Low Tea of High Tea?
Have you ever heard the term “high tea”? In modern times, particularly outside the UK, high tea, or “afternoon tea” is thought of as an extravagant afternoon affair that includes elegant sandwiches and cakes, and of course, tea.
Tea became popular in England in the fifteenth century when King Charles II married Catherine Braganza of Portugal in 1662. Tea drinking was already quite popular in Portugal because of the country’s possessions in Asia, and their trade with Japan and China. Catherine brought a substantial dowry to the marriage which included many large chests filled with tea. As a result, the consumption of tea at the royal household quickly became popular, which in turn became popular with the British commoners.
In those early days of tea-drinking in England, high tea was strictly relegated to the lower classes. Since the working class toiled into the late afternoon, high tea was served around five or six o’clock. It was more often a substantial meal that usually included meats, breads, cheeses, and common dishes like steak and kidney pie, and the proverbial tea.. This meal was also considered supper, and was served on the main dining table–or “high table,” giving birth to the term, high tea.
Low tea for the upper classes was served in the parlor or sitting room on small, low tables, and the menu included much lighter fare than was served at high tea. Low tea was also taken earlier in the afternoon typically around four o’clock. Low tea, or afternoon tea, became popularized by the Duchess of Bedford in the nineteenth century. Hypoglycemia may have been the reason, because the Duchess complained of a “sinking feeling” in the afternoon between lunch and dinner. Thus she began serving low tea which included lighter servings of cakes and sandwiches. When she started inviting her friends, the idea of the afternoon tea party caught on.
Around the 1950s, high tea took on new meaning, especially in the United States and other countries outside Great Britain. The term, high tea, began to connote elegance and no longer referred to the old definition of a meal of the working class British. The accepted time for the new high tea is generally at 4:00 pm. It’s usually done as a dressy affair with the use of one’s fine china and linens, and a nicely decorated table.