Tea v. Tea v. High Tea v. Afternoon Tea

Tea (the meal): Some people in England, mostly in the North of the country it seems, refer to their evening meal as 'tea' and tend to eat it earlier than those of us who eat dinner (or supper or whatever you want to call it). I don't get it and will probably say something insulting about it, so I'll stop there. 

Tea (the drink):  I've shared my feeling for this drink here and we all know I don't like it, don't drink it, and certainly dont put milk in it (ew!) so if anyone else wants to write a guest post about why the tea is great or what kind of tea is best, do let me know.  We'll revisit tea (the drink) then...

High Tea: Here's where the confusion begins... When most non-British people think of high tea, they probably imagine a gathering of fancy victorian people drinking out of their best china tea cups eating dainty sandwiches. Maybe you're picturing something like this...

Get that image out of your head!  High tea is actually mostly the same as tea (the meal) listed above - a substantial early evening meal sometimes followed by a later lighter meal.  The word high refers to the height of the table, distinguising it from low tea or afternoon tea (see below) which is often served in a sitting room at a lower table such as a coffee table.

Afternoon Tea:  Not exactly as pictured above, but similar. Afternoon Tea is generally held around 3- 4pm and includes the stereotypical finger sandwiches, scones and pastries served on those fancy tiered cake stands.  Rumour has it that back in the day, (mid 1800s) the Duchess of Bedford started having a tray of tea with bread and butter served to her in the afternoon to stave of hunger until the tradtional dinner time of 8 or 9pm.  The hungry Duchess then began to invite her other high-society friends to join her and soon  Afternoon Tea became the 'in-thing' for the upper-class women (and was served in a sitting room on a low table, like a coffee table, setting it apart from high tea. Get it now?)

In modern times, Afternoon Tea is generally served at hotels, restaurants or tea rooms rather than in someone home and is really not as pretentious as it sounds (or maybe I am just more pretentious than I think...).  You don't have to dress in victorian garb, you dont have a fake a plummy accent, you don't have to hold your tea cup with your pinkie out and you don't even need to drink tea (I drink coffee when I do afternoon tea). 

My advice? Skip the drink and the meals and get thee to Afternoon Tea.  Excellent places include The Ritz London, Pennyhill Park Hotel, and The Langham (the winner of Tea Guild's ‘Top London Afternoon Tea' award in 2010).