Over the weekend I treated my little sister to a girl’s day having high tea at the beautiful Phoenician Resort. She loved it and I enjoyed seeing her happiness over being included in such a fancy treat. The Phoenician’s high tea is fabulous – an robust tea selection, adorably delicious sandwiches, yummy scones with delightful accompaniments and decadent desserts all presented with top-notch service in a stunning and luxurious setting. There is nothing like it in town!
It was funny to get dressed up and enjoy the company of a giddy eight year-old girl. I think we will make this an annual tradition, me and my sis kicking off the new year with the dainty indulgence of high tea. It will be fun to include Jacquelyn when she is old to enough to sit still and appreciate the experience.
First course: lovely, little sandwiches served on beautiful china. The great thing about tiny sandwiches is you can eat a bunch of them and not feel guilty. On second thought, maybe that is a bad thing…I may have eaten the equivalent of three sandwiches.
The second course: scones served with strawberry preserves, lemon curd and Devonshire cream. The scones are my favorite part of tea service, mostly because of the Devonshire cream. I want to visit Devonshire and thank them for their cream.
Third course: PASTRIES! Notice there are eight desserts on my plate, yup eight! You may think that high tea is a dainty and delicate affair but you are wrong. I guess you could practice self-control and choose just one or two desserts to cap off your high tea experience…but why would you? The servers recommend having one of each of the offerings. High tea is after all a refined affair so you don’t want to be rude and scoff at their suggestion. Manners state that you should indulge and indulge I did.
I think loose tea is a wonderful thing. Especially when steeped in a lovely china teapot and poured into a china teacup through a cute silver tea sieve.
This was our view while we took tea. It was a gorgeous day in Phoenix. A sunny 74 degrees in early January. People were actually swimming! I love Phoenix winters.
