Tea Party Revival
Barb Sumerlin Delivers British Tea Parties Locally…
Redding local Barb Sumerlin is bringing British culinary elegance to Northern California with her mobile Afternoon Tea business.
It all started when Sumerlin was helping a friend with party planning a few years ago (helping with décor and organization) when she had the opportunity to go to England. One of the things she really wanted to do while she was there was go to a proper Afternoon Tea. Sumerlin’s dream became a reality when she found herself sipping on hot tea at Kensington Palace in a relaxing, unhurried atmosphere. She thought, “Redding needs this.”
When Sumerlin returned from her trip, she began researching different kinds of English tea parties and the differences in how Americans and the English enjoy meals together.
“Specifically, meals in England are very slow and unrushed. They’re an hour and a half long, maybe longer. When you come in and sit down for tea, it should be slow, with lots of conversation going on,” she says. “Americans are fast eaters; it’s just our culture. Tea is longer with Brits.”
In thinking of how to adapt the 200-year-old tradition to the North State, Sumerlin launched A Time For Tea parties, personally bringing all the linens, place settings, tea selections, food and décor to your home, venue, or workspace for a special event.
Sumerlin has a few options for the types of tea parties offered. “You can have a simple tea which includes tea and biscuits; an afternoon tea that includes finger sandwiches, scones and dessert; or a high tea where we serve more hearty finger sandwiches, hot items (like pot pies and quiche), scones and dessert,” she says.
All courses are served at the same time on a three-tiered tray in a traditional style, but Sumerlin’s parties are a little bit different in the way the teas are poured.
“At Kensington, I had one type of tea in my own teapot which is the most traditional way. But my way, I do four or five black teas and a couple of herbal teas served in tea bags. I go around the table and do rounds of teas. Sometimes people want a different kind of tea to drink with dessert than the one they had with the finger sandwiches,” Sumerlin explains.
To test out her new tea business concept, she invited two dozen of her closest friends for her first A Time For Tea party held in early 2024.
“I had the good fortune to use The Restoration House as a venue and hosted 24 people for an Afternoon Tea. I bought china from Goodwill and I was flying by the seat of my pants, but it was a good experience to have people who already loved me be my guinea pigs for this event,” says Sumerlin. Though she never worked at a restaurant or waited tables, she realized that the details matter in hosting an Afternoon Tea, and luckily she is super organized. “Those are the two most important traits for an Afternoon Tea,” she adds.
“When I come into someone’s house and I am serving tea, it looks like I’m moving in,” Sumerlin explains about the preparation it takes to host an Afternoon Tea, hauling in tea pots, silverware, décor, flowers, etc.
Sumerlin has primarily hosted tea events for birthday parties, but baby showers, bridal showers, Galentine’s tea, Mother’s Day teas, autumn teas and Christmas tea events are others that she has helped plan. “I’ve done teas for book clubs, one for a group of women who all teach Pilates together,” says Sumerlin.
A Time For Tea events are usually held in someone’s home, but Sumerlin has also gone to venues (like The Restoration House) and hosted literary-themed events at Shop Around the Corner Books in downtown Redding.
“I’ll go anywhere. I think it’d be fun to go to a workplace and serve tea for Administrative Professionals Day,” she says. Sumerlin has gone as far as Shingletown and Red Bluff to host tea parties.
One of her favorite events she served tea for was at a Redding City Ballet fundraiser last year. For the first scene she served scones and the second scene was desserts.
“It was a two-day event with dancers, and they read their version of ‘The Nutcracker.’ It was like a storybook come to life. Everybody got dressed up and dancers came right to the table. It was truly magical,” Sumerlin recalls.
Although Sumerlin hosts a lot of milestone birthdays for women, she enjoys it when the other gender attends, too. “I love when men come in. At first, they feel like a bull in a china shop and look a bit awkward like they would rather be at a game, but I always hear about how much fun they have and get the most compliments from men afterwards. Conversation with friends that doesn’t feel rushed is one of the true joys of life. It took me to become a certain age to realize that.” •
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