Youre Just Having a Good Old Fashioned Tea Party

How to Throw a Globally Inspired Magical Tea Party

You don't have to stick to scones and cucumber sandwiches.

Photo courtesy of Lilly Rose

I was given a tea set when I was iv years old, stamped with images from Ludwig Bemelmans' Madeline books. Although the cups could barely hold a thimble of hot tea, the fix became the centerpiece of many tea parties held in my backyard, attended by a lucky ensemble of blimp animals and ane tired mom.

Tea parties have e'er felt similar a time for merriment, relaxation, and connection—hopefully with someone other than an inanimate teddy bear. Merely sometimes, the way high tea is held can feel rigid and self-important. Must we don fascinators and eat carefully assembled sandwiches on tiered serving trays with our pinkies up? Definitely not.

Tea is such a global drink—allegedly the most popular drink in the world, aside from h2o of course—and is consumed ritually in Japan, the U.K., Bharat, China, Mexico, and across. There'southward Thai tea, Japanese matcha, and Southward African rooibos, merely to name a few. The style we set up tea, and the foods nosotros eat alongside a cuppa, are different in every function of the world.

So when we think of a tea party, at that place's no need to feel restrained to a certain type of tea party. "I retrieve the perception of afternoon tea in the U.Southward. is a really big teapot with pastries and sandwiches," explains Amy Truong, the cofounder and blender at Paru Tea. "Merely for united states of america it'due south the tea that shines."

We asked Truong, her partner Lani Gobaleza, as well as Radhi Devlukia-Shetty of Sama Tea and Erica Jenkins-Chavez, the corporate food and beverage managing director at Pacifica Hotels, for their advice on how to host a tea party, solo or otherwise, that is genuinely your own.

Slow down & relish the ritual

Part of the joy of having tea is enjoying the calm that is intrinsically laced with its training. "Y'all can't rush tea," Devlukia-Shetty says. "From boiling the kettle to steeping the tea handbag, the whole process of preparing a cup of tea is a mindfulness routine in itself." As the cofounder of Sama Tea, Devlukia-Shetty knows firsthand the hustle of running a small business while maintaining an Instagram of over a 1000000 followers. But tea serves equally a intermission amongst the chaos. "As we wait for the kettle to boil, we are practicing patience and stillness and as we steep our tea numberless, we are inhaling the scent and watching the color spread throughout the cup," she adds. "The whole process is extremely meditative, and the ritual allows us to bring a sense of presence dorsum into our days by allowing usa to reverberate and slow down." In this sense, a tea political party tin exist a solo event—and fourth dimension for meditation.

But even with hosting a tea political party with multiple guests, the rules still apply. "The most of import role is slowing downward and taking time to connect with yourself or the people sharing tea with y'all," says Jenkins-Chavez, calculation that tea parties as the antonym of social media. "It's an opportunity to look someone you care about in the eye and have a conversation about nothing and everything."

Photo courtesy of Paru Tea

Pair tea with foods you lot desire to eat

Tea nutrient doesn't have to consist of crustless sandwiches and scones (unless that's what you bask!) and, for Gobazela, nutrient pairing tin be annihilation. "Although this was actually unheard of for me, when nosotros accept parties with Amy's family unit, there's e'er a sashimi spread," she mentions, laughing. "We selection teas based on that—usually a greenish or white tea." Truong adds that the food is meant to "accentuate the tea." For her, Yoku Moku cookies—a delicate, buttery cookie shaped like a cigar—does the fob.

Similar traditional loftier teas, nutrient pairings tin be both savory and sweetness. "I bask green tea with seafood items; chocolate and green tea is besides a classic combination," Jenkins-Chavez says. "White teas are so lite in flavor and aroma that I would beverage them with mild foods like melon or elementary salads. Black teas take tannins like vino and so I would pair them with rich nutrient if I'k drinking it without milk and desserts if I'm drinking it with milk."

Devlukia-Shetty even uses tea equally inspiration for her recipes. "One of my favorite tea party pairings is my chai cookie recipe," she says. "I dearest to pair my tea with something sweet. Everything from night chocolate to brownies pairs well with tea, or flapjacks if y'all're having a brunch tea party!"

Set the tone with teaware and music

Although the tea itself is a huge office of hosting a tea party, having teaware that brings joy is an important facet, too. "Making tea beautiful helps keep the ritual going," Jenkins-Chavez says. "I would buy special tea cups or a teapot just for tea. It doesn't accept to be expensive—you can austerity or vintage shop and find the most beautiful things that aren't fabricated anymore." At the Lilly Rose tea room in downtown Los Angeles, which Jenkins-Chavez oversees, everything is Alice in Wonderland themed, which feels cohesive and fun. That being said, tea cups don't need to be frilly or accented by floral decor. They can be cozy mugs or unproblematic designs with thin rims for easy sipping.

In add-on to the tea cups, having accessories can be helpful in creating a mood. "We're inspired by the people who are visiting—so if Amy'south mom is visiting, nosotros'll have something blood-red on the tabular array considering she loves red," Gobazela says. It could be flowers or tea pets—only something to raise the design of the infinite and tabular array. "We always focus on the guest."

Lastly, music ties the whole political party together. "Why not brand a tea political party playlist?" Jenkins-Chavez asks. "Music sets the mood and then pick something chill."

Photo courtesy of Paru Tea

Experiment with new teas

In that location are thousands of tea varieties to choose from and new blends being crafted everyday, including by Truong, who draws inspiration from nostalgic childhood memories. Paru has a tea blend called pandan waffle, i of Truong's favorite desserts growing upward. Although it may not be traditional, it's new and exciting—something tea should ever be. "What's important near Paru is it's a visitor that celebrates unlike cultures, but as queer people of color, we wanted to make sure that our culture is also translated through a Southeast Asian lens," Truong explains. In addition to pandan waffle, at that place are other thoughtfully crafted blends like holiday fruitcake, coconut chai, and shiso hibiscus.

Aside from the blends, the preparation of tea tin can modify the fashion you savor it. "You lot can drink tea hot or cold and it'due south groovy as a base for a latte," Jenkins-Chavez says.

Brand your own rules

At the stop of the day, tea parties should exist something stress-gratuitous, which means breaking sterile rules and creating your own. "There's a lot of fluidity in tea and I want to emphasize that the rules are just guidelines," Truong says. "Yous can go far your own—it just tastes ameliorate that style."

So whether that's using soy milk instead of dairy, or combining blends to try something completely new, or bringing a sashimi platter to a tea party, anything goes. "We live in such a fast-paced world, and the thought of taking a second to regroup tin seem incredibly daunting to some," Devlukia-Shetty says. "[Tea] creates opportunities to find moments of presence, peace, and purpose within each day."

And if you still want to grace your head with a fascinator, you totally can.

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Kat Thompson is a senior staff writer of nutrient & drink at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter @katthompsonn.

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