Time for tea

Young Chang

The words “high noon tea” may sound high brow and frou frou and way

too old school for anyone in this millennium, but you’d be surprised to

learn who’s doing it and where they’re finding it.

Each of our cities has a tea room. Costa Mesa’s is called Tea &

Sympathy and Newport Beach’s little corner is Teddy Bears and Teacups.

The majority of the clientele at both venues is female, between ages 6

and 96, but you do see the occasional male. Young girls frequent the

rooms with the mothers and grandmothers, as do groups of teens and young

women.

Tea & Sympathy estimates about 30% of their customers are men.

They “come in and are grateful that Starbucks is across the street,”

said Anne Sallier, an employee at Teddy Bears and Teacups.

But as dainty as “high noon tea” sounds, there’s actually a heartiness

to the tradition.

“It’s when tea becomes more than a warm, stimulating liquid and takes

its role as a meal,” said Janet Ingham, who works at Tea & Sympathy in

Costa Mesa.

There are two types of tea services that most tea places offer: high

noon tea and afternoon tea.

High noon tea started in an area north of England, as high noon was

the time designated for the workers in factories to eat their meal with a

strongly brewed pot of tea. The food included hearty choices like meat

pies, thick chunks of cheese, baked bread and butter, tarts, cakes and

sandwiches.

Afternoon tea began as a feminine get-together and was made

fashionable by the Duchess of Bedford a century and a half ago.

“It was an excellent opportunity for a snack between meals,” said

Ingham, whose mother Ethel Walley owns Tea & Sympathy. “A time for

delicious scandal to be discreetly whispered across the silver tea

service.”

The concept of tea rooms started when housewives in England would meet

a friend after an afternoon of washing, ironing and cleaning.

“‘Tea & Sympathy’ comes from a cup of tea and a friend’s sympathetic

ear,” Ingham said.

But the Costa Mesa business offers much more than just tea and good

company. In keeping with tradition, the staff serves a Victorian tea for

$13.95, in addition to a lunch menu, which includes eight finger

sandwiches, a homemade scone with Devonshire cream, jam, a pot of tea and

dessert.

Dessert choices include chocolate cake, lemon cake, a lemon curd tart

and a bakewell tart with marzipan, apricots and almonds.

The teas also run the flavor gamut. From mango to peppermint to their

classic red rose house tea, it’s not just your everyday Earl Gray.

When it comes to sandwiches, it’s all about combining things. The

choices are: tuna with cucumber, chicken with pineapple, egg salad with

watercress, cheddar cheese with chutney and raisin nut bread with orange

cream cheese.

The tea house serves these goodies on regular plates instead of on the

traditional three-tiered silver tray. But their customers, including male

and female teenagers who come with their mothers, don’t mind. They’re

there for the tea, the food and the laid-back ambience.

“I think tea started to become quite popular at the moment maybe

because people want to try and take the time to relax,” Ingham said. “To

be far away from the muddying crowd -- that’s why people come here.

Coffee’s really a buzzing thing. Tea can really relax you.”

At Teddy Bears & Teacups, a Balboa Island business that is decorated

with a girly-girl’s touch, young girls who come in for birthday paries

can dig in the treasure chest to play dress up.

In the chest are colorful feather boas and elbow-length gloves.

Surrounding the area are hats -- all kinds of them, in all kinds of fancy

colors.

The tea room is located in the back, behind the front part of the

store which sells Italian charm bracelets, little tea sets, specialty

dolls, baby-goods and furniture.

Wednesday afternoons are designated for Victorian teas for the general

customer, while the later part of the week and weekends is usually

reserved for parties.

The Victorian tea costs $20 a person and includes three courses:

fresh-baked scones, finger sandwiches and fruits and colorful mini

pastries. Everything is served on the classic three-tiered silver

serviettes that match the daintiness of the tea-cup laden chandelier in

the room and hand-painted bone china, for the tea.

But if you’d like to try holding your own tea-time at home, just

remember to serve good tea (not from a tea bag) and pastries and

sandwiches like the ones served in our area tea rooms.

Ingham recommends you cut the crust off of the sandwiches. When asked

why, she’s not sure. But she guesses it has something to do with the

daintiness of everything.

Fresh fruits would be nice.

Hats would be fun.

“The English like to wear their hats when they go out for tea,” she

said.

Sallier has two simple pieces of advice:

“I would say just pinkies up and don’t chew with your mouth open,” she

said.