Curious about the origins of the concept of an afternoon tea? The following articles provide a good introductory overview:

From The Spruce Eats:

The Legend has it that afternoon tea was started in the mid-1800s by the Duchess of Bedford. Around this time, kerosene lamps were introduced in wealthier homes, and eating a late dinner (around 8 or 9 p.m.) became fashionable. This increasingly late dinner was one of only two meals each day, the other was a mid-morning, breakfast-like meal.

The story goes that the Duchess found herself with a “sinking feeling.” This was likely fatigue from hunger during the long wait between meals. She decided to invite friends over for assorted snacks and tea, which was a very fashionable drink at the time.

The idea of an afternoon tea gathering spread across high society and became a favorite pastime of ladies of leisure. Later, it spread beyond the highest echelons of society and became more accessible for other socioeconomic groups.

Today, tea is a major component of many British meals, including breakfast, ‘elevenses,’ afternoon tea, and ‘tea’ (which is more like traditional high tea than afternoon tea).

From The British Museum: The Afternoon Tea

Afternoon tea, that most quintessential of English customs is, perhaps surprisingly, a relatively new tradition. Whilst the custom of drinking tea dates back to the third millennium BC in China and was popularised in England during the 1660s by King Charles II and his wife the Portuguese Infanta Catherine de Braganza, it was not until the mid 19th century that the concept of ‘afternoon tea’ first appeared?

Tea was introduced in England by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, in the year 1840. The Duchess would become hungry around four o’clock in the afternoon. The evening meal in her household was served fashionably late at eight o’clock, thus leaving a long period of time between lunch and dinner. The Duchess asked that a tray of tea, bread and butter (some time earlier, the Earl of Sandwich had had the idea of putting a filling between two slices of bread) and cake be brought to her room during the late afternoon. This became a habit of hers and she began inviting friends to join her.

This pause for tea became a fashionable social event. During the 1880’s upper-class and society women would change into long gowns, gloves and hats for their afternoon tea which was usually served in the drawing room between four and five o’clock.

Milk before tea or tea before milk?

Observing upper class manners, one pours the tea into the cup and then adds the milk to the tea. If one were from the lower classes one would pour the milk into the cup, or mug, then add the tea. This is perfectly practical when you consider that at the dawn of tea drinking the lower classes had lesser quality pottery that could crack with the rapid change of temperature. Well-glazed more expensive porcelain does not crack in this manner.

Today this “milk before or after” divide still exists. However, Royal butler to Queen Elizabeth, Grant Harrold has ‘settled’ the debate once and for all. Grant explains that since the 18th century, the ‘proper’ way of brewing is tea before milk. Like so much in Britain, it has always been a status and class thing.

Rules:

1. Pour the tea into the cup from a teapot.

2. Add milk to the cup after the tea, never before. Milk should not be iced cold to avoid curdling.

3. Stir back and forth – never use a circular motion and never touch the sides. Place the teaspoon at the “6 o’clock” position, and then gently move it to the “12 o’clock” position a couple of times. When done, place the teaspoon on the right side of the saucer, not on the tablecloth.

4. Do not take sugar cubes with your fingers. Use sugar tongs.

5. If using lemon in your tea do not leave the slice of lemon in the cup. Remove it before drinking.

6. Sip from the cup, do not slurp!

7. As for sticking your pinky finger our – another ‘posh’ myth. No pinky out.

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