History of English Afternoon Tea

Lot of recipes for your Afternoon Tea

or High Tea

Check out Ellen Easton's interesting

article on tea time at the newly
renovated Plaza Hotel in New York
city: Afternoon Tea Renaissance -
The Plaza's Palm Court.

A Rose Garden Tea with the Queen -

Maintaining a tradition that began in
1860 with Queen Victoria, every
year Queen Elizabeth II opens the
private gardens at Buckingham
Palace to host three afternoon tea
parties, each attended by 8,000
guests respectively.

Etiquette Faux Pas and Other

Misconceptions About Afternoon Tea
- Due to the new popularity of
Afternoon Tea, many people have
jumped on the bandwagon, including
hotels, caterers, party planners, and
protocol and etiquette “experts.” 
While their enthusiasm is well
intended, unfortunately a great deal
of misinformation is being

perpetuated by these “experts”.
Tea Sandwich Recipes
Also learn how to make tea
sandwich ahead of time and  hints
and tip on making tea sandwiches.
The Afternoon Tea Gowns of the La
Belle Epoque (1880-1914), known as
"The Beautiful Era."
Understanding Tea Time Service -
Afternoon Tea is one of the most
special times of the day. An occasion
one looks forward to with great
anticipation and high expectations for
a perfect experience. But have you
ever considered what your perfect
experience entails to produce?
Check out more of Ellen Easton's
articles and recipes called Tea
Travels™.
Tea Etiquette
In order for one not to spill the hot
liquid onto oneself, the proper way to
hold the vessel of a cup with no
handle is to place one’s thumb at the
six o'clock position and one’s index
and middle fingers at the twelve
o'clock position, while gently raising
one’s pinkie up for balance.
Tea cups with a handle are held by
placing one’s fingers to the front and
noon tea as high tea because they
think it sounds regal and lofty,
when in all actuality, high tea, or
"meat tea" is dinner. High tea, in
Britain, at any rate, tends to be on
the heavier side. American hotels
and tea rooms, on the other hand,
continue to misunderstand and
offer tidbits of fancy pastries and
cakes on delicate china when they
offer a "high tea."
Afternoon tea (because it was
usually taken in the late afternoon)
is also called "low tea" because it
was usually taken in a sitting room
or withdrawing room where low
tables (like a coffee table) were
placed near sofas or chairs
generally in a large withdrawing
room. There are three basic types
of Afternoon, or Low Tea:
Cream Tea - Tea, scones,
jam and cream
Light Tea - Tea, scones and
sweets
Full Tea - Tea, savories,
scones, sweets and dessert
In England, the traditional time for
tea was four or five o'clock and no
one stayed after seven o'clock.
Most tea rooms today serve tea
from three to five o'clock. The
menu has also changed from tea,
bread, butter and cakes, to include
three particular courses served
specifically in this order:
Savories - Tiny sandwiches
or appetizers 
Scones - Served with jam
and Devonshire or clotted
cream
Pastries - Cakes, cookies,
shortbread and sweets
back of the handle with one’s pinkie
 
up again allows balance. Pinkie up
does mean straight up in the air, but
slightly tilted. It is not an affectation,
but a graceful way to avoid spills.
Never loop your fingers through the
handle, nor grasp the vessel bowl
with the palm of your hand.

Do not stir your tea, with your tea

spoon, in sweeping circular motions.
Place your tea spoon at the six o'clock
position and softly fold the liquid
towards the twelve o'clock position
two or three times. Never leave your
tea spoon in your tea cup. When not
in use, place your tea spoon on the
right side of the tea saucer. Never
wave or hold your tea cup in the air.
When not in use, place the tea cup
back in the tea saucer. If you are at a
buffet tea hold the tea saucer in your
lap with your left hand and hold the
tea cup in your right hand. When not
in use, place the tea cup back in the
tea saucer and hold in your lap.  The
only time a saucer is raised together
with the teacup is when one is at a
standing reception.
Milk is served with tea, not cream.
Cream is too heavy and masks the
taste of the tea. Although some pour
their milk in the cup first, it is
probably better to pour the milk in the
tea after it is in the cup in order to
get the correct amount.
When serving lemon with tea, lemon
slices are preferable, not wedges.
Either provide a small fork or lemon
fork for your guests, or have the tea
server can neatly place a slice in the
tea  cup after the tea has been
poured. Be sure never to add lemon
with milk since the lemon's citric acid
will cause the proteins in the milk to
curdle.
History of Tea Time -
English High Tea
Prior to the introduction of tea into
Britain, the English had two main
meals, breakfast and dinner.
Breakfast was ale, bread, and
beef.  During the middle of the
eighteenth century, dinner for the
upper and middle classes had
shifted from noontime to an
evening meal that was served at a
fashionable late hour. Dinner was a
long, massive meal at the end of
the day.
17th Century
Afternoon tea may have been
started by the French. According to
the monthly newsletter called
TeaMuse, in the writings of
Madame de Sévigné (1626 to
1696), one of history's greatest
letter writers on life in 17th
Century France:
It's a little known fact, but
after its introduction to
 Europe in the 17th century
tea was tremendously
popular in France. It first
arrived in Paris in 1636 (22
years before it appeared in
England!) and quickly
became popular among the
aristocracy. . . Tea was so
popular in Paris that
Madame de Sévigné, who
chronicled the doings of the
Sun King and his cronies in
a famous series of gossipy
letters to her daughter,
often found herself
mentioning tea. "Saw the
Princesse de Tarente [de
Sévigné wrote]... who takes
12 cups of tea every day...
which, she says, cures all
her ills. She assured me
that Monsieur de Landgrave
drank 40 cups every
morning. 'But Madame,
perhaps it is really only 30
or so.' 'No, 40. He was
dying, and it brought him
back to life before our eyes.'
. . . Madame de Sévigné
also reported that it was a
Frenchwoman, the Marquise
de la Sablière, who initiated
the fashion of adding milk to
tea. "Madame de la Sablière
took her tea with milk, as
she told me the other day,
because it was to her taste."
(By the way, the English
delighted in this "French
touch" and immediately
adopted it.)

1600 - Queen Elizabeth l (1533-

1603) granted permission for the
charter of the British East India
Company (1600-1858), also known
as the John Company, on
December 31, 1600 to establish
trade routes, ports, and trading
relationships with the Far East,
Southeast Asia, and India. Trade in
spices was its original focus, but
later traded in cottons, silks,
indigo, saltpeter, and tea. Due to
political and other factors, the tea
trade didn’t begin until the late
1670s.

1662 - King Charles II (1630-

1685) while in exile, married the
Portuguese Infanta Catherine de
Braganza (1638–1705). Catherine's
dowry was the largest ever
registered in world history. Portugal
gave to England two million golden
crusados, Tangier and Morocco in
North Africa, Bombay in India, and
also permission for the British to
use all the ports in the Portuguese
colonies in Africa, Asia and the
Americas, thus giving England their
first direct trading rights to tea. 

As Charles had grown up in the

Dutch capital, both he and his
Portuguese bride were confirmed
tea drinkers. When the monarchy
was re-established, they brought
this foreign tea tradition to England
with them. Her influence made tea
more popular amongst the
wealthier classes of society, as
whatever the royals did, everyone
else wanted to copy. Soon tea
mania spread swept across
England, and it became the
beverage of choice in English high
society, replacing ale as the
national drink.

The reign of Charles II was crucial

in laying the foundations for the
growth of the British tea trade. The
East India Company was highly
favored by Charles II. Charles
confirmed its monopoly, and also
extended it to give the Company
unprecedented powers to occupy
by military force places with which
they wished to trade (so long as
the people there were not
Christians).

1663 - The poet and politician

Edmund Waller (1606-1687) wrote
a poem in honor of Queen
Catherine for her birthday crediting
her with making tea a fashionable
drink amongst courtiers:

Venus her Myrtle, Phoebus

has his bays;
Tea both excels, which she
vouchsafes to praise.
The best of Queens, the
best of herbs, we owe
To that bold nation which
the way did show
To the fair region where the
sun doth rise,
Whose rich productions we
so justly prize.
The Muse's friend, tea does
our fancy aid,
Regress those vapours
which the head invade,
And keep the palace of the
soul serene,
Fit on her birthday to salute
the Queen

18th Century

By 1700, tea was on sale by more

than 500 coffee houses in London.
Tea drinking became even more
popular when Queen Anne (1665–
1714) chose tea over ale as her
regular breakfast drink. Anne's
character was once portrayed as a
tea-drinking, social nonentity with
lesbian tendencies.

During the second half of the

Victorian Period, known as the
Industrial Revolution, working
families would return home tired
and exhausted. The table would be
set with any manner of meats,
 bread, butter, pickles, cheese and
of course tea. None of the dainty
finger sandwiches, scones and
pastries of afternoon tea would
have been on the menu. Because it
was eaten at a high, dining table
rather than the low tea tables, it
was termed "high" tea.
 

19th Century

According to legend, one of Queen

Victoria's (1819-1901) ladies-in-
waiting, Anna Maria Stanhope
(1783-1857), known as the
Duchess of Bedford, is credited as
the creator of afternoon teatime.
Because the noon meal had
become skimpier, the Duchess
suffered from "a sinking feeling" at
about four o'clock in the afternoon.
At first the Duchess had her
servants sneak her a pot of tea and
a few breadstuffs. Adopting the
European tea service format, she
invited friends to join her for an
additional afternoon meal at five
o'clock in her rooms at Belvoir
Castle. The menu centered around
small cakes, bread and butter
sandwiches, assorted sweets, and,
of course, tea. This summer
practice proved so popular, the
Duchess continued it when she
returned to London, sending cards
to her friends asking them to join
her for "tea and a walking the
fields." The practice of inviting
friends to come for tea in the
afternoon was quickly picked up by
other social hostesses.

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