The Etiquette Of An Afternoon Tea: Best Places To Enjoy It & Minding Your Manners.

creativeyoke (45)in #food • 8 years ago (edited)

Hi i'm Sarah from creative Yoke

If there’s one thing any girlie girl loves, it’s an afternoon tea. There’s something about silver teapots, crisp table linen and teeny tiny cakes that would give Alice in Wonderland a run for her money. But when it comes to the etiquette, how well do you know your stuff?

The History

If I had a Euro for every time I heard “High Tea”, well, I’d be pretty well off by now. Truth is, a “High Tea” is a completely different thing altogether, back in Victorian times, tea was incredibly expensive, only the elite could afford to drink it as often as they wanted, the lower classes could only afford to drink tea once a day if they were lucky. Tea cost the Victorians about £1 Sterling per lb, considering the average wage of a lower class citizen was £8-25 per week. So, these people would drink their tea with their dinner, at the kitchen table or “high table”. Could you imagine paying about £35 for a box of teabags?

Milk was also rather expensive among the poor, hence the milk was poured first, to make sure everyone got some before the tea was poured. Today it shows “poor roots” if milk is poured beforehand. There’s also the theory that Victorian teacups were more brittle and by adding the milk first, there was less chance of the fragile clay cups shattering.

Afternoon Tea was something a little more elegant and was started by the Duchess of Bedford, Anna Russell in the 1840’s whilst visiting her friend, the Duke of Rutland who lived at Belvoir castle (which you might recognise from the exterior shots of the castle used in the 1999 movie ‘The Haunting’ with Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta-Jones). In Russell’s time, dinner was served in the evening, usually around 8pm and lunch was very early, she came up with a light refreshment of finger sandwiches and cakes, served with Darjeeling tea. The Duchess became so popular for her “Afternoon Tea” that it became an established meal among upper class society. Adding Champagne to the sitting creates a “Royal Tea”.

“Cream Tea” consists of just tea with scones, clotted cream & jam.

Fast-forward to modern times, Afternoon Tea is still adored today and ladies love dressing up and going for afternoon tea in a luxury hotel or tearoom just as their Victorian counterparts did. The competition is fierce and the styles vary, each establishment trying to be a little more creative, but you still cant beat china cups, silver teapots and jugs, and a tiered cake stand. If I see an afternoon tea without a cake-stand, my heart sinks.

The Basics

When attending Afternoon Tea there is an unspoken dress code, you most certainly should not turn up in a tracksuit after your morning run or jeans and a t-shirt, Gentlemen should wear a shirt and tie and ladies should dress up.
Napkins should be draped across the knees, ankles crossed under the chair and hands resting on your knees.
In more expensive hotels tea is poured for you, however, the question is to whether milk goes before or after tea. Milk goes in after the tea and you do not noisily thrash the spoon about the cup, but gently push the spoon back and forth towards you, without touching the sides and then gently resting the spoon on the saucer, never leaving it in the teacup.
No pinkies are ever needed during an afternoon tea as it was seen by Victorians as a rather “common” thing to do, the Victorian’s would never have done that. You simply hold the teacup with your thumb, both meeting in the middle of the inner handle and then resting the handle on your middle finger. You should also never put your whole finger through the handle as it’s also considered bad manners.

There is no right or wrong way to dress your scone (rightfully pronounced “SKON”- like “John” not SKONE” like “Joan”), it’s alldown to personal preference, simply prize the scone open with your thumbs (not the knife) and dress it how you like. Jam then cream or cream then jam. They are then to be eaten one half at a time.
Table etiquette is crucial, never just reach and grab what you like, always look around the table and ask your company if they would “like some butter” before helping yourself, ideally it should be passed to you, you’re not the only one sitting at the table, this also applies to the last of anything, be it the last bread roll at dinner or the last sandwich at Afternoon Tea.

About Me

Hi there!I’m Sarah, the blogger behind The Creative Yoke.
I started the blog after being persuaded to start one by my friends. I love to bake, aside from horseback riding, it’s what makes me happiest most. I would post endless pictures on social media of cakes I made and decorated, cupcakes and all sorts of projects..possibly annoying everyone on my friend list with pictures of food, funny :’) sorry guys! I just love playing hostess, throwing parties, seeing peoples faces when they see what I have planned and made too.
I’ve always loved cooking and baking, my Nana taught me how to bake when she was looking after me, while Mum was working on films or dramas. You see, my Mum is/was a costumier and worked on film and drama’s , she also had a bridal label when I was a child. So creativity runs in my family. I’ve dabbled in silversmithing, fine art, photography, acting, glassblowing and interior design.. and enjoyed them all.Moving away from the food and baking, I do love the finer things in life, I’m a free spirit with very expensive taste and right now, lemonade money. You see, my husband and I have been saving really hard to buy a house, it’s not easy in Ireland, trust me, it’s hard to live and save a bunch each month. We have forfeited our social life, many luxuries have become once in a blue moon occurrences. I’ve learned to live with it but this blog has been about living with expensive taste-on a very tight budget. It’s about being ‘creative’..I believe in old fashioned things like manners, etiquette, vintage clothing, afternoon tea and being a proper lady. It all fits together nicely and has become The Creative Yoke.