Afternoon Tea

Dear Tea lovers:

What is your favorite afternoon tea? Do you drink it straight or use milk? How many of you go to hotel or tea room for High tea? What kind of tea you drink there? What is your favorite place name for High tea? What is your comment on this timing issue about High tea-4:00 P.M. or 5:00 P.M.

Ripon (From Bangladesh)

P.S.Posting again, somehow my afternoon post mixedup with a previous question, any idea why?

I don't think you mean "high tea."

I prefer green tea or white tea in the afternoon perhaps a nice Pi Lo Chun. If I'm drinking black tea, I like a Ceylon although I'm certainly not averse to having my favorite Keemun Mao Feng in the afternoon. I usually skip the milk.

How many of you go to hotel or tea room for High tea? What kind

I love to go to a tea room if one is available. I love to visit for tea rooms when I'm traveling. The only one in the city where I live that serves decent tea requires a reservation so I can't just drop in for a nice cuppa! If I happen to be in Portland (Oregon, USA) which is the nearest big city, I like to stop in at The Tea Zone or Tao of Tea. Neither of these places does the traditional "Afternoon Tea", at least not on a daily basis, but they both have wonderul selections of tea and good food. The tea is also prepared properly. My favorite place for traditional Afternoon Tea is The Savoure, a French tea room in Eugene, OR. Their tea selection isn't quite as good (IMHO) as the other 2 places mentioned above. They tend toward flavored blends which I don't care for, but they also have some good unflavored teas including a superb Ti Kuan Yin. They also prepare the trea properly. Too many of the English style tea rooms I've been to provide no way to decant the tea once it's properly steeped. I've been told at several of them that this is the way it's done in England. If the tea gets too strong, they add more hot water. Ugh. I too often end up with bitter tea.

What is your comment on this timing issue about High tea-4:00

Is this an issue? I suppose it depends on when you have you're other meals. Often when I have afternoon tea, I haven't had lunch so I have it a bit earlier around 3pm.

I've no idea!

Agalena

Depending on mood, Sencha, Konacha, Lightly oxidized Oolongs, a good Lung Ching and occasionally a Keemun, Assam or Pu-erh. No milk in anything.

high tea is a working class meal

Huh? Most working class people (whatever that means) are too busy working.

-- Larry Weil Lake Wobegone, NH

I do apologise if I was not clear ... high tea is a meal at the end of the working day ... not the 4 p.m. reviving break which is followed by the evening meal hours later.

Pen

Pen wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I don't know high from low when it comes to tea, but I found this bit under "The History of Tea" over at Stash Tea quite interesting:

At this time two distinct forms of tea services evolved: "High" and "Low". "Low" Tea (served in the low part of the afternoon) was served in aristocratic homes of the wealthy and featured gourmet tidbits rather than solid meals. The emphasis was on presentation and conversation. "High" Tea or "Meat Tea" was the main or "High" meal of the day. It was the major meal of the middle and lower classes and consisted of mostly full dinner items such as roast beef, mashed potatoes, peas, and of course, tea.

So, according to this, the aristocrats were having "Low Tea" whereas the "middle and lower classes" were having "High Tea". Is that right? I never would have guessed that. "High Tea" has always sounded to me like something one would have with the Queen.

Could it not be that Low Tea was taken at sitting room tables and High Tea from dining room tables?

JB

Sounds reasonable to me. The sense I get from dictionary.com and the Stash bit is that "High" Tea is tea with lots of goodies, and "Low" Tea is (little more than) simply tea; but this might be one of those things with many possible explanations. I hasten once again to point out my vast tea-ignorance, and happily await enlightenment.

On 16 Nov 2003, fLameDogg posted the following to rec.food.drink.tea:

From

That depends on what kind of tea it is. Traditionally, the upper classes serve a "low" or "afternoon" tea around 4:00 PM, at which one might find crustless sandwiches, biscuits, and cake. Middle and lower classes have a "high" tea later in the day, at 5:00 or 6:00. It is a more substantial meal -- essentially, it's dinner -- which includes bread, meats, scones, and cake.

Apparently, many Americans have the impression that "high tea" is the meal served by "high-class" people. Actually, the names derive from the height of the tables on which the meals are served. Low tea is served on tables, which in Canada would be called "coffee tables." High tea is served on the dinner table.

Let's have some Low Tea, dear! To my recollection this phrase does not exist. One just has some tea, independent of class.

JB

JB

Also known as the rec.food.drink.tea FAQ, which you can find at:

It was open stage night in rec.food.drink.tea, when Christopher Roberson stepped up to the microphone and muttered:

DUH! [slaps hand to forehead]