My Background with Afternoon Tea

My Background with Afternoon Tea:

Hello! I’m Kat Phipps, a food and travel writer, photographer and recipe developer from Portland, Oregon. I’ve dedicated my life to exploring tea traditions in the UK and around the world. As a lover of all things British and afternoon tea-related, I focus on writing informative guides and reviews based on my travel experiences. I also create recipes inspired by my journeys to share on my blog. Whether it’s a serene moment alone over a cup of tea or a shared pot with a friend or two, afternoon tea has become an integral part of my life.

My passion for afternoon tea began when I was a child, passed down to me by my mother and her British friend, who instilled in me a love of British culture. I have many fond memories of spending sunny afternoons together on the back patio enjoying a pot of tea and a plate of freshly baked scones.

One of the first gifts I remember receiving as a little girl was a tea set I got for Christmas from my parents, which I used to host tea parties for my dolls and neighborhood friends. Over the years this developed into a full-fledged passion for afternoon tea, where I began hosting tea parties for friends in high school and college.

As an adult I spent many hours in the kitchen developing my own teatime recipes to make for family and friends. I also began researching tea traditions all over the world, including two years that I lived in Japan studying tea ceremony while teaching English. During that time I also explored British afternoon tea traditions popular at restaurants and high-end hotels throughout Japan.

Later on I used all of this inspiration and research to start my own cooking business, catering many tea parties over the years. These experiences gave me a profound appreciation for all of the work that goes into serving an afternoon tea.

Over the last few years I compiled a huge list of tearooms to visit in cities all over the UK. Last May I planned an 11 day tearoom tour of the UK, visiting 11 of these places in four cities, including London, Bath, York and Edinburgh. It was an unforgettable trip, filled with beautiful memories of drinking tea in some of the loveliest tea rooms in the country. I found myself wanting to share this passion for tea, creating this blog specifically focused on exploring afternoon tea traditions in the UK.

My mission is to continue exploring the best places for afternoon tea in each region of the UK, sharing my adventures and discoveries with you here. I’ll also be writing city guides to destinations around the UK as well as creating afternoon tea recipes inspired by my travels.

I invite you to join me on this journey as I explore this fascinating British tradition so that you too can be inspired to go experience it for yourself. As you read more, I’m sure you’ll see why afternoon tea is so captivating to me as well as to many others. I look forward to sharing all of my afternoon tea stories, photos and recipes with you here!

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Check out my guides to afternoon tea in the UK here: Eleven Tearooms in Eleven Days