Tea Party

... from Harper's Bazaar

"Bringing back an elegant pastime."

An Afternoon Tea Party may be one of the most delightful and informal affairs in the whole social round or it may be an unmitigated bore.  It all depends upon the hostess.  If she is a wise woman she will limit her guests to the number her house can accommodate with ease, and have her hours long enough to avoid all coming at the same time; she will have some regard to making her guests acquainted if they have not already met; and she will furnish forth her table so invitingly that those who come perfunctorily will remain to chat over the teacups, and pay her the compliment of forgetting the time of day.

On a cold winter's afternoon a bright open fire is one of the things to have, if possible, and near enough to it to look cozy should stand the prettiest of tea tables; not one of the small affairs which will hold only a half-dozen cups, but a good-sized one capable of practical service.  In the center should be a bowl of flowers and about it two candelabra or several individual candlesticks with or without shades. Scattered between will be room for plates of sandwiches, cakes, bonbons, and salted nuts or crystallized fruits, while at one side the tea or coffee urn may stand, or the chocolate-pot, and at the other side may be a large punch-bowl of lemonade or tea punch.  [Image: Library of Congress LC-USZ62-49944]

Of course the quantity and variety of the refreshments must depend on the size of the gathering.  If only a dozen or two are invited, then the simpler things are the better, but if the so-called “tea” is really a function, then something more elaborate is in keeping.  If one plans to have tea, chocolate, and lemonade for beverages, she must consider how most easily she can handle them.  Tea made with a kettle of boiling water and a tea-ball is all very well for three or four persons, but one cannot serve more without a delay while the water slowly comes to the boiling-point.

[Image: Library of Congress LC-DIG-ggbain-26171]

The urn is the best thing to use for a large number of guests.  Have the tea made in the kitchen and carefully strained; then put it in the urn and light the lamp and it will keep fresh for hours.  Have cream, sugar, and sliced lemons on the table, and, if you fancy a novelty, try putting two cloves in each cup and pouring the hot tea upon them, removing them before passing the cup. Coffee and bouillon should be served from an urn, and the cups used for either of these, and for tea as well, should be the small flaring teacups, not after-dinner coffee-cups.  If you are so fortunate as to own a Russian samovar, and it certainly gives the best tea in the world, do not use cups at all, but tall, slender glasses, passed on small plates, and put a slice of lemon in each glass.
 

ANTIQUE TIFFANY TEA SERVICE   Click to see a Tiffany five-piece tea service.

Chocolate-pots resemble vases or urns, and the cups which are used with them flare at the top somewhat as the teacups do.  Of course when chocolate is offered at a tea, whipped cream is put on it when it is served.

When the lemonade is made, shredded oranges, bananas, and pineapple may be used, but it is to be strained before it is put in the bowl, and a few maraschino or preserved cherries added.  A small ladle is used for filling the glass cups which invariably accompany a punch-bowl.  Tea punch is made by using hot tea instead of water for lemonade, adding the fruits as before, but putting it, when ice-cold, into a glass pitcher instead of a bowl, and placing a large bunch of sugared mint in the mouth.

Café frappé is strong coffee, well sweetened, and with a good deal of cream which is frozen to the consistency of wet snow. It is served from the bowl in glasses.

The sandwiches offered at teas are of infinite variety; sometimes they are filled with a salad mixture, sometimes with a sweet, and often with some sort of nuts with cream or fruit.  They are cut in circles or triangles or hearts, or else rolled.  To make salad sandwiches, chop and pound chicken or turkey to a paste, and mix with mayonnaise, or spread crisp lettuce leaves with mayonnaise and put between the slices. Olives, chopped very fine, make an excellent salad sandwich, either plain or, like the others, with a dressing.  Delicious sandwiches are made by using the very thinnest possible shavings of lemon, and cucumbers with French dressing are also appetizing, provided not too much of the rather strongly flavored vegetable is used.

Sweet sandwiches are made of orange marmalade or pear conserve, which is a rich jam with considerable ginger cooked in it.  Jelly is sometimes used, but it is not sufficiently stiff to be practical; jam or marmalade is far better.  Peach or apricot is most delicate; red raspberry is occasionally seen, but the seeds are decidedly objectionable.  Besides these two kinds of sandwiches there are many prepared with nuts which are also very nice.  Boston brown bread two days old, cut very thin, spread first with a little butter and then with cream cheese mixed with chopped peanuts is one of the best of sandwiches, but care must be taken not to have the bread damp or soggy.  Whole-wheat bread may be prepared with this same filling.  Raisins and chopped English walnuts are nice, and so are chopped dates and almonds together.  Often whipped cream is used with those nut fillings, to bind them.

The cake served at afternoon tea should always be of the lightest sort.  It is never wise to offer any sort of layer or fruit cake, or anything which is sticky.  There are all kinds of wafers and nut strips which are easily prepared at home which are delicious, and certainly far more tempting than the ordinary things bought from the baker.

Strips of puff paste may be covered with chopped almonds mixed with the slightly beaten white of one egg, and just browned in the oven; lady-fingers may be rolled in boiled frosting and allowed to dry; saltines may be covered with sweet melted chocolate, with a very little butter mixed in.

Little cakes may be made in small baking-dishes, the smaller the better, and rolled in boiled icing colored and flavored with orange, rose, lemon, or pistachio, and these may be ornamented, if desired, with tiny strips of angelica, or bits of candied cherries or nuts cut in lengths.

Ice-cream sandwiches are new, but many are afraid to attempt them, as they seem difficult to manage; they are very simple, on the contrary.  Get white ice-cream in bricks, as firmly packed as possible, and slice it on a marble slab; then with a round biscuit-cutter cut out circles from the slices, and put them between macaroons.  Or cut the slices in strips of the right size to fit between two sugar wafers.  Serve these sandwiches on small plates with forks.

The bonbons used at afternoon teas may be all chocolates, or else peppermints or creams, matching the flowers in color, or they may be delicious confections in paper cases, such as marrons glacés or strips of orange and lemon candied.  In any case they should be something dainty, and, if possible, something not seen on every table.  If salted nuts are used, try having pecans instead of almonds, and mix a few green pistachio nuts with them; the contrast is pretty, and almonds have been used so long as to be tiresome.

Sometimes an afternoon tea is really an elaborate reception; in that case it is almost essential to have a caterer, for the decorations and refreshments are too troublesome for the ordinary hostess to prepare. There must be flowers and light in profusion, a table loaded with delicacies, and many waiters to serve.  There is usually a first course of bouillon, followed by something in the way of shell-fish, perhaps creamed oysters or lobster, with sandwiches; after that is a salad, chicken, or shrimp, and then ices in forms, fancy cakes, bonbons, and coffee, lemonade, or punch.  The table has a centerpiece of roses and ferns, candles in silver candelabra, set pieces of spun sugar with fruits and sweets; and sometimes arrangements of whipped cream in colored sugar shapes.

Compiled and edited by Rebecca Haug

Source:
Harper's Bazaar, 1890-1907