Time for Tea

This past week has been crazy.  I've heard that from just about everyone I have come into contact with this week.  For some reason, everything is falling on this second full week of June.  For us, it was a dance recital, karate camp, my son's 8th birthday and a class on tea.  For now, I will focus on the tea class and maybe I'll come back to the other stuff later. 

Tea has always been a time to slow down for me and after such a busy week, this was the perfect ending.  My girls, ages 13 and 14, had the opportunity to take a tea class with a friend who we met through homeschooling.  She knows so much about tea and I felt it was such a wonderful opportunity for us that she was offering this class through 4-H.  The girls attended 2 classes prior to this week where they learned about tea - what it is, where it comes from, some cultural traditions, etc.  Then this week, they went on a field trip to Georgetown, Va to visit a Chinese tea room.  They got together one more time to prepare foods for the tea we enjoyed this evening.  All of the families came to this perfect outdoor setting with perfect weather and it was the perfect ending to our week. 

They made their own tea blends, including Chai, Chocolate Vanilla Mint, Rose Mint, Tarragon Sage with Mint. Also, Ancient Forrest and Darjeeling.

The girls are getting ready to serve tea.

DD13 serving the younger siblings.  All of the children waited so patiently.

DD13 gave a quick speech about the field trip to the Chinese tea room.  She spoke about the tea she tried, how it was prepared and the food she had.  Her tea came as a little ball that was put in a glass pot where it "bloomed". 

DD14 gave a quick speech about the Chinese tea room. 

All of the food was made from scratch by the girls and their moms.  Fruit salads, cucumber sandwiches, russian tea cakes and marbled eggs were just a few of the delicacies served.

Teacher of the class and hostess of the tea this evening. She provided such an amazing experience for these girls that I think they will remember for a very long time. Thank you, Maureen.