Christmas tea provides glimpse of Victorian era

Hundreds of people gathered at a downtown mansion yesterday for a trip back in time — and a proper cup of tea.

The Moreland Manor on Louise Avenue was packed all afternoon for “an enchanted Victorian Christmas tea.”

“It’s all quite extravagant,” host Shari Decter-Hirst said yesterday as she took a break from her tea-pouring duties.

Dressed in period costume, Decter-Hirst opened her home to more than 300 people, who paid $15 each for tickets. The money will go to support the Daly House Museum.

Daly House board member Roberta Kempthorne said the event also helped to educate Brandon residents about their city’s history.

“So many people think history is so dead and boring,” she said. “It isn’t.”

The Moreland Manor was built in 1914 and was one of the city’s first electrified homes, Decter-Hirst said.

It boasts several unusual features, such as six fireplaces and a rotating floor in the garage so you never have to back your car out.

The house has had many owners over the years who have used it for various purposes, but yesterday it was used as a time portal — transporting visitors back to an era when Queen Victoria sat on the throne and the Canadian flag still sported the Union Jack.

Antique toys sat under a Christmas tree in the home’s front foyer while a choir sang carols to the bustling crowd as they munched on dainties baked from Victorian-era recipes and sipped on carefully prepared cups of tea.

Decter-Hirst said there is much more to preparing a proper tea than dropping a couple of tea bags into a pot of boiling water.

“The first thing you have to do is hot your pot,” she said.

“You never put tea in a cold pot.”

“The water should pass quickly over the tea leaves”, she added.

“If the tea leaves sit in the water, the tea gets too strong and it’s very tannic,” she said.

The serving of the tea is equally as important as the preparation.

“Of course it’s poured, it’s not self-serve,” Decter-Hirst said.

“The trick is to keep the cup from rattling in the saucer.”

Finally, it’s up to the drinker to choose how to take the tea — with lemon, with milk or clear.

And then it’s just a matter of enjoying the hot beverage, as hundreds of people did yesterday. Decter-Hirst said the attendance was so great that she may host another tea next year.

(this article was written by Robson Fletcher and published in the brandonsun.com)