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Carson Lee

Little High Little Low


Tea has a rather peculiar drinking culture considering the history it contains through the ages of wars and trading. It is this very fact that some proclaim it adds to the already fragrant beverage, the floral essence and rich aroma. One who has merely skimmed the top of the deep and vast culture can already recite enough information to impress a crowd. Though personally I have no party tricks of the sort, I have come across a little known fact on afternoon tea during an investigation on traditional British culinary culture for an assessment.

I believe I can safely assume that British tea drinking culture is perhaps known internationally for its “hardcore fanatics”. The said drinking culture can be seen practised for all meals afternoon. It can be broken down into three main categories, these are as follows: afternoon tea, high tea, and low tea. Afternoon tea, also called cream tea, consists of butter scones ready to be smothered by jam and clotted cream with a steaming pot of tea, this is usually a small bite after lunch at around 2pm. But here is where it gets interesting, high tea isn’t the afternoon treat we were taught through capitalism. Instead, the high tea we know is in fact: low tea. The reasoning written in A Social History of Tea by Richardson, talks of a long afternoon in the 1800s and the duchess of Bedford, Anna Maria Russell feeling rather peckish, so the duchess ordered some tea and snacks to be brought to the room. Thus the culture of an afternoon tea break was born, this ritual was usually done at around 4pm with a few ladies in low armchairs around a tea table within a Victorian study, hence the name low tea. On the contrary, high tea is for workers, who after extensive hard labour, to have a break with an entire thermos of rich tea and perhaps a hot water crust pork pie served cold on a high table. Simply because the wording of “high” leads people to believe that the said topic is related to the upper class, hotels around the world coined afternoon (low) tea as “high tea” to entice people into thinking it is more posh. So the next time you get invited for some “high tea” with a few friends for an expensive afternoon treat, maybe question them “is it going to be in a factory and is the overall dress code compulsory?” just for fun and impress them a little.

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