High-SocieTea
"Where the Art and Elegance of Taking Tea is Treasured"
"What Would We Do Without Watercress?"
No respectable Afternoon Tea table would be appropriately attired without traditional Watercress Tea Sandwiches. This pungent leafy plant has been eaten since ancient times, but wasn’t traditionally farmed until the 19th century. It’s sharp, peppery bite on the tongue makes it an especially savory selection to serve your guests.
6 white bread slices
6 brown bread slices
1/2 brick cream cheese
(or 1/2 stick butter)
Bunch watercress
Wash and pat dry the watercress. Spread either the cream cheese or butter onto one side of both the white and brown bread slices.
Place the watercress leaves onto either the prepared white or prepared brown bread slices.
Cover these half-sandwiches with the remaining bread slices. You should have six large sandwiches each made of 1 slice of white bread and 1 slice of brown bread. (You can use all white bread or all brown bread, but the two colors make the sandwiches more interesting looking).
Trim the crusts from these sandwiches. To make them into tea sandwiches, cut these large sandwiches diagonally into 4 small triangles, or cut them cross-wise into 4 small squares. Or you can cut them in half and then each half into 4 thin strips. Finally, you can use a cookie cutter and cut uniquely-shaped sandwiches for a special look.
You can also vary the flavor of these Watercress Tea sandwiches by adding different ingredients. Olives (green or black), chopped hard cooked eggs, capers, sliced tomatoes or diced Vidalia onions make nice flavor combinations with Watercress.
However you prepare them, your Watercress Tea sandwiches will taste even better with a piping hot cup of Celestial Seasoning’s Devonshire English Breakfast Black Tea. It’s robust, full-bodied flavor holds its own quite well with the sharp flavor of watercress.
