When you hear the term "afternoon tea" or "high tea", what do you picture?
Do you picture upper class women in elegant Victorian style dresses sitting at a small white round table in a classy gazebo, while a servant pours each of them a cup of tea while another serves them scones and muffins as they socialize?
Or maybe you picture a man coming home from a hard days work, his muscles aching, and sitting down to a nice hardy meal accompanied with a cup of hot tea as the day's sun sets.
If you came close to envisioning either event, you have correctly guessed either afternoon or high tea. But do you know which is which?
Ok, enough questions, even though many folks confuse the two as the same thing.
The first one described above with the Victorian women is known as afternoon tea, (or low tea). It is believed to have started in the mid 1800's by the Duchess of Bedford. She found herself hungry in the late afternoon hours, and since lunch in those times was traditionally served at around 12 o'clock, and dinner much later at around 8 o'clock, she was in need of an afternoon snack.
She found that this suited her, and continued to keep it as a regular occurrence. The Duchess also invited some of her upper class friends, and it wasn't until long that afternoon tea became a common event where many folks gathered for a friendly cup of brew.
High tea is served a little later in the day, usually along with supper, and is a belated replacement for the traditional afternoon treat.
Countries like England, Ireland, and Scotland all have their versions of high tea, but what they share is that instead of small filler snacks like scones, muffins, and pastries, a more complete meal is consumed with the tea.
I guess a simple way to put it is having tea with supper. Another name for high tea is also known as "meat tea".
