The British tradition of Afternoon tea pt 1

The British tradition of Afternoon tea – pt1

originally posted: 240604

The British tradition of drinking afternoon tea, is one of the things about England that are well known for a common foreigner like my self. The importance of this tradition is in fact one of the first things we northern Europeans learn about England while we are growing up. This and that it´s always raining over there and that the English have bad teeth.

Since I´m not that much into writing about rainy cities and don´t really know how to approach the topic of crooked teeth, I chose to write about the tradition of the afternoon tea in this article.

Cute teapot picture by Sincerely Media and a painting of tea drinking ladies by artist Frédéric Soulacroix

Where does this tradition come from? Can you drink any kind of tea or does it have to be a specific kind? Will there be cake? Could one say that the afternoon tea is the equivalent of Swedish peoples Fika?*
With many questions in mind I started to research the topic so I would be prepared when I finally arrive in London.

*Fika is the swedish tradition of drinking afternoon coffee together, preferably while ingesting a cinnamon roll.

Diving to the roots of the tradition

Tea as a drink, is super old. And it originally came from China. The Chinese had been using it for thousands of years before any westerner laid their eyes on it. Yes, I wrote “using it”, because in the earliest of times the leaves were actually Chewed instead of brewed!
So how did the tradition of drinking tea travel all the way from China to England of all places?

The earliest mention of tea in European literature dates back to the year 1595. And in the year of 1615 a Mr. R. Wickham, Englishman and agent for the East India Company, wrote about tea in a letter he sent to a friend. In the year 1657 tea made a debute in a coffee shop in London and two years later, 1659, it had gained some popularity among the upper class, mostly as a medicinal drink.

In 1662 King Charles II married Catherine of Braganza, the daughter of Portugal’s King John IV.
This was of course very exciting news and the marriage was for a long time the hottest gossip around London.
Cathrine had a habit of drinking tea and brought some along with the rest of her belongings. Instead of using it as a medicinal drink, she casually drank it during the day.

Soon everyone wanted to drink tea. Cathrine, an influencer of the 16-th century, had unknowingly helped to market the exotic drink from china. Tea had now captured the British upper class and the Brits were now enjoying it around the clock.

Cathrine of Braganza became a 16-th century tea-influencer

The birth of the afternoon tea

The tradition of the afternoon tea emerged around the year 1840 when Anna Maria Russel, the Duchess of Bedford, grew tired of her blood sugar levels dipping in the afternoons.
Every day around 17.00 she would start feeling weak and complain about a sinking feeling. To fight off the post-lunch dip the Duchess, started to order in tea, bread and cake to her room. And soon her friends started to join her for her small tea-parties.
Tea-parties started popping up here and there and the afternoon tea tradition was born.

Anna Maria Russel, the Duchess of Bedford, used to have low blood sugar in the afternoons
 

UK:s Tea Academy & etiquette masterclasses

The Afternoon tea tradition is so rooted in the United Kingdom that they even have their own Tea Academy! There you can learn everything there is to know about tea. What it is, where it comes from, how to brew a perfect cup and much more.

There is also courses to learn the proper tea etiquette. Like William Hansons afternoon tea masterclass. William Hanson also has a hilarious instagram account, that I love, where he tries to teach us the do´s and don´ts of drinking tea.

In the next part of this article we will be looking at how to behave around the tea-table. And what should you actually be wearing?

Read the next part here

xoxo/Salla V
originally posted:240604