A proper tea? Please explain?

Question

I see a question about what to cook for tea. Answers coming back are all about food that I'd serve for lunch in the US.

I thought that tea would include things like scones or quick breads or other little sweets. Or, maybe even cucumber sandwiches. These are all I've ever heard about.

In the US, we have only breakfast, lunch and dinner. Maybe a snack in the evening.

Is the English tea a lunch period? Are 4 meals per day served there? Or do you call the middle of the day meal "tea"?

Please be kind enough to explain. I am confused.

How interesting!

Our here, it's breakfast, lunch and dinner. But sometimes dinner is called supper. Dinner or supper, it's still served 5:30 - 6:30 or so.

Food before bedtime is called a snack.

Funny how details change, huh?

Answer 1

It is confusing. We have breakfast, dinner, tea if you are working class. Supper is an extra meal before going to bed.

Middle class people call the meals breakfast, lunch, and dinner (sometimes called supper, if you eat late). It is taken by snobbish people as a definer of class if you call lunch dinner, or dinner (evening meal) tea.

What you are thinking of as tea is the so-called high tea served in the nursery or to adults to fill in the long wait between the mid day meal and the evening meal. This had things like cakes or crumpets etc. as you describe, although these things can be had with the drink tea at any time.

Hope this clears things up

Answer 2

You are thinking of afternoon tea in the UK which is served about 4 pm with a pot of tea and some cakes and light sandwiches. Most hotels in London serve afternoon tea. Also, some people at home still practice this- I do . It is also a good time to have guests over. Now many people don't have time though as working days are long.

The British meals of the day:

Breakfast - between 7:00 and 9:00,

Dinner (The main meal) - between 12:00 and 1:30 p.m.

Tea - 6:30 p.m- 9pm

Dinner is sometimes called lunch. But most people now have main meals in the evening owing to working hours.

On Sundays, traditional meals are serve for lunch which will usually consist of a roast, veggies and gravy.

Answer 3

It would appear that even us Brits can't agree on this one.

In most parts of the UK we have the same as you - breakfast, lunch and dinner.

However, some people refer to the three meals as breakfast, dinner and tea. And just to add to the confusion we also have something called high tea (a late afternoon light meal usually small sandwiches, cakes and tea) and another meal called supper, which used to be a light snack before bed but has recently become another term for dinner (the last meal of the day). No wonder you're confused! We could eat all day every day if we chose to!

Answer 4

Tea is generally served after lunch and before dinner. Traditional tea fare consists of finger foods, such as small sandwiches with butter and radishes, cream cheese and olive, or a slice of ham and something else, as well as small cakes and confectionaries. I believe that it's sort of the "afternoon snack break" for the English and is not meant to replace a full meal. But I also believe that the timetables in which breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served are different than in the US. It's my understanding that dinner in Europe might not be served until well after 8 or 9 pm. Anyway, if you're wanting to have a tea, by all means do so, and have all your favorite treats!

Answer 5

Yes ... Cyn's links should probably tell you that your tea set is NOT going to be suitable for a tea ceremony!! Japanese tea sets usually consist of a little teapot, and usually 5 little cups. As you can see though, the tea ceremony involves a cauldron / kettle type thing! You also need to use powder to make the tea, which ends up a bit like swamp water...! It's a lot more expensive than 'normal' Japanese green tea! I'd recommend - unless you really HAVE got the tea set with the kettle etc., - that you concentrate on the ordinary tea that Japanese people drink every day! It's not a powder, although it does have powdery bits in it, and you just put some in the basket inside your teapot, add water that's off the boil, leave it for a couple of minutes, then pour it! You can still be a bit ceremonial if you want, but it's a lot more practical! (It tastes nice too!)

Answer 6

In England, people from different regions and backgrounds use different terms for the different meal times. Breakfast is always breakfast, but after that it gets complicated. The afternoon meal is called lunch or dinner. The evening meal is refered to as tea, dinner, or supper. Tea can also refer to an afternoon snack, which is what you are thinking of. It's complicated but it's always been that way!

Answer 7

English tea-now sadly an outdated custom-is taken between 4 and 5p.m.
As well as drinking tea itself,this is accompanied by sandwiches and cakes or scones as you describe.
Just to confuse you more there is also a practice called 'High Tea" and which was prevalent in Scotland where an early cooked dinner (up until around 7 p.m.) was immediately followed by the tea I have just described.
Nowadays we tend to have breakfast,lunch and dinner-all of them rushed as I'm sure yours are too

Answer 8

Tea, as you describe it, is not often taken here anymore. But when it is it's usually mid to late afternoon. Actually you've described 'high tea' a bit more posh! Don't forget to get the best china out, cups and saucers for the tea, which should be made from tea leaves, not teabags! Sugar lumps in a bowl, with siver tongs. A milk jug on the table, a tea strainer with its little dish to rest it in after use, a selection of little sandwiches, cucumber, no rind and no crusts!! all should be bite sized. Pinwheel sandwiches, maybe cream cheese, or pate. Cheese straws, fondant fancies and of course fresh, home made scones with jam and clotted cream.
Enjoy

Answer 9

"Tea" is the evening meal traditionally eaten before 6pm.

Appears to stem from a time when folk would come home to have their "tea" and have a mug (or "pot") of tea to wash it down with. Most common example is egg and chips with tea, as, perhaps, served to a miner by his wife upon his return from a hard day's graft "doon" the mine.

It also very much depends on the part of the UK you are talking about- the further North and the more "traditional" the terminology. My MIL is VERY Mining Community and ONLY EVER refers to Sunday Dinner (the lunctime meal on a Sunday), tea and even Luncheon (where luncheon meat derives its name from). EEEEK! It is a minefield.

:-)

What you are referring to as "tea" is our "high tea" or "afternoon tea". Also served with tea.

ROFL

So- breakfast, dinner (or lunch in parts), high/afternoon tea, tea (I call it "dinner" as you do, and have mine at 7pm), supper.

And a PROPER tea is actually either an Assam blend or a good Ceylon. PG Tips is not "proper" tea. LOL! And yesh (drools) a nice scone with strawberry jam and fresh clotted cream... And a wee cucumber sandwich with the crusts cut off.

Answer 10

In some parts of the UK, your Tea is your evening meal (other areas refer to this as dinner - whereas I have my dinner at what other people call lunch time - around 12 noon).

Afternoon Tea is served around 4pm and usually consists of sandwiches, biscuits possibly cakes and, naturally, a cup of tea.