Planning your perfect High Tea menu at home

For a long time now I have been explaining the difference between high tea and afternoon tea. Since we are in lock-down and we have some time on our hands, I have decided to make my own high tea at home to show you the difference.

Dining differences

Not only is the food at high tea and afternoon tea different, the setting also would be too. Afternoon Tea is usually served in a sitting room or lounge while high tea would be reserved for the dining room. Keep that in mind when you are serving it up! High Tea was also served on a higher table, what we would call today a dining table while afternoon tea was served at lower tables at a height suited to an armchair. Some say the difference in the name 'high' and 'low' tea is enough to differentiate the two but the menus at both would be quite different.

High tea menu

Now we all know that an afternoon tea menu consists of three courses, namely sandwiches, scones and pastries. While some of these feature at a high tea that is not all.

Here is a list of some items you might see at high tea:

• Sandwiches

• Quiche

• Pie

• Meat platter

• Cheese selection

• Devilled eggs

• Sausage Roll

• Fresh Bread

• Potato Salad

• Jelly

• Cake Smoked Salmon

So the differences between high tea and afternoon tea are quite stark. It is important to remember that when afternoon tea was invented in the 1830s, it was always supposed to be a bridge between lunch and dinner. It is only in recent years that it has evolved into a much larger affair which is down its commercialisation by hotels.

It has been recorded that 'high tea' was an alternative to the standard evening meal as it allowed the servants to have the night off. Therefore everything outlined above could all be prepared during the day on platters so that limited staff was needed for the evening.

I will be photographing my high tea at home so if you'd like to see it, make sure you follow me on Instagram or Facebook.