Afternoon Tea Week!

After posting about my afternoon tea a few months back, several of you commented and messaged asking what kind of things you'd need to throw one of your own.  With Mothers Day coming up this weekend, having an afternoon tea with your mom, daughter or best girlfriend would be a perfect way to get in on the fun!

This post will be about the items I bought to have on hand for my afternoon teas and recipes will be coming this week!

EnglishTeaStore.com is a great resource for your tea party from tea pots to tea cups to tea and biscuits.  (I'm not affiliated with them, they just have great prices, have good customer service and pretty quick delivery and if you sign up for their emails, you can get 10% off of your order.)  Here are a few things I got from them.


Personal Sized Teapots

At the time of publishing, the price for this 2 cup teapot is about $6.  I got four of them so that each person at our afternoon teas would be able to enjoy the tea of their choice with a refill or two, and not be forced to pour from the same flavored larger pot.  Plus it just feels really personalized and decadent to be able to have a little pot all to yourself.  These teapots are available in various colors if you want something more snazzy than white.  If you're willing to spend a little (or a lot) more, they have some beautiful patterns too.

3 Tiered Cake Stand

This 3 tiered cake stand is my go to for the savories like tea sandwiches, petite salads and lettuce cups.  The top tier is really small so probably only 2 mini tarts with a raspberry garnish would fit on there for reference.   This stand makes all of your wee bites look super fancy.

2 Tiered Cake Stand

This is the same stand as the 3 tiered but without the smallest top plate.  I use this one for my sweets.  It's perfect for mini tarts, phyllo cups, sweet sandwiches, tea biscuits, cookies and fruits.


Tea Set for Four

If you'd prefer to have one matching tea set, they offer lots of color options for this set.  The pot is a 6 cup capacity and all attendees will have to like the same tea or you can let everyone have their own bags and just fill the pot with hot water.

You can browse their store to see all kinds of teacup options and dinnerware in a myriad of patterns and colors.  It can be fun just to window shop.

Here are some of my other favorites I use:

Vintage Tea Cups

I personally love the look of mix and match vintage tea cups.  This was one of four different floral patterns I picked up at an antique shop.  Typically a cup and saucer are between $8-12 and you'll have them for a long time to be passed down if you want.  If you find that you don't have enough teas to warrant them taking up space, they make great gifts with little succulent plants or to be made into candles.  Win, win!

Teapot Mini Spoons  (affiliate link) 

I wanted some spoons to use for honey but didn't want regular sized teaspoons.  I wanted something closer to an infant sized spoon and these were not only the perfect size but look at those adorable teapots on the top!  You can refer to the teacup picture above to get a size reference.  It's perfect for adding a little honey and giving your tea a stir...pinkies out, of course.

Cake Stand for condiments  (affiliate link) 

I already had several cake stands but I like to use them for extras that may not fit on the tiered stands (like popovers) and a whole smaller stand filled with various honeys and sweeteners like stevia packets.

Speaking of honey, these are my favorite honeys to use:

My holy grail is Beekman 1802 Cinnamon Honey

Seriously...every single person who has ever tried this has had their eyes bug out of their head, sink back in the chair and figure out how they're going to distract me to dip their finger in the jar.  It is ridiculously amazing.  The cinnamon is so finely ground that it doesn't float like it would if you added regular ground cinnamon.  Whatever doesn't infuse into the tea, sinks into a dainty swirl on the bottom.  It's not only great in tea but on toast, between some flapjacks or I hear straight out of the jar.

Sweet Beekman 1802 Honeys

Really, you can't go wrong with any of the honeys from Beekman 1802 but the ones above are the most complimentary with teas.  Lemon, Autumn Harvest (it has a great underlying spice), ginger, chai and vanilla.  If you sign up for their newsletter, you can get 15% off of your first order and the newsletters are actually really cool!  Baby goats...need I say more?

As far as the teas, I love traditional ones and my favorite black tea is PG Tips  (affiliate link) 

It may or may not have to originally have been because my English crush, Tom Mison, drinks it with a splash of milk but then once I tried it, I knew why he loved it.  A nice, robust flavor and you can add a splash of regular or almond milk to feel more English.  You can find it at Target or most local grocery stores.  I always have a ton of teas on hand including English Breakfast, Green, Roasted Green, Sleepytime for the Mr, Earl Grey, Chai Pumpkin Spice, Chamomile and others. (affiliate links) 

Of course all you really need for an afternoon tea is some tea, mugs and plates to serve food.  But if you want to get fancy pants and make a ritual out of it, these things more than pay for themselves the first time you use it when you see the delight on people's faces.



(This post contains a few affiliate links)
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