Tea; making a meal of it…
07 Apr 2020
Dear LPG,
For Christmas, as a gift, my granddaughter gave us an afternoon tea experience. Within four months, all we had to do is finalise the date and turn up. It is now April and we have been putting it off for the better weather but sadly with the Coronavirus and all the new rules surrounding it we might now, never get there.
The whole thing got me thinking about tea though. At home we just put a bag in a cup when the mood takes us and we often down it while on the go. I am sure I am not the only one who has a slurp between opening the mail, putting the washing in or while still in bed watching the morning news.
It is interesting to think of the ritual we are missing when we drink this beverage today. While I have no doubt that we are all still blaming the Chinese for the pandemic which is threatening to keep all us older people at home for the next 30 days, they also brought us the idea of tradition that tea was supposed to offer.
Apparently the Chinese started it when they built up the ritual of tea drinking in the 3rd century BC and, while for many today, it is just a hot drink, for them it evolved into a special part of their wedding ceremonial and a ritual of respect. Back in the 1600s it also became a lot more significant as the British idea of building a bit of a meal around the drinking of tea became the stop-gap between the then queen’s lunch and dinner.
Now, it may well be thought of as something done by the aristocracy, there has to be something special about putting the beverage first and allowing it to be accompanied by a cucumber sandwich and a scone if only to say we have done it. If we can make the time to, we are most likely to experience it at a hotel and, having been given the opportunity I may well have missed my chance.
I have said all this because, in these times when everything is being postponed, I would like to remind anyone who has been given one of those ‘experience’ type presents (the ones that offer you the opportunity to do something), to check the dates and phone the organisers to see if they can be postponed.
Perhaps you could do it while having a cuppa…
FW, Downham.
FW shares the sites where she researched her information on afternoon tea…
If tea is your thing LPG has found some venues where you can do it with style…
