom's velvet place mats, and got some cute paper napkins from T.J. Maxx (my soul mate).

I made a Red Berries Lemonade with the Red Berries herbal tea we sell at the coffeehouse and frozen lemonade concentrate. The chocolate fudge is from the grocery store. I might be an aspiring future Martha Stewart (sans criminal record) but I do have a life and decided not to make everything from scratch.

I love (good) cheeses! I picked up an imported Swiss cheese, Italian Fontinella, and Brie to go along with Buckwheat crackers from Le Pain des Fleurs. The flowers are from the garden and the tiny pots around the flowers are filled with different kinds of loose leaf teas.

I picked Harney and Sons' Holiday tea (perfect with honey) for the tea. It is a spiced black tea that comes in cloth sachets rather than paper (which can leave a gross paper taste in the tea).

I finally got myself a Madeleine pan! I use to make these French tea cakes all the time in middle school and high school and now I finally got the proper pan! And no tea party is complete without finger sandwiches. I made peppered beef cucumber sandwiches with a chives mustard butter spread. According to my mother, these are the best tea sandwiches she has had since she went to England.