Afternoon tea refers to a way of drinking tea while eating cakes, which originated in Britain.

The habit of drinking tea in Britain began in 1661. At that time, a Portuguese princess married King charles ii of England, and the princess brought the Portuguese tea drinking habit to England.

In the 17th century, breakfast was plentiful and lunch was simple in British upper class, but social dinner didn't start until around 8 pm, so people used to have some snacks and a cup of tea around 4 pm.

One of them, a countess named Annamaria, knows how to enjoy life. Every afternoon, she sends a maid to prepare a pot of black tea and snacks for her. She thinks this feeling is really good, so she invites her friends to enjoy it. Soon, afternoon tea became popular in British upper class.

Basic etiquette of English Victorian afternoon tea:

(1) The most orthodox time for afternoon tea is four o'clock in the afternoon (commonly known as Low Tea).

(2) In Victorian times, men wore tuxedos and women wore robes. Every year at the formal afternoon tea party in Buckingham Palace, male guests still wear tuxedos, high hats and umbrellas. Women wear daytime dresses and must wear hats.

(3) Usually, the hostess wears formal clothes to serve the guests herself. I have to ask the maid for help to show my respect for the guests.

Generally speaking, the special teas for afternoon tea include Qimen black tea in China, Darjeeling black tea in India, Sri Lankan black tea, gunpowder green tea and traditional pure taste tea. If you drink milk tea, you should add milk first and then tea.

In the early days, their afternoon tea was mainly Qimen black tea from China, because it was a long way and expensive for China to transport tea to Europe. Later, they slowly planted black tea in India and Sri Lanka, and began to import black tea from India and Sri Lanka. However, China black tea, as the far east, is still their favorite.

(4) The snacks of orthodox English afternoon tea are served in three-layer porcelain plates, with sandwiches on the first floor, Scone, a traditional English snack, and cakes and fruit towers on the third floor; Eat from the bottom up. As for Scone's eating method, it is to apply jam first, then cream, eat one bite and then apply the next bite.