Tea for Everyone

Tea for Everyone
In 1878, Samuel Phillips Day wrote in his book Tea: Its mystery and History, of the working class family: “What was first regarded s a luxury, has now become, of not an absolute necessity, at least one of our accustomed daily wants....Consumed by all classes, serving no simply as an article of diet, but as a refreshing ad invigorating beverage tea cannot be too highly estimated.”

By the time Queen Victoria died in 1901, tea was the drink for the masses in England, Tea’s importance to the lower classes was exemplified by the women in small villages who sometimes banded together to form “tea club”.

The purpose of these clubs was to get together in the afternoon and share tea, gossip, advice and the like.

When the money was scarce they shared responsibilities as well, one woman bringing the tea, another the biscuits or small breads, another bringing the teapot and so forth.

Tea was served in the finest manor houses as well as the humblest cottage. Tea was served after lawn tennis, on picnics after cycling – just about anywhere and everywhere that people gathered.

Afternoon tea during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century included many of the items that we traditionally associated with modern tea gatherings – scones or biscuits, éclairs, small cakes or muffins, small sandwiches, shortbreads, an larger cakes flavored with almond, ginger, or madeira.

How one drink tea soon became as important as when and with what.

Ladies of high fashion thought that a teacup should be held with three fingers, with the pinky extended.

This tradition went back to medieval times, when the gentry ate with three fingers, and commoners ate with five.

An extended pinky finger became a mark of elitism and is still parodied as such today.

One custom that was not adopted by the British was the Chinese was of loudly slurping tea.

The Chinese drank tea very hot, and it was perfectly acceptable (and even encouraged) to make loud slurping noises while drinking.

The Temperance movement in England during the mid-nineteenth century provided a added incentive for drinking.

At meetings throughout the country, tea was served as a replacement for gin or beer and was thought to be much healthier because it did not contain alcohol.
Tea for Everyone