Tea (meal)

Tea is a broad term for several meals that often include the beverage tea alongside food. The 19th-century English writer Isabella Beeton, known for her widely read home economics books, categorized these meals and offered menus for variations like the "old-fashioned tea," "at-home tea," "family tea," and "high tea." The meal is typically eaten during teatime, which falls between mid-afternoon and early evening.

Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa

It is most commonly linked to the United Kingdom and certain Commonwealth nations. In Britain and Australasia, some people use "tea" to refer to their main evening meal instead of "dinner" or "supper," though this usage varies by social class. "Tea" can also mean a light meal or snack. A "tea break" describes a work pause in the morning or afternoon for a cup of tea or another drink.

The core components of "afternoon tea" as a meal are the drink itself and baked goods like cakes, scones, bread and jam, and sometimes sandwiches. These form the basis of the "traditional afternoon tea" served by upscale London hotels, though other foods and drinks may be offered at home.

Early history

The custom of drinking tea in the afternoon may date back to the late 17th century, but tea as a full meal emerged later, in the late 18th or early 19th centuries. An early French mention of "afternoon tea" comes from Madame de Sévigné (1626–1696), who wrote of "five o’clock tea" in her letters. William H. Ukers notes that Alexander Carlyle used the term "afternoon tea" in his autobiography, describing ladies in Harrogate serving it in 1763. The Oxford English Dictionary cites earlier references to tea as a social event, including Jonathan Swift's 1738 satirical guide, which mentions gatherings "at Meals, Tea, or Visits," as well as quotes from John Wesley and Harriet Martineau.

The timing of the tea meal has shifted over centuries as the main meal, dinner, moved later. Until the late 18th century, dinner was eaten at what is now lunchtime or early afternoon, with supper as a lighter, later meal. Dinner remains a midday meal in some areas. Gradually, amid much debate, dinner migrated to its present evening timing by about 1900.

Initially, the tea meal was often in the early evening, three or four hours after midday dinner, while another version occurred even later, after supper and before bed. In the 1850s, philosopher Thomas Carlyle and his wife Jane Welsh Carlyle hosted teas at 7 pm, though "afternoon tea" before dinner was also becoming common by then. In 1804, French writer Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière wrote about afternoon tea in Switzerland.

Popularisation

Anna Russell, the Duchess of Bedford, is often credited with creating the afternoon tea meal. According to the story, in the 1830s or 1840s, she asked for tea and snacks to be brought to her room between the midday and evening meals. At that time, the aristocracy typically dined no earlier than 7:30 or 8:00 pm.

The duchess, feeling hungry during the long wait, supposedly invented afternoon tea to bridge the gap, later turning it into a social event. Her role is debated. Julia Skinner notes two theories: one holds that afternoon tea existed before her birth, as meal timings were already shifting; the other argues she formalized an informal custom, establishing etiquette, menus, and rituals. As Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, she was socially influential and a trendsetter.

Afternoon tea first spread among the aristocracy, then to others who emulated it, reaching the middle class by the 1860s–1870s. While afternoon tea, or "low tea," became popular among upper and middle classes, the working class developed "high tea," a heartier meal eaten at a similar time, arising from changes in work habits. By the late 19th century, tea as a meal—whether afternoon or high tea—was established across all social classes. It became ubiquitous, as shown in the fictionalized memoir Lark Rise to Candleford (1945), where a cottager prepares a "visitor's tea" with best tea things, lettuce, thin bread and butter, and crisp cakes.

Afternoon tea receptions were considered the "least formal, most friendly and enjoyable of all entertainments given at home." According to the etiquette guide The Habits of Good Society, their "chief charm" was that a tea party could be arranged in two or three days. Helen Simpson notes that conversation was deliberately limited to mundane small talk, a practice satirized by English author Saki in his short story Tea. Guests were not expected to stay long—half an hour of pleasant conversation was sufficient. If a guest wished to speak with the hostess or the honored guest, they would approach at an appropriate moment but were not to detain them.