High Tea Anyone? A Birds-eye View with a Bit of History!
I recently shared my first High Tea with friends. Well to be historically correct I must say it could be called a “ High , Low or Afternoon” Tea. I’ll share more on that in a minute..
All of the ladies were so excited about this tea. An opportunity to dress up and wear hats! I don’t know about you but, we Birds don’t wear hats very often. I wear visors and practical hats to protect from the sun but not fancy hats! I knew this would definitely be a challenge for me! Fancy hats and dresses? Hmmm.
Back to the High-Low-Afternoon Tea notion…
Tea drinking in England became popular when Charles the II married a Portuguese gal from a royal family in Portuguese. She loved her tea and brought this with her as a part of her dowry! As a result tea became the official beverage of the court. However, tea was very expensive, highly taxed and thus only aristocracy and the wealthy were able to enjoy it. Over time King Charles II received gifts of tea from China by way of the East India Trading company in effort to gain the King’s favor making tea even more valuable. The gentry and royalty enjoyed their teas!
Fast forward to the 19th century…
we find the upper class enjoying two meals per day; an early morning breakfast and an evening meal around 8:00-9:00 pm. This dinner was very heavy and usually lasted several hours. Around 1840, the Duchess of Bedford the 7th Duchess of Bedford reported feeling a bit low and light headed around mid-afternoon so she began requesting “light” foods and tea be served in her parlor. Typically the meal consisted of bread, biscuits and butter served with tea. Soon the Duchess began inviting a few of her friends to her private room each afternoon. Tea and biscuits would be served on beautifully decorated low tables.
Photo thanks to Pixabay
Thus the afternoon social hour became known as “low” tea. Over time the light food became more elaborate to include light sandwiches, scones serviced with clotted cream and jam.
In steps Queen Victoria…
The Duchess best friend! She shared her idea with Queen Victoria and it soon became a “The” popular and fashionable event for the upper class. Beautiful china, linens and silver were soon included as beautiful accoutrements to the event.
Photo thanks to Pixabay
So, why the term High Tea…
Well, good question. Some say the name High Tea became popular when the concept of this light afternoon meal spread with the working class of England. The working class ran to an entirely different schedule and budget! Tea was quite expensive and not something most could afford. The typical industrial worker would arrive home around 6 pm; starved, weary and ready to eat! Thus the evening meal began, eaten at a high dinner table. High Tea! The meal would consist of bread, cheeses and meats. The tradition of High Tea still exists in some areas of Northern England and Scotland.
How about a glimpse of the Bird’s High Tea Experience
Found a hat...from an old box of Granny Birds Hats so we're good to go!
Hats, Hats and Cupcakes?
And more Hats!
The tables were beautifully decorated…
with sunflowers and pretty napkins!
Of course, the food was truly…
a work of art! Finger sandwiches, Lemon Curd and Macarons! Light as air! Yes, and packed with sugar my friends! Of course while taking pictures, my mind was spinning thinking of ways to create these treats in a healthy way!
I could just imagine…
these afternoon gatherings years ago. Beautiful dresses and hats! What an opportunity for women to gather and share, kind of like the tea parties we had as children.
We all enjoyed ourselves; good food, fun hats and dressing up! If you have a chance to attend a tea party like this I hope you do! What a wonderful treat to step back in time, experience a bit of tradition which still lives on today.
And as always, blessings to you all!
This is absolutely fascinating! High tea was a big part of my life when I was a small child, but I had no idea of its history. My maternal grandmother, who was from Yorkshire, used to prepare high tea regularly. The tea was served on very nice China plates, but there was no dressing up.
The food was usually slices of bread, lightly buttered and cut in half diagonally, with sliced meats, cheese and a salad of lettuce leaves, sliced cucumber and tomato and sliced hard boiled egg. And there was always a bottle of salad cream on the table! There were also cakes and scones.
I was a very picky eater, due to having had a serious childhood illness, and I really wasn't a fan of this meal. I hated cream cakes, I hated scones and I wasn't keen on ice cream. The only things I remember liking were the Angel Cakes, which had "wings" set in a dollop of buttercream. In general, I loved my grandmother's cooking, but I wasn't keen on "high tea".
I am so different these days! The days of my dainty, picky appetite are long gone! Your high tea looks absolutely delicious, and I LOVE those hats and fascinators! What a lovely idea.
This was fabulous!! When my girls were very little, we started the tradition of High Tea, although we only did it on Wednesday. We went to the thrift shops and bought hats and gowns and we had a full dress up high tea every Wednesday.
OMG.
We had such fun. Glad you got to do it!!!!
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Oh my goodness, that sounds so fun @dswigle. Although now that you mention it, my youngest daughter loooooved to look lovely like this. We bought a beautiful gown for her when she was young which she wore until it was so tattered I had to toss it. We had a tea party for her birthday in which all of the girls had to dress up, wearing hats and bring their favorite doll. I had heard about the High Tea but didn't know the history nor did I ever think about attending one. My friend loves them and attends them all over the country. She organized this and was so thrilled so many could attend. You would have loved the little tea sandwiches and tarts. It was quite a fun experience. I'm sure your daughters loved your Wednesday teas, dressing up and sharing goodies. (Did you dress up with them?) Love the memories don't we? Makes me smile to think about those days, perhaps we'll do it again with grand children!
I DID dress up! It would not have been quite as fun if it wasn't so! My mother came for a visit and she joined in too. It was sort of a lovely family thing. I can remember the girls and I would take great joy in finding old fashioned jewelry and hats and dresses too at the Church second hand shops, they seemed to have the best collections!
On my daughters 10th birthday, she had a birthday party (yours reminded me of that!) and all the girls came dressed up. It was so fun!! Then right after tea, a horse-drawn carriage came up to the house and took them all for a long ride.
Best Birthday EVER!
Thank you for reminding me of my own memories! How sweet they are!
A horse drawn carriage!!!! Wow, she'll remember that forever, what an amazing mom you are. Love it that grandmother joined in as well. These are wonderful memories I'm sure your girls cherish :) Beautiful @dswigle!!!
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Oh my Gawd… I LOVE THIS!!! I don’t know if you’ve shared a non recipe blog post before but this was perfect and so interesting. I had no idea the origin of tea, the difference between high tea and low tea, the importance of hats and that aristocrats were the primary tea drinkers. I really read this post totally captivated. You did fantastic with it. Plus, check out all of those cool hats. Your tea party looks like so much fun. Looking at your spread I’m just imaging what other goodies would go well with tea. You are so cute… did I already say I LOVE THIS?? Thank you for sharing with us @birdsinparadise. I know I used to get a smidgen nervous sharing something other than a recipe with people. I don’t know if you’re in the same boat but you shouldn’t be. This was brilliant (in my best British accent). :)
lol, you really make me smile @puravidaville. I have written blogs which weren't about cooking but I figure my life is pretty boring and I'm not too much into self reflection. I just like to have fun with all of this. This was a real stretch for me...I'm more the tennis shoes and shorts type, hiker, beach type. You are so kind, glad you like this. I wanted to share the background with the pics that way it didn't seem so superficial ;) The sugar...oh my, it was over the top....I ate one of t he lemon curds and my teeth chattered like a talking bird! woosh, I really can't imagine eating like that. The tea sandwiches were tasty, tuna salad, cucumber sandwiches, yum! A fun experience for sure! Thank you, thank you, your sweet comments mean alot! (ps how are those juices coming along?) Watching for more beach pictures lmy friend!
It shows that you’ve done this before :). I hear ya! I’m so, if I need anything more than my bathing suit, shorts, tanks, flops, etc, than I’m out. Haha… although once in awhile dressing up is nice (like for weddings). I don’t know how I used to wear high heels all the time… I wear them when I get dressed up, which is rare, and my feet are dying. I suppose that feeling will only get worse as time goes on.
I haven’t juiced for awhile… 🥶. We’ve been so busy beaching around that I’ve kind of put my juicer away and busted out this omelette maniac in me. I’ll get back to it. Cucumber sandwiches sound lovely. Have you ever had cinnamon tea? I just discovered it here and don’t know how I ever lived without it.
What a glorious post and high tea @birdsinparadise, looks like a right royal treat! Very well done!
Thank you! I've wanted to share this for a while but didn't have time to do any research on the subject. It was fun to read about the history, I could just imagine the dresses and hats! Felt kind of royal..certainly not the kind of event I would normally attend! Those desserts.....soooooooo sweet, but wonderfully made :)
Thanks for combining your personal experience with historical data. It was a fun read. Hats are not my thing either, especially fancy ones.
Thanks @sumatranate, it was a stretch for me to don the hat but It was fun. The history adds a little more meaning to the venue I think. Not sure many of the gals would have known the background. Glad you enjoyed, good to see you:)
I don’t see any pinky’s @birdsinparadise, where are they?! How can you enjoy a “Spot ‘0 tea” without any lovely pinky’s unwilling to grab the teacup handle?
You got some explaining to do young lady. 😉 Great article. 👍🏿
lol, well my friend, this is an older flock of birds...pinkies are a bit shaky. They've got to keep them solidly on the tea cups or look out! Good call, I didn't see one raised pinky the whole time....what kind of High tea was this, a bunch of imposters , hmmm Here I was flashing my camera all around at the food and hats! Missed the important stuff! @dadndays, you guys would have had a blast, @puravidaville in a fancy hat, tea sandwich in hand! Thanks for stopping by, enjoy paradise!
Dadndays, is that short for dadindays?! The hell I am! Oh dang! Ain’t even 7am yet and I already got to laugh out loud.
.....it’s gonna be a great day.
OMG.... a typo or perhaps?????? Have a wonderful day in paradise!!! :) Glad you got a n early morning chuckle! lol
I love everything, especially the hats!
Thank you @lymepoet, it was a fun experience. Although when it was over I couldn't wait to get back into my shorts and tennis shoes, lol! The hat was truly a stretch! ;)
wow, fantastic!
Thank you @proanima, glad you enjoyed the post!
😊