High Tea

hefyd · Post by **hefyd** » January 11th, 2011, 9:13 am

What do you understand by 'High Tea' ? hefyd

Starlite · Post by **Starlite** » January 11th, 2011, 10:23 am

Without looking it up: Tea in the middle of the afternoon. <shrug>

Esther

Guero · Post by **Guero** » January 11th, 2011, 10:35 am

I'm pretty sure you're not referring to this, but "high tea" to me means: The dance party held after dinner at a summer resort town. Low tea is the dance party that is held before dinner. Every night the same decision, go to low tea? or high tea? or both?

Steampunk · Post by **Steampunk** » January 11th, 2011, 11:49 am

When in doubt, consult Wikipedia:

High tea

High tea (also known as meat tea) is an early evening meal, typically eaten between 5pm and 6pm. It is now largely followed by a later lighter evening meal.

High tea would usually consist of cold meats, eggs or fish, cakes and sandwiches.

It was called High tea because many would have the tea on High chairs and tables and therefore, the tea would be high. It was entertained in this manner because it was thought that afternoon tea would be more easily digested when sitting at a high angle to aid digestion as the abdominal muscles would be more active at that angle.

Editorial comment: "Meat Tea" would be a great name for a band...

Jim

Post by **TriciaG** » January 11th, 2011, 11:57 am

I shouldn't have read the responses, but my initial one beforehand was a tea (afternoon), with more substantial food than just crumpets, cakes, or scones.

musicmaiden · Post by **musicmaiden** » January 11th, 2011, 12:13 pm

Ha, I thought it implied something more fancy ... "You are formally invited to high tea ..." LOL.

ExEmGe · Post by **ExEmGe** » January 11th, 2011, 12:31 pm

It's not a phrase that I've heard much in the last twenty years, but that's probably because I live in southern England. It was always a more midlands/northern thing. To me it would mean a proper sit-down meal, certainly something hot (at least something on toast, possibly something and chips) but not meat and two veg. - That would be 'Supper'.
Formal 'Tea' would be afternoon tea (and a step up the social ladder)
The main point about 'Tea' is that it is served in the afternoon, between four & six p.m. & as Wikipaedia says it would be followed by 'Suppper' (or 'Late Supper' if 'Supper' is what you had earlier)
Being British it is of course class-ridden. If you had 'High Tea' you were certainly below the salt.

Sonneteer · Post by **Sonneteer** » January 11th, 2011, 1:43 pm

My guess would have been the compounding of the phrases "high noon" and "afternoon tea". Thus referring more to the time at which tea is had, than the act of having tea. (But from the above comments it looks like high noon is unrelated.)

hefyd · Post by **hefyd** » January 11th, 2011, 2:31 pm

Some fascinating replies here ! 'Tea' for me is the main meal of the evening, at six or thereabouts, and 'high tea' is tea at about four,with cakes and bread and butter, and something like skippers or hot sausages.When these sausages come from Rye http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rye,_East_Sussex 'high tea' = 'glimpse of paradise'.'Afternoon tea' would be much the same as 'high tea', only minus the sausages. Rupert Brooke seemed to have his tea even earlier :
'Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?'
[ Lovely reading by Graham Redman ]
http://ia700408.us.archive.org/30/items/poems_rupert_brooke_gr_librivox1/collectedpoems_82_rupertbrooke_64kb.mp3

hefyd

Timothy Ferguson · Post by **Timothy Ferguson** » January 15th, 2011, 8:03 am

hefyd wrote:What do you understand by 'High Tea' ? hefyd

It's not used here in its original sense, being commercialised to mean a formal cream tea.