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It’s Afternoon tea week and the freshly baked scones and petits fours are tantalising our taste buds and the scent of Earl Grey tea is in the air. At Jessops, we’re all about embracing the moment and capturing life’s little events, which is why we decided that the best way to really experience afternoon tea week was to go ourselves! We loved every moment of it from the china cups to the french fancies, and of course we took lots of photos to remember it. We’re dying to share our pics from the day as well as some delectable ideas on how to make the most of them and remind us of the yumminess every time we put the kettle on. So grab a cuppa and prepare to be inspired by our traditional afternoon tea tips!
One thing’s for certain – you can’t have afternoon tea without teacups, and the more imaginative and colourful the better. With your own personalised mugs, you can go as Mad as a Hatter with the design and get you in the mood for clotted cream scones every time you take a sip! We designed a set of mugs for the occasion with photos of iced cupcakes and used the Creation Tool to make the text “Afternoon” and “Tea”. We designed ours to work together as a pair, but if you have a favourite tea companion, make them feel special by printing their name on them. We chose the standard mugs, but if you want to keep your afternoon tea traditional, you should definitely opt for our porcelain mugs!
Afternoon tea tip: Tea is traditionally drunk out of porcelain or bone china cups because that way the tea doesn’t pick up the mug’s flavour. You can tell if the cup is made of bone china by holding it to the light and seeing if it lets light through.
“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.” — Henry James
We couldn’t agree more. There are many wise words that have been written about tea, quotes that remind us of how healing and calming tea can be and how enjoyable it is to share with a friend. Why not create your own quote book for you and your afternoon tea companion filled with your photos! Add your photos to a Photo Book template and bring those cupcakes to life by adding your own text and fonts. At the moment there’s 50% off Photo Books too – how delightful!
Afternoon tea tip: Did you know that there is a correct way to stir your tea? Apparently, you place your spoon in a 6 o’clock position in the cup and fold the tea towards the 12 o’clock position whilst making sure not to ‘clink’ the spoon against the sides of the cup. Who knew!
The sight of delicately iced petits fours will always get you in the mood for baking, and the hostess with the most-est needs to look the part when preparing their afternoon tea. If your tea companion is talented enough in the kitchen to make their own afternoon tea, then the gift of a Personalised Photo Apron is ideal. Especially one with a photo of them popping a scone into their mouth or sipping tea. If that’s not their style, a close-up of one of their cleverly-iced baking achievement will be picture perfect.
Afternoon tea thought: The Devon tradition is cream first with jam spread on top, whilst the Cornish tradition is to slather the jam on and top it off with clotted cream. Which do you prefer?
Some say that when eating scones at Afternoon Tea you should break off small pieces and pop each bit with cream and jam and eating them individually to avoid any social mishaps. Although this is a great way to avoid jam going all over your best linen, a good placemat and coaster will catch any unwieldy stickiness or drips and avoid an afternoon tea faux pas of this sort! Why not impress your tea troupe next time with some personalised Placemats featuring your favourite afternoon tea pics. You could create matching sets with the personalised Coasters featuring each person’s favourite cakes!
Afternoon tea tip: Talking of afternoon tea faux pas, sticking your little finger in the air while sipping from your cup is apparently not done! If you want to stick to proper A.T etiquette, we hear you should keep your pinkie firmly down.
There are many elements to take photos of at any Afternoon Tea date, so it’s no surprise that we ended up with a LOT of photos from ours! From the beautiful patterns on the china to the three-tiered tea stand, choosing any one picture to feature in our tea parlour (kitchen) was going to be tricky. To make the decision easier, we opted for a Framed Multi-Print and chose 13 of our favourite photos. We were able to move them around using the online tool until we were happy with the layout. To make your own Framed multi-print online, click here then ‘get creating’, then select ‘layout’ to get started.
Afternoon tea tip: Afternoon tea was first started when Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford started taking a pot of tea and a light snack in her boudoir in the afternoon with friends. Channel the spirit of the Duchess by hosting your afternoon tea in your own drawing room (living room).
Whether you prefer Earl Grey or English Breakfast tea, macarons or banoffee tartlets, each of us has a preference when it comes to ideal afternoon tea selection. Why not make your own personal Afternoon Tea Recipe Photo Book filled with your delicious-looking photos and tea flavours?! It can become your go-to for your A.T baking sessions or a thoughtful gift for a tea-loving son or daughter who’s moving into their own place! This would be a fun and tasty way to remind them of mum’s cooking. Make sure they invite you over to taste the results though!
Afternoon Tea Tip: It’s recommended to use loose leaf tea when crafting your perfect Afternoon Tea, as the infusion enhances the flavour – and you get to use one of those little tea strainers 🙂
Do you have an afternoon tea preference? A speciality tea of choice or a favourite place to go? We’d love to know. Join in the conversation on our Instagram @jessopsphoto and let us know, and don’t forget to tag us in any of your fabulous afternoon tea creations that you make with Jessops items. Use #jessopscreations for a chance to be featured! And because we know you’d love to see, here are our photos from our Afternoon tea at the Compleat Angler in Marlow!
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