Fancy A Cuppa?

Last week, I wrote about coffee and its influence on London.

Today I’m writing about the nation’s favourite drink - tea. The U.K. can drink tea and lots of it, too. Cinderella loves a cup of tea, especially an English Breakfast. Don’t get me wrong, I like coffee too, but I’m a daily tea drinker.

Tea In London

Just as coffee became popular in the 1650s, tea also began to gain popularity around the same time, in the same alley where coffee was first introduced by Pasqua Rose in St Michael’s Alley.

Did you know…

1. Tea was seen as a novel drink and often referred to as ‘China Drink’. Thomas Garway’s coffee house was the first to serve this novel drink. Samuel Pepys, the diarist, recorded his first cup in 1660.

2. Tea became widely popular across the rest of the country after Queen Catherine of Braganza (the Portuguese wife of King Charles II) introduced it to her court in London.

3. Who doesn’t love Afternoon Tea? In fact, we Londoners love it so much that we’re prepared to splash out £50 - £150 for it. This brings tens of millions of pounds into the London economy each year. Afternoon tea became popular thanks to Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford. She wanted tea, bread, butter, and cake in the late afternoon. Before long, Afternoon tea became popular with the upper classes (see below for Afternoon Tea)

4. London even had its own Tea Auction House, dating back to 1706 until 1998. It was considered one of the world’s most important tea auction places.

5. Londoners drink between 12 and 14 million cups of tea a day. The country drinks 100 million cups a day. I’m not sure who was counting, though 🤣. Thats an average of 1.5 cups of tea for each adult in the country. That definitely sounds about right.

Afternoon Tea

Apparently, 50% of Londoners attend afternoon tea at least once a month. No idea where they’re going, but Cinderella definitely doesn’t go every month, otherwise she’d be bankrupt.

Either these people go with the cheaper options, or they know something I don’t. Either way, Afternoon Teas can be expensive. Well, certainly the ones that Cinderella has been to.

Afternoon Tea outside involves dressing up, be it for a special occasion or a treat and going to a hotel that serves Afternoon Tea. On the menu will be finger sandwiches, sweet pastries, cakes, and, of course, the scones. It is very easy to while away a couple of hours in good company and good food.

Cinderella loved Afternoon Tea until her last experience at the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge. It was lovely, but a bit too sweet on this particular occasion. It was a themed Afternoon Tea to tie in with London Fashion Week.

Normally, Afternoon Tea isn’t supposed to be sweet. I’ve been to many Afternoon Teas, and my favourite ones were at Fortnum and Masons (The King’s Supermarket in Piccadilly), The Waldorf in Aldwych and Acqua at the Shard. The one at the Shangri-La was also very pleasant. Methinks, it’s high time to rectify the situation.

If you are interested in it, I would recommend the following: 

❇️Waldorf Aldwych 

❇️Fortnum And Mason 

❇️Four Seasons Tower Hill

❇️Grosvenor House, Park Lane

❇️Berkeley Hotel Knightsbridge 

❇️Dorchester, Park Lane 

❇️British Museum 

❇️Shangri-La at The Shard

❇️Langham, Portland Place

DIY Experience

Who says Afternoon Tea has to be taken outside in a fancy establishment? Cinderella loves creating her own Afternoon Tea at home too. I went to Harrods and picked up a whole load of treats, bread and scones and created my own. It came to £50 for two people. It was a very pleasant experience too, especially drinking tea in a fine China teacup and saucer.

Jam or Cream First

There’s always a debate in the Kingdom as to what goes first on the scone - Jam or Cream. Cinderella prefers Jam first and then cream. The correct etiquette, depending on which method you choose to adopt, is the following:

Devon Method - cream goes first

Cornish Method - Jam goes first 💪

Even Queen Elizabeth II preferred jam first. Yay. If it was good enough for Maj, then it’s definitely good enough for Cinderella.

Facts

✅Afternoon Tea is traditionally served between 2 pm and 5 pm, whereas High Tea is served between 5 pm and 7 pm. 

✅Scones were not included in afternoon tea until the early 1900s.

✅Boodles jewellers created the most expensive tea bag in the world to celebrate PG Tips's 75th anniversary. The diamond-encrusted bag was valued at £7,500.

Parting Comments

Tea is a big deal in the U.K., and it’s a drink that brings people together informally. Most of us even take tea bags when we travel abroad because we can’t get a decent cup of tea that feels like home in some countries 😅.

Coffee, on the other hand, is wonderful too, but in my world, I would never ask someone in the business world to come for a cup of tea. Yet, I’d happily ask them if they’d like to have coffee.

It’s also a personal preference whether you pour milk into your tea cup first or after you pour your tea. For Cinderella, the tea goes first, then the milk.

Customs and habits aside, I hope you get to enjoy a cup of tea soon.

Thank you for your attention.

Best Wishes

Tabby