AUBURN - Any time is tea time, but those attending the tea party seminar at Seymour Library Saturday learned how to be terminologically correct.

“I thought it was great, the different types of teas - the high tea, then the middle tea, the low tea,” said Marilyn Gentile, of Auburn, who plans on hosting a tea party of her own. “That's what brought me here, because I want to have one. My house is small but I live across from Hoops Park. I think I would like to have one there early in the spring. But you have to watch the weather.”

When reservations for the event came pouring in, it became evident to the library staff they would have to cut them off two days early. As it was, chairs had to be pulled up to the doorway of the room to accommodate the crowd who came to hear guest speaker Jill Odell, and be part of the makeshift afternoon tea.

Guests sat at tables draped with white lace and settings, set off by bright, fresh-cut flower arrangements and sipped tea while they nibbled at home-baked cookies, all supplied by Odell. She runs a catering business for such gatherings from her home in Weedsport.

The size of the group, overflowing the book-bordered room, would ordinarily not be her “cup of tea.”

“I like four, six, eight, 10 people; where you can have the conversation. If you have a shower of up to 20 people, I set up buffet-style so people can mingle and still talk,” she said. “More than 10 for a tea party is a little crowded. There's too much going on, it's too loud. Tea is little: little word, little food.”

And lots of the most important thing - visiting.

Odell fielded an array of eagerly asked questions, such as whether there's a proper way to dress for a tea?

“Depends on the type of tea,” she said. “If you send out formal invitations - gold lined - or receive them, you should dress up, have fun, wear a hat. If they are more whimsical, with happy faces, it's more casual.”

Odell not only quizzed the guests about the history of tea, but provided facts between plenty of dos and don'ts.

“Never wear jeans. Never use paper plates,” she said. “Even outdoors, I still bring china.”

“Why are tea pots shaped the way they are?” someone asked.

“Coffee pots are tall, with the spout on top,” she answered. “You see my tea pot is short and fat and stout. Spouts on tea pots are at the bottom so tea leaves will float to the top when they expand and not come out the spout.”

When attending a tea party, whether high or low, never sit where the tea pot is pointing, she explained, as it designates where the host or hostess will be sitting. Regarding high to low teas - a reference to table height and to the time of day, she offered the following guidelines: A low tea can be served on a coffee table in the parlor with sweets; a medium tea with scones; and a high tea at a table, late in the afternoon, with everything, such as tiny sandwiches, cheese cake or quiche, even a three layer cake.

“Well, we have tea cups and tea pots all over the house,” said Steve Maddox, one of only two men in attendance, who came all the way from North Syracuse. “My wife has been drinking tea even before we were married, 40 years ago. I was in Rumania a couple of months ago and all they had was tea. They don't have coffee there.” Earlier, a woman who was awarded a box of tea handed it to him, announcing to the gathering she admired his courage as a man for being there. He discreetly passed it on, because he and his wife already have so much.