I love my coffee in the morning, but in the afternoon I prefer a nice, soothing cup of tea. When I was young, I would accompany my mother downtown for a little Saturday shopping. The large department store restaurants all served an afternoon tea. Some days they would have a little fashion show to enjoy while sipping tea & munching on dainty sandwiches and sweets. For a little girl, it was a joy that I will never forget.
One
day, while making a tour of the provinces, Shen Nung requested that his
servants boil some water for him. They made a fire using branches from a
nearby camellia bush. Some of the ends of the branches escaped the fire
and extended upward. Caught by a passing breeze, a few leaves were
released from the branches' hold and floated down into the heating water. The
emperor's attention was caught by the aroma that arose from the
pot. Intrigued, he drank some of the broth. Immediately captivated by
the taste and refreshing quality of the brew, the emperor knew he had
discovered something of great importance.
The
Chinese were familiar with camellia leaves, which they used in vegetable
relishes and quite probably as part of medicinal compounds. But until the
emperor's discovery, the leaves had never been considered an ingredient of a
hot, refreshing drink. News of the emperor's discovery spread quickly
throughout China, and soon everyone was trying the beverage. Before
long, tea (known as Ch'a) became an important part of Chinese culture.
As
the centuries passed and trade with the West opened up, the status of tea
increased. Tea was introduced to continental Europe during Elizabethan
times, but did not reach English shores until the years 1657-1660. It was
the Dutch who first brought tea to the continent. The Russians also knew
about it before the English, as did the Portuguese. And it was a Venetian,
Gian Battista Ramusio, who was the first European to write about tea.
When tea was finally introduced to the English populace, it was a very hard
sell. Enormously expensive and advertised for its medicinal purposes, tea
was very slow to catch on in the British empire. The turning point came
when King Charles II ascended the throne. King Charles drank tea
throughout the day, delighting in the delicate taste and fragrant aroma for
which green teas are appreciated. His habit was adopted first by the rest
of the court and then by the entire country. Tea was sipped in homes, in
taverns and in pleasure gardens by the aristocracy, as well as their
servants.
Tea also enjoyed immense popularity in the American Colonies until the late
eighteenth century. But when King George III decided to use tea as a
source of revenue and raise the import tax on tea sent to the Colonies, the
independent-minded Americans rebelled.
The Boston Tea Party of 1773, when colonists dressed as Indians dumped a ship
load of tea into Boston Harbor, was one of the events that propelled the
Colonies toward independence, and probably led to a marked preference for
coffee in the United States.
Afternoon tea was invented by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford (1783-1857), one of Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting. In her day, the upper crust ate a huge breakfast, little lunch, and a very late dinner. Every afternoon, the duchess experienced a "sinking feeling." One afternoon she instructed her servants to serve tea and little cakes in her boudoir. The experience was so delightful that Anna repeated it every afternoon thereafter.
Soon others followed the Duchess' lead, and in just a few decades the custom of
"taking tea" in the afternoon had become well established. At
first the practice was limited to the upper classes, but it eventually became
so popular that tea shops and tea-rooms began opening for the enjoyment of the
general public.
America's
Part in the History of Tea
The
United States can claim two distinct contributions when it comes to tea, both
dating from the early twentieth century.
In 1904, visitors to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis sweltered
in a heat wave and shunned the hot brew offered by Indian tea growers. An
Englishman named Richard Blechynden, who represented the tea growers, tried
pouring tea over ice in order to entice fair visitors. The result was iced
tea, which now accounts for 80 percent of the tea drunk in the United
States.
The teabag began as the brainstorm of a New York tea merchant named Thomas
Sullivan in 1908. He decided to provide samples to his customers in small silk
pouches. Sullivan's customers soon discovered that the pouches could be put
directly (and conveniently) in teapots, and soon orders were pouring in for tea
packaged in "those little bags." Before long, teabags had become a
widely accepted means of packaging tea.
Tea
Rooms, Tea Courts and Tea Dances
Beginning
in the late 1880's in both America and England, fine hotels began to offer tea
service in tea rooms and tea courts. Served in the late afternoon,
Victorian ladies (and their gentlemen friends) could meet for tea and
conversation. Many of these tea services became the hallmark of the elegance
of the hotel, such as the tea services at the Ritz (Boston) and the Plaza (New
York).
By
1910 hotels began to host afternoon tea dances as dance craze after dance craze
swept the United States and England. Often considered wasteful by older
people they provided a place for the new "working girl" to meet men
in a city, far from home and family. (Indeed, the editor of Vogue once
fired a large number of female secretarial workers for "wasting their time
at tea dances.")
Afternoon
Tea is served at approximately four o'clock and can consist of whatever
the hostess chooses (sandwiches, scones, cookies, a special dessert such as a
fruit tart or a rich cake). It can be formally served in the dining room
or at the living room tea table. Informal teas can be enjoyed in the
kitchen, garden, as a picnic, or any location of choice.
Farmer's
Tea is a combination of a Ploughman's Lunch (heavy grained bread, sharp
cheese, fruit, and sausages or a meat pie), popular in British pubs, served
with a sweet.
Full
Tea is a complete four-course Afternoon Tea with sandwiches, scones,
sweets, and a dessert finale.
Royal
Tea adds a glass of champagne or sherry to the Full Tea.
Light
Tea is a lighter version of Afternoon Tea with a scone and a sweet.
Cream
Tea is an afternoon tea that features scones and clotted cream (for the
scones, not the tea).
High
Tea is most often served as a Full Tea, only more of the same. It is
enjoyed at approximately six o'clock and is a light supper for the family or a
before-theater meal. An entrée such as chicken a la king or meat pie
may be served with breads, biscuits, salad, cheese, fruit, and
sweets. Everyone sits down at the table.
Scones are
light, tender biscuits served hot from the oven with jam and butter or clotted
cream.
Lemon
curd is a thick sauce about the consistency of pudding used like jam on
the crumpets and scones, and also as a filling for tarts.
Clotted
cream, also called Devonshire cream, is made in Devonshire, England, by
separating the cream from the unhomogenized milk and scalded until it is extra
thick. True Devonshire cream cannot be found in the United States, but can
be substituted with unsweetened whipping cream.
Crumpets are
like griddle cakes that develop surface holes as they cook. Americans
substitute English muffins.
Hosting
an Afternoon Tea
In
England, the traditional time for tea was four o'clock 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 to blunt the appetite
Scones:
Served with jam and Devonshire or clotted cream
Pastries:
Cakes, cookies, shortbread and sweets
If
you are taking tea with a friend in your home, serve all the courses
simultaneously on a tiered plate. Put the savories on the bottom
tier, scones on the second and pastries on the top. Fruit is appropriate
to serve at anytime during tea.
Foods
for an afternoon tea should consist of dainty finger foods. Usually
things that are easily picked up with the fingers and from which one can take a
petite bite and easily maintain a conversation. This is most
important as one is not merely taking tea to gain nourishment or satisfy
hunger, but to take time to relax, converse and enjoy the company of dear
friends.
The
following are sample Afternoon Tea Menus from two of the most popular London hotels
that serve tea:
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