🫖 My Afternoon Tea Plan

📋

Things To Do

0 of 0 done

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🎯 Before the Meeting

Urgent

Fine-tune the student lesson slides

Trim text, check illustrations display well, test arrow key navigation
Urgent

Edit and finalise the three handouts

Tea Passport, Phrase Cheat Sheet, Scone Ballot — check all content is correct
Urgent

Add Japanese translations to the handouts

Small-print JP support text on the phrase card and tea passport for lower-level students
Urgent

Confirm the tea lineup — decide exactly which teas to serve

English Breakfast + Earl Grey for main pots. Darjeeling, Green Tea, Herbal, Lapsang for tasting
Soon

Chat with the Chinese guest before the event

Find out what tea she's bringing, check she's happy to say a few words during the history section
Soon

Brief Joe on his role and the run of show

Pouring duty, circulating during roleplay, collecting ballot cards and announcing result

🎵 Content & Atmosphere

Soon

Find and download royalty-free afternoon tea background music

Try Pixabay, StockTune or PeriTune — light piano jazz or gentle swing. Queue up before the event.
Soon

Review lecture vs student speaking balance in the run of show

Target: ~25% teacher talk, ~40% interaction, ~35% tea & activity. No more than 4 mins talking before a prompt.
Any time

Print handouts — one A4 sheet per two students

Cut along dashed lines. Enable "background graphics" in print settings for colours to show.

🍽️ Day of the Event

Day of

Bake the scones — triple batch

See the recipe below. Bake fresh on the day if possible — much better warm.
Day of

Set up the room before students arrive

Title slide on screen, music playing softly, teapots ready to pour, handouts face down at seats
Day of

Boil water and prepare main teapots before start time

Warm the pots first! English Breakfast Pot 1, Earl Grey Pot 2. Small pots ready for tasting flight.
Day of

Collect and count the ballot cards during etiquette section

Joe collects, you announce the class verdict: Devon or Cornwall wins!

🛒

Shopping List

0 of 0 picked up

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🧁 Scone Ingredients (×3 batch)

Strong white flour 1.5 kg

Unsalted butter 150 g

Caster sugar 240 g

Baking powder 15 tsp

Medium eggs 6

Whole milk 750 ml

🍓 Serving

Clotted cream plenty

Strawberry jam 2 jars

Butter (for table) 1 block

Finger sandwiches / snacks as needed

🫖 Main Teapots

English Breakfast tea large box

Earl Grey tea large box

Whole milk (for tea) 1–2 litres

Sugar (white & cubes) 1 box

🍵 Tasting Flight

Darjeeling tea small box

Green tea small box

Herbal tea (chamomile or peppermint) small box

Lapsang Souchong small box

🧺 Equipment Check

2× large teapots (main) ✓ have?

4–5× small teapots (tasting) ✓ have?

Cups & saucers for everyone ✓ have?

Milk jugs, sugar bowl, tongs ✓ have?

💡 The scone ingredients above are already tripled. Lapsang Souchong may need a specialist tea shop or online order — buy early! Chinese guest is bringing her own tea 🇨🇳

🧁

Classic British Scones

Triple batch · Makes plenty

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Light, fluffy scones for afternoon tea. Bake fresh on the day if you can — they're incomparably better warm. Serve with clotted cream, jam, and the Devon vs Cornwall debate in full swing.

Batch size: 3 Triple batch — good for a group!

Ingredients

1500

grams

Strong White Flour

150

grams

Unsalted Butter

240

grams

Caster Sugar

15

teaspoons

Baking Powder

6

medium

Eggs

750

ml

Whole Milk

Method

1

Preheat the oven

Heat to 220°C / 200°C fan. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

⏱ 10 min to heat

2

Rub in the butter

Combine flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Rub in the cold butter with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the caster sugar.

3

Mix wet ingredients

Beat the eggs with most of the milk — reserve a small amount for glazing. Pour into the dry mix and stir until just combined. Don't overwork it.

4

Shape and cut

Turn onto a well-floured surface. Pat to about 4cm thick. Cut out rounds with a floured cutter — press straight down, never twist, or they won't rise evenly.

5

Glaze and bake

Place on the tray. Brush the tops with the reserved milk. Bake until well risen and golden brown.

⏱ 12–15 min in oven

6

Cool briefly and serve

Rest on a wire rack for a few minutes. Serve warm. Provide clotted cream and jam separately — and let the Devon vs Cornwall debate begin.

⏱ 5–10 min to cool

💡 Tips: Cold butter makes fluffier scones — don't let it soften before rubbing in. Don't overwork the dough or they'll be tough. Baked same-day and served warm, these are very hard to beat.