A Very Special Mother's Day High Tea

Hey Everyone, today you'll be hearing from me, Molly, Dani's right-hand woman. You may have seen me filling orders while Dani is out, modeling for Instagram posts, partnering with Dani on our Tea Tastings, or running pots of fresh tea for our High Tea events. My job, at its simplest, is to make Dani's job easier. Intro over, now back to our regularly scheduled Tea Talk!

Mother's Day has always been a special day for my family and me. I hate to brag, but my mom is pretty amazing! She is a huge reason why I am who I am. In fact, she's the one who instilled a love of tea in me at an early age. Growing up, she always made sure to have at least one gallon, YES, gallon-sized tea pitcher in the refrigerator full of sweet tea. When we (my siblings and I) were old enough to boil water safely, she taught us how to make her sweet tea. She uses one cup of sugar for a gallon of her sweet tea.

In addition to sweet tea, my mom has always been into drinking a cup of hot tea in the mornings. When I went into 8th grade, I started drinking a cup of hot tea with her in the mornings. The tea we drank wasn't anything special. What was special was the time we shared drinking tea, even if we did heat the water in the microwave — this was before Dani came into our lives.

Once the Uptown Tea Shop opened in Waxhaw, our lives changed forever. My mom and I noticed a sign for the Uptown Tea Shop and thought it would be fun to check it out. The rest is history! My mom became a Dark Heart addict, and I became a tea connoisseur. When we would get low on our favorite teas (Dark Heart, Organic Assam, Sunny Lemonade Fruit Tea), we decided we needed sweet tea floats and planned trips to see Dani and Phoebe (the tea shop dog).

Recently, my mom and I enjoyed being guests at the High Tea event hosted by Uptown Tea Shop and Simply Bougie Luxury Picnics. I'm so used to helping at our High Tea events that Dani had to shoo me off once guests began to arrive, so I could enjoy the time with my mom. The High Tea was my Mother's Day gift to my mom, planned early before our schedules got too busy. We started at 11:30 a.m. with Chef Kristen's Irish-Crème-marbled hard-boiled eggs. My mom thought they were table decorations because they were so pretty!

Dani took our tea orders. Mom chose the aptly named Magic Moon, and I had the Amaretto Amore upon Dani's suggestion. Mom and I started a conversation about quilting, wedding planning, and family; the next thing we knew, Dani was back with our teapots with Chef Kristen soon to follow with a three-tiered serving stand elegantly packed with beautiful and tasty treats and treasures!

Mom and I began our tea by eating warm scones, spreading our bites of blueberry scones with lemon curd, butter, and four-berry jam. The bite-size quiches were a delightful dance of flavors. Every bite was a rich flurry of flavors!

I look forward to Chef Kristen's sandwich selection for every High Tea event that we do because I get to sample sandwiches! This week, Chef Kristen brought her 100% A++ game, making a whole new menu to enjoy! Coincidentally, my mom's favorite sandwiches were the strawberry chicken salad on a Hawaiian roll and the caper-celery egg salad on marbled bread. She loved the egg salad so much that I traded my other egg salad for her other roast beef sandwich. My favorite two sandwiches were the roast beef with dill aioli and the mushroom-walnut with caramelized onion sandwich (mom also thoroughly enjoyed this one). The sandwiches were so filling that I was full the rest of the day, which shocked Dani and Kristen because I am always ready to eat!

Like any true sweet tooth, mom and I didn't wait until the end of our savory sandwiches to dig into our sweets. We'd try a sandwich, then we'd eat a lemon bar, try another sandwich, etc. The hot chocolate macaroons were by far my mom's favorite sweets; she just loves macaroons! My stomach's heart belongs to Dani's ginger cookies, which have become a highlight of my Saturdays since we started with the High Tea events. Mom and I were no different from other guests who raved about how good the food and tea were. We left with a box full of all the leftovers that our stomachs weren't empty enough to eat. I even grabbed a Tea To Go cup for my leftover tea — one simply does not waste good tea!

High Tea was the perfect way to celebrate my mom and treat her to something special. We enjoyed every minute of our time together and will be doing it again one day soon! I took plenty of selfies to remember the day and share them on Instagram. What can I say? I'm always looking for a way to promote my love of the Uptown Tea Shop!

Blessings to all our special mothers and grandmothers,
Molly