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English afternoon tea (or simply afternoon tea) is a British tradition that involves enjoying a light meal of tea, sandwiches, scones, and cakes in the mid-afternoon, typically between 3:30 and 5 pm. It originated in the 1840s as a way for the upper class to bridge the gap between lunch and a late dinner.
The rise in popularity of tea between the 17th and 19th centuries had major social, political, and economic implications for the Kingdom of Great Britain.Tea defined respectability and domestic rituals, supported the rise of the British Empire, and contributed to the rise of the Industrial Revolution by supplying both the capital for factories and calories for labourers. [5]
High tea typically consists of a savoury dish (either something hot, or cold cuts of meat such as ham salad), followed by cakes and bread, butter and jam, all accompanied by tea. [22] In The Cambridge Social History of Britain, 1750–1950, high tea is defined thus:
Tea is to England what beer and hot dogs are to America. But as ingrained as tea is in the fabric of British culture, it takes a history lesson to explain how the drink actually became so popular.
Queen Victoria reportedly ordered "16 chocolate sponges, 12 plain sponges, 16 fondant biscuits" along with other sweets for a tea party at Buckingham Palace. [2] The afternoon tea party became a feature of great houses in the Victorian and Edwardian ages in the United Kingdom and the Gilded Age in the United States, as well as in all continental Europe (France, Germany, and the Russian Empire).
Tea had become fashionable at court, and tea houses, which drew their clientele from both sexes, began to grow in popularity. [84] The growing popularity of tea is explained by the ease with which it is prepared. "To brew tea, all that is needed is to add boiling water; coffee, in contrast, required roasting, grinding and brewing."
Tea was known in France by 1636. It enjoyed a brief period of popularity in Paris around 1648. The history of tea in Russia can also be traced back to the 17th century. Tea was first offered by China as a gift to Czar Michael I in 1618. The Russian ambassador tried the drink; he did not care for it and rejected the offer, delaying tea's Russian ...
Its original proprietor, Thomas Garway, was already said to be the first person in England to sell tea prior to the house's founding, and when he began to sell it here in 1657 it became the first place in England to do so. [2] The Hudson's Bay Company conducted its first sale of furs at the coffee house in 1671.