Inquiring readers, I once enjoyed afternoon tea in Fortnum and Mason’s in London. It was an exquisite, elaborate, and unforgettable experience. It was so elegant that I thought of it as high tea, but its presentation and intent had nothing in common with high tea in Jane Austen’s day, or in our present time. This post is meant to complement Rachel Dodge’s excellent post entitled “Jane Austen’s Regency Women: A Day in the Life , Part 1.”
Afternoon tea:
The tradition of tea in the afternoon as we understand it began in 1840 with the Duchess of Bedford (1783-1857). She requested light food with tea and a few refreshments in mid-afternoon to stave off hunger pangs before dinner, which was served at 8 p.m. The Duchess soon began to invite friends to her rooms to join her in taking tea, and so a tradition began. This custom, which we celebrate to this day, began years after Jane Austen’s death in 1817.
High tea:
High tea was generally known as dinner or supper by the working classes.
“For workers in the newly industrialized Britain, tea time had to wait until after work. By that hour, tea was generally served with heartier dishes which were substantially more than just tea and cakes. Workers needed sustenance after a day of hard labor, so the after-work meal was more often hot and filling and accompanied by a pot of good, strong tea to revive flagging spirits.”- Lemm
It seems that the term ‘high tea’ had more in common with furniture than a lofty service.
“Today, the evening meal in working-class households is still often called “tea” but as working patterns have changed yet again, many households now refer to the evening meal as supper. The addition of the word “high” to the phrase “high tea” is believed to differentiate between the afternoon tea that is traditionally served on low, comfortable parlor chairs or relaxing in the garden and the worker’s after-work high tea that is served at the table and seated on high back dining chairs.” – Lemm
Afternoon tea was therefor served on comfortable chairs in a drawing room or lady’s sitting room, or as a refreshment in the garden.
“Afternoon tea, also known as “low tea,” is the most often taken a a low table, like a coffee table in the sitting room before a warm fire. (Of course, it can also be served at a dining table.) High tea gets its name from its tendency to be served at a high table, like a dining table or high counter at the end of the workday.” – Brown
Breakfast:
Jane Austen was in charge of her family’s tea and sugar stores. She made her family’s breakfast at 9 a.m. The simple repast consisted of toast, rolls, or muffins and butter. Jane toasted the bread over a fire using a long handled fork or a metal rack that held the bread in place.
“The typical ‘tea and toast’ breakfast that Jane Austen enjoyed was a relatively new invention. Traditionally, British breakfasts had consisted of hearty fare that often included beef and ale.” – Wilson, p. 21
Evening tea:
Tea was also served one or two hours after dinner. The time was variable, because people during the Regency era ate dinner at different times. Some ate early in the afternoon, as Jane Austen’s parents did when they were younger; some at 3 p.m., like the Bennets in Pride and Prejudice; the Bingleys dined at the more fashionable hour of 6 p.m.; and the Duchess of Bedford, a trendsetter, dined at 8 p.m. Kim Wilson quotes Captain Harry Smith in 1814 as saying, “I breakfast at eight, dine at three, have tea in the evening…” People who did not follow the latest fashion in dining kept the earlier dinner hours they and their families had always adhered to.
“Confusing the issue further is that people of the time referred to all hours before dinner as ‘morning’, and the period between dinner and teas as ‘afternoon’, even if it fell in what we now call the evening. To them, ‘evening’ started after tea.” – Wilson, p. 91
In the evening after dinner, the assembled guests returned to the drawing-room. Tea was made by the ladies of the house to prevent servants from taking portions of this expensive commodity for their own use. After tea, “…when the tea-things were removed, and the card-tables placed” (Pride and Prejudice) the diners would play games, such as riddles or charades, or read to each other and partake of other pleasures. In Hartfield, “Mr. and Mrs. Weston and Mr. Elton sat down with Mr. Woodhouse to cards.”- (Emma)
Tea was also provided at balls, when suppers were served at midnight, in private alcoves in pleasure gardens, on visits when “Mr. Woodhouse was soon ready for his tea; and when he had drank his tea he was quite ready to go home” (Emma), and at musicales —”The first act was over. Now she hoped for some beneficial change; and, after a period of nothing-saying amongst the party, some of them did decide on going in quest of tea” (Persuasion).
A lady at a public assembly ball was dependent on a gentleman to escort her to the tea-room.
“At a grand ball in Bath, Catherine Moreland of Northanger Abbey, and her friend Mrs. Allen, feel awkward and out of place until “they received an offer of tea from one of their neighbors; it was thankfully accepted, and this introduced a light conversation with the gentleman who offered it…”-Martyris
So many unanswered questions remain about tea taking in the Regency era, especially among the working classes and this post does not begin to address them or pretend to. Tea was so universal during this age, that anyone who could afford it (or smuggle it in) drank it, including Emma’s Mrs. Bates, who was “almost past every thing but tea and quadrille.“
Sources:
- Lemm, Elaine, “What Is the Difference Between Afternoon Tea and High Tea?,” The Spruce Eats, 12/05/19, downloaded 9/21/2020, https://www.thespruceeats.com/afternoon-vs-high-tea-difference-435327.
- Wilson, Kim, Tea With Jane Austen, Frances Lincoln, London, 2011, 128 pages, ISBN-10: 0711231893, ISBN-13 : 978-0711231894
- Brown, Angie, “High Tea vs. Afternoon Tea,” TeaTime, August 14, 2017. Downloaded 9/20/2020: https://www.teatimemagazine.com/high-tea-vs-afternoon-tea/
- Martyris, Nina, “It Is A Truth Universally Acknowledged That Jane Austen Pairs Well With Tea,” 7/18/2017, NPR.org. Downloaded 9/21/2020: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/07/18/537247637/it-is-a-truth-universally-acknowledged-that-jane-austen-pairs-well-with-tea
- “The History of Afternoon Tea,” 11/30/2009, HighTea.com, Downloaded 9/21/2020. https://hightea.com/the-history-of-afternoon-tea
Jane Austen's World 
Tea in the 18th century was not just for cakes and sweets either. They ate a lot of different things, depending on who was there and when it was. It wasn’t at any specific time either, and was served at all of the meals and even late at night for a late supper. My book, Tea in 18th century America has all of those resources. :-) After the turn of the century, so many influences came in to the colonies in particular as well and in England. One good constant is definitely tea!
Kim
http://www.kwaltersatthesignofthegrayhorse.com
Thank you for the information, Kim, and for visiting this blog. Your site is lovely, btw. I see that you visited Annapolis and Mt. Vernon. Have you seen Hampton Mansion, a national historic site? It maintains its grounds, house, slave cabins, and work buildings as an educational site and is very informative of life in Colonial Maryland.
You are welcome! I love your blog and some of the research you do. Thank you for your kind words as well. Tea history is a big thing for me, and many do not realize how the tea ceremony has changed over the 18th and 19th centuries for all of the classes. :-) Let me know if you need a copy of my book!
Really interesting. Thank you 👍
Glad you found the information interesting. I learned something new when researching the topic, and had several misconceptions corrected!
So glad you explained to people about “high tea.” So many confuse the terms. You also reminded me of having had tea at the Savoy in London when my friend and I toured in Britain. We are both blind but we had a little bit of sight at the time. A lady who worked for the hotel gave us a personal tour and served us a luxurious tea. We were also served tea, not a public one, in a homey kitchen in Westminster Abbey, which was so unexpected and amazing. People were wonderful to us.
I love your detail about having tea at Westminster Abbey. I had no idea! Thank you for sharing!
I always learning more details about tea.
Denise
Same here, Denise. Articles about the history of tea that are readily available largely describe how and when the rich and gentry drank tea, but it is hard to find information about meal times and tea times for the lower classes.
The variability of the time when the main meal of the day was eaten was very much a class thing. Eating later and later became the fashion with the wealthy because it demonstrated amongst other things that they could afford the luxury of lighting the house with masses of wax candles. Wax candles were very expensive and there are accounts of parties and dinners and balls where the lighting cost more than the food and wine and entertainment.
You are so correct. The trend in moving dinner up later in the day started with the rich, the gentry followed, and then the rising middle classes began to eat later in the day. This trend is fascinating to read.
Indeed – I am sorry I can’t attribute but there was a phrase from someone in an ‘etiquette’ book of the time on the lines of tell me what time you eat and I will tell you what you are (meaning which class) I love history of food it tells us so much more about people’s lives other than the function of eating.
Excellent article. We too had a “proper tea” when we visited York, and truly enjoyed it. I had no idea that it only dated from the 1840’s! Thanks for explaining the many variations including high and low tea. I find it amusing in a fascinating way that it was based on table height. I also want to thank you for your sources. Once again one of them has become an addition to my library :)
Hi Kevin, you are welcome. I’m glad to know that some of these links are useful. I knew about the Duchess of Bedford’s tradition of having tea in the afternoon much later in the 19th century. I wonder how much the films confuse Victorian afternoon tea with the simpler tea served in the Regency (as I tend to do.) The dishes served with tea in Emma. 2020 come to mind. There were so many sweets served on an enormous side table when Emma invited Harriet Smith over for just the two of them, but no reviewer mentioned this crazy situation. The tea served by Kate Beckinsale’s Emma in 1996 for Mrs. Elton’s first visit to Hartfield was relatively simple and more appropriate to Regency tastes. I want to research this topic more.
Very interesting, Vic! If anyone wants to know about the silver pots used for serving tea and coffee, this post will tell you more about it: https://brendascox.wordpress.com/2018/06/07/the-science-of-georgian-silver/
Brenda, I love the cross connections. Thanks for linking.
A most informative article.
Thank you for sharing the information
Thank you! and thank you for reblogging the article.
Reblogged this on wildfirewyoming.