Tea Societies

Afternoon tea table set at Chastain Park Conservancy — Atlanta Tea Society visited Chastain Park Conservancy for a farm tour followed by afternoon tea.

Have You Joined A Tea Society Yet?

Local or online tea societies bring together tea sisters and brothers for some or all of the following: tea education, society afternoon teas or themed events (i.e., with guest speaker, etiquette class, costumes, book review or historical lecture), discussion of all things tea, recommendations for teas or afternoon tea venues and in rare cases, a welcome gift box (tea goodies!).

Rosie Davidson master gardener of Farm Chastain — Originally from Scotland, Farm Chastain’s master gardener Rosie Davidson is our hostess twice over: part farm tour guide, part afternoon tea hostess. Here she is picking snap peas for us to taste.

One of our new Atlanta Tea Society friends prepares the scones that Rosie baked, spreading them with cream and preserves per her directions. Rosie also brought camellia cuttings for her teatime presentation, in which she shared with us about her teaware, how tea grows, her favorite tea varieties and how the British take tea.

As a tea society member, not only are you hip to the latest in the world of tea, but you are sure to make some new friends who enjoy thoughtful conversation over tea.

Atlanta Tea Society organizer Prima personally catered this event, treating us to a table set with fine china and tier after tier of finger sandwiches, mini quiches, gourmet truffles and fruit tartlets.

Tea society membership is oftentimes free — in the case of Facebook or Meetup groups — or can have a nominal annual membership fee, like $25, that comes with certain perks. Society email newsletters or Facebook posts invite members to society events and share tea news. Here are some tea societies for you to explore. If your tea society is not listed, please email us and we’ll get yours added. Thank you!

Facebook – Afternoon Tea Across America
Facebook – The Afternoon Tea Club
Prescott, Arizona – The Prescott Tea Society
Santa Ana, California – Victorian Tea Society of Orange County
Southern California (SoCal) – Southern CA High Tea Meetup
Southern California (SoCal) – Tea Travellers SocieTea
Tehachapi, California – Tea Time in Bear Valley Springs
Atlanta, Georgia – Atlanta Afternoon Tea Society
Atlanta, Georgia – Atlanta Tea Society
Hawaii – Hawaii Tea Society
Chicago, Illinois – Chicago Tea Collective
Middletown, Maryland – Middletown Ladies Afternoon Tea
York, Pennsylvania – The Royal-tea Club
South Carolina – Pouring Tea Society
South Carolina – Southern Tea Society
Nashville, Tennessee – Jane Austen Tea Society
Houston, Texas – Tea and Conversations with Friends
Virginia Beach, Virginia – Virginia Tea Society
Western Washington – Western Washington Afternoon Tea Party
USA/Canada – JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America) – not a tea society, but meetings and annual festival include afternoon tea

WWII era hangar — Atlanta Tea Society created a special opportunity for us to take tea inside this historical, World War II era hangar.

If you are in the metro Atlanta area and haven’t yet joined the Meetup group Atlanta Tea Society, you are missing invitations to one-of-a-kind afternoon tea outings. Since joining ATS, I’ve not only met new friends who love going to tea, I’ve also been able to experience afternoon tea venues that only take larger parties or special tea events organized by the group, such as this November Garden Tea Party at the Chastain Park Conservancy. I thank ATS for a lovely memory!