Groups are never very large, and may only consist of three or four people. First guests are shown into a waiting room, where they elect a leader or principal guest, reflecting the strict hierarchy of traditional Japanese society. They then go through to a garden, where they wash their hands before entering the tea room. This is reached via a door no more than 3ft high, its low height meaning everybody has to stoop as they pass through, to emphasise that everyone is equal in the presence of tea.

A fire for heating the water is lit, and a meal served, consisting of sashimi (raw fish), miso (fermented soy bean) soup, grilled items, fish and meat, and rice, accompanied by sake (rice wine). The guests then retire to an ante-room while the tea paraphernalia are prepared, and are eventually summoned back into the tea room – by a gong during the day and a bell in the evening. The tea is made by the tea master, according to a very precise order of events, and when ready is passed around to be sipped and passed on by each guest. A polite discussion follows.

After the main tea has been taken, a thinner tea is made. Each guest is served a cup, along with dry sweets. At the end, of the ceremony guests express their appreciation to the tea master, who comes to the door to bid them farewell.

“The drinking of black tea in the English style is also gaining popularity [in Japan]. Devotees of Western style can study the English tea ceremony at modern tea classes – including how to make English tea time cakes and biscuits.”
From www.twinings.com

Everything stops for tea

Anna, 7th Duchess of Bedford (1783-1857) is credited with introducing afternoon tea to England in around 1830. Growing bored and hungry during the long interval between lunch and dinner, she asked her servants to bring her bread and butter in her room, where she would also brew tea. Soon she regularly began inviting friends over to her boudoir, the Blue Drawing Room, at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, at 5pm to share it with her.

The habit was also happening in France, as it crops up in the work of Madame de Sévigné (1626-1696), who writes of having enjoyed such an occasion at a friend’s house at five in the afternoon. The practice was soon imitated by the middle classes because it was a relatively inexpensive spread to offer to guests.

“In nothing more is the English genius for domesticity more notably declared than in the institution of this festival – almost one may call it – of afternoon tea... The mere chink of cups and saucers tunes the mind to happy repose.” George Gissing (The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft)

The original English teacup looked much like its Chinese predecessor, being small, made of very thin china and having no handles. Tea was made and served by the lady of the house because it was originally too expensive and precious for servants to be trusted with. It was kept in a locked caddy, to which only the mistress of the house had the key.

Tea gardens and tipping

People also enjoyed taking tea in the tea gardens of the 18th century, which offered popular and light classical music and entertainments in a genteel setting of walkways and flowerbeds. They were also where the tea dance originated, although poorer people were not allowed into these. The Lyon’s Corner House, which began in London but eventually spread throughout the country, was a more democratic atmosphere, and somewhere where women could meet each other in the absence of male company.

It was in the tea gardens that the practice of tipping waiters originated. Each table had a little wooden box marked “T.I.P.S.” – standing for “To Insure Prompt Service”. Customers dropped a coin into the slot as they were seated, and were duly served quickly. This was as much to ensure that the tea arrived hot from the kitchen (which might be some distance away) as for those in a hurry.

Tea dancing was taken over from the tea gardens by the hotels in the Edwardian era, prior to the first world war. These events were an opportunity for young working women to meet men, although not everyone approved: “Indeed, the editor of Vogue [in New York] once fired a large number of female secretarial workers for ‘wasting their time at tea dances’.” (from www.stashtea.com). The tea dance didn’t survive second world war rationing.

Making a meal of it

High tea is a product of the Industrial Revolution. Prior to that, the English ate two main meals in the day, breakfast and dinner. Once long hours working in factories and mills became the norm, a meal that could be eaten as soon as the worker got home was essential. This became the working person’s main evening meal.

In middle-class homes, it was called “high tea” because it was eaten at the dining table, rather than the low tables used for serving afternoon tea. Meats, fish, eggs, cheeses and cake were now added. It has nothing to do with afternoon tea, which might continue until around 7pm, and be followed by a full dinner later in the evening.

Historians in Tavistock, Devon, have unearthed a manuscript dating from AD997 which shows that monks of the local Benedictine abbey rewarded local workers with bread, cream and a strawberry preserve for helping them to repair the damage caused by a Viking raid. The meal became so popular they began offering it regularly to passing travellers. Could this have been the first West Country cream tea?