Would you like a spot of tea?

Hello loyal readers, today I have a grand story to tell. The story is about my first ever afternoon tea experience in London! Now we all know the typical British stereotype about afternoon tea, but few of us have actually experienced afternoon tea since we do not practice this tradition in the United Sates. This afternoon tea tradition is very deeply ingrained in the British culture and has been in practice since the early 19^th century! After going I can see why. Afternoon tea is a great way to take a break and wind down halfway through a long work day. It serves not only to relax a person but also as a means to socialize and show off one’s class. In the old days, one could tell a lot about somebody’s class by how they drank their tea. If the person put their milk in their cup first and then the tea, it typically meant that the person was of lower class. If a person was of high class they would put their tea in first, followed by their milk. This was because for those that could not afford nice china if they were to put the tea in first, the cheap cups would split in half from the heat and spill their tea everywhere! Therefore, they would put the milk in first so that it would cool the tea down as it was poured in to the cup so that the cup would not split. This was a way that the wealthy could show off because only they were able to afford quality china that could handle the heat of the tea first without the milk to cool it. Now back to my experience. For our trip we went to the Cadogan Hotel which is an extremely nice and fancy establishment. We had our own private room and the dress code was formal. This was fun because it meant that we all got to dress up. We sat down and ordered from the extensive list of teas that were divided up into two sub groups; Partridges Teas and Chelsea Flower Teas. I ordered the Chelsea Flower Blend which smelt and tasted of hints of apple and mango. The tea was delicious but I was bummed out by the fact that you do not add milk to this type of tea. This was really just trivial but I wanted to act like a proper high class Londoner and put my milk in second. While we drank our loose leaf tea we snacked on Chelsea buns and homemade scones with Cornish clotted cream and strawberry vanilla jam. Once we had eaten and drank our fill we reluctantly parted ways with the establishment and went out on the town. This was a great experience and I can say I will definitely be partaking in this tradition again.