Just when I was beginning to think that old-fashioned tea parties are a thing of the past, I got invited to one. A planter friend was hosting high tea to celebrate a good tiding.
Tea at a planter’s house is an elegant setting. From the best in china and silver to the gamut of tea equipage - tea cosy, tea egg, strainers, creamers, lace serviettes, tea trolley- it has the works. At Meera’s, the tea was single estate poured from teapots with bucolic scenes into charming cups with golden serifed initials. A three-tier cake plate had coconut cake and jam rolls. Conversation was light with a touch of plantation gossip. It was retro Raj at its best.
Later that week work took me to a political party office where milky tea came in short glasses tucked in a wire mesh basket swung along carelessly by a tea boy. A plate of overly sweet biscuits was thrust around. People dunked biscuits in the tea and relished its flavoured sweetness. Some poured the brew into saucers and slurped happily. Animated talk about work was accompanied with claps, back slaps, loud burps and guffaws. There was careless commotion.
The two scenarios are distinct worlds, common only in the camaraderie over tea.
Alice Walker writes: ‘Tea to the English is like a picnic indoors’. If I may, then I believe it is so for sippers of the beverage across the world when tea is had together.
Tea cocktail: Green tea infusion, fresh orange juice, honey, ginger ale, fresh cut fruits and crushed ice. Combine all the ingredients except ginger ale and crushed ice. Add the two later before serving. Adjust to taste.