Time for afternoon tea

British people love to drink tea and me too, I'm a serious tea lover.

What could be more lovely than participating to a sweet afternoon tea filled with flowers, delightful porcelains, sweets, a hint of tradition and your darling friends?

To explain you my tea passion, I can say that when I was in Italy, sometimes I organised special tea parties inspired by the funny table of the Mad Hatter's from Alice in the Wonderland, but this is another story... Anyway now in London I'm really appreciating the vibe of afternoon tea.

I can't resist and accept every invite from my friends to explore together this relaxing tradition.

It is an amazing occasion for chatting and tasting delicious food like small sandwiches, cakes, pastries and of course, special blends of tea.

This "ritual meal" is typically served between 2 pm and 6 pm. You can take your cup of tea as a treat in a hotel, tea shop or tea room. So you can try various kinds of tea experience: there is Cream tea, a simple tea service consisting in scones, clotted cream and marmalade; Afternoon tea which includes the tiers of little crustless sandwiches, scones, clotted cream, curd and sweets; Low tea because guests are seated in low armchairs with low side-tables on which to place their cups and saucers; Royale tea served with champagne at the beginning; Celebration tea with a celebratory cake; High tea eaten in the late afternoon, consisting of cooked dishes.

I love when the table is perfectly prepared, I remain enchanted by refined details: for my eyes the tea set is a joy.

I look carefully the three-tiered tray that is placed on the center of the table, my attention is always captured by the different foods and by their presentation.

Each level suggests you the correct order when eating: at the first you have to taste the plate with delicate sandwiches (filled with cucumber, smoked salmon and ham); then in the middle there is the second course: a plate with scones and at the end, on the top, there are macarons, tartlets, mini cakes, chocolates and more.
Before starting you must decide which blend of tea to drink, for example: Darjeeling aromatic from India, with a hint of almonds and wildflowers; Earl Grey black tea scented with oil of bergamot; Assam a strong tea which has a malty flavour; Lapsang souchong a chinese tea with smoky odour etc. There are also many teas flavoured directly with flowers, herbs, spices and fruit. Oh, such a difficult choice!

I think I wrote enough... but I want to add an important advice: remember, under no conditions one should dunk a biscuit!

Here my video: how to organize a tea party

This is all, enjoy!