Afternoon Tea

I've taken to making time to have a cup of tea in the afternoons at work -- using it as a break from slogging through stuff that I have to make myself read, and I've found it a very agreeable habit to take up.

I've never liked coffee, and in fact have never much liked any drink that is hot.  I drink Tab by the gallon and though I've always thought the british custom of having tea was charming, I just couldn't get on board myself.

And then I met this stuff.  Ohmygoodnessgracious.  It is amazingly good. I've been jealous of my friends who can sashay into Starbucks and order a Chai Latte (actually, I'm jealous of any of my friends that can sashay, 'cause I have no sashaying skilz of my own) I can't have anything with milk in it, and so the trendy Chai Latte is out of my reach.  But, this, this deliciousness in a cup I can have.

I was surprised to find out that afternoon tea in England is a relatively recent tradition.  From www.anafternoontoremember.com I found the following on the etiquette and history:

History of the Afternoon Tea Party

While drinking tea as a fashionable event is credited to Catharine of Braganza, (the Portuguese wife of Charles II, who arrived in England in 1662) the actual taking of tea in the afternoon developed into a new social event some time in the late 1830’s and early 1840’s. Jane Austen hints of afternoon tea as early as 1804 in an unfinished novel. It is said that the afternoon tea tradition was established by Anne, Duchess of Bedford. She requested that light sandwiches be brought to her in the late afternoon because she had a “sinking feeling” during that time because of the long gap between meals. She began to invite others to join her and thus became the tradition.

About the time that we would have come home from school in the afternoon, and counted on a snack (usually whatever wonderful goodness Lula had cooked for lunch, left on the stove for us to enjoy) I find myself lagging in the afternoon and I'm thinking this may be the perfect way to find a pick me up and feel as if I have transported myself to the world of Downton Abbey in the same mug.

Afternoon Tea al fresco at Downton Abbey

    Sigh.