Tea Time

A little while ago, I was struggling with what to get three (female) family members for their birthdays.  I was living abroad at the time and postage isn't cheap, so I didn't want to mail anything super heavy.  My grandma, stepmom and stepsister all love tea.  I decided that I would treat them to a high tea service at a local tea house that we all like.  We still haven't been there (totally my fault), but I thought I would post the invitation ideas here.  I wanted the invitations to be part of the present, to be unique for each woman and to be a taste of what was to come.  The tea house I invited them to has many exotic brands and blends of tea, delicious and delicate looking pastries, and a high tea that runs everyday.

Invitation #1

Moroccan tea.  Photo by me.

The first invitation is a Moroccan tea scene.  My husband is Moroccan and sweetened mint tea is a very important daily ritual for many Moroccans.  I used our tagine (the conical-shaped cooking pot in the background), our tea glasses and pot (brought from Morocco) and some fruits to style this shoot.  This invitation went to my stepmom.

Invitation #2

Turkish tea.  Photo by me.

The second invitation was for my stepsister.  My husband and I went to Turkey on our honeymoon and they also have a wonderful cultural tradition of taking time for tea.  We drank some extremely addictive apple tea.  We were also lucky enough to try the pomegranate tea, which was used for this photo shoot.  It is a lovely clear ruby colour when it is brewed.  Tea is served in tulip-shaped glasses.  As well as tea, baklava is very popular in Turkey.  There are shops on almost every corner selling the honey-soaked pastry.  I used some baklava, a pomegranate and our very own stash of pomegranate tea (which we brought back, along with some of the apple tea) to style this shoot.

Invitation #3

English tea.  Photo by me.

The third and final invite went to my grandma.  My grandma and I have both lived in England (although not at the same time).  The Brits have a world famous love for their daily cuppas.  I tried to capture that with this photo shoot, using bagged tea, some biscuits and a bit of fruit in complementing colours.