What is the Difference Between English Afternoon Tea and Chinese Afternoon Tea?

Today, the key word I want to share with you is afternoon tea. As a Home Decor Tea Set Manufacturer, share it with everyone.

When talking about afternoon tea, Mr. Dao thought of the exquisite elegance of English afternoon tea with small pastries. As the originator of tea ceremony culture in China, afternoon tea culture has also existed for a long time.

Tracing the origin, let’s talk:

How did English afternoon tea come about? What characteristics make it popular?

As a big country of tea culture, what kind of development process has afternoon tea experienced in China?

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British afternoon tea

The British afternoon tea culture first originated in the British royal family in the 17th century.

At first, Anna Maria Russell, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, felt hungry at four o'clock every afternoon. She specially ordered her servants to prepare a set of simple meals, which later developed into a culture in the British royal family.

When the royal family eats tea, there are naturally many restrictions on etiquette and behavior.

After research, it can be briefly summarized as three points: fixed point, fixed installation, and quantitative.

Fixed point

The orthodox time for royal refreshments is generally four o'clock in the afternoon.

Order

In the Victorian era, men usually wore a tuxedo during tea break, and on more grand occasions they also had to wear a high hat and hold an umbrella.

Ladies must wear a robe or dress. There is a requirement here that ladies must wear a hat.

Quantitative

Orthodox British royal afternoon tea snacks are generally divided into three layers,

Put sandwiches on the first layer,

On the second floor is the traditional British dim sum Scone,

The third layer puts cakes and fruit tarts.

Afternoon tea

Sent in Tang

Although the tea-drinking culture began in China during the Shennong period, the Chinese afternoon tea custom first appeared in the Tang Dynasty.

From the three-color cultural relics excavated by archaeologists in the late Tang Dynasty, it is inferred that in the Tang Dynasty, when Lu Yu lived, people began to drink tea with exquisite utensils, matching fruits and cakes.

The unearthed Tang Sancai tea set

Chinese afternoon tea culture is different from the exquisite and glorious brand surface of British afternoon tea, and it pays more attention to the processing of tea and dessert forms.

Lu Yu's "Tea Jing", a monograph on tea, is the first book dedicated to writing tea in China and even in the world. It provides a detailed and systematic explanation of the history, origin, efficacy, and baking technology of tea.

Although Chinese and Western afternoon tea cultures pay attention to different points, they have formed the same tea drinking habit of "matching tea with tea".

In this behavioral habit, the tea ceremony culture has also continuously developed into a refreshment culture, and refreshments have been continuously separated from the tea ceremony and opened up a pastry culture independently, which is widely spread. Our company has China Butter Dishes Plates on sale, welcome to contact us.