Most Important British Tea Time Etiquettes You Need To Know…

The British are known globally for their love of tea, a nice and warm “cuppa” as the British would say it. But before we start diving deep into this British love of tea, did you know that tea was brought to England by the Portuguese? Incase you were interested in the History of tea i recommend watching ‘Great Big Story’ on Youtube:

https://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/why-the-brits-love-tea

Anyway, Let’s get into these British Etiquettes because the British do a lot more than just add milk into their tea!

The Napkin not to be confused with a serviette , must be placed on your lap the with the crease folded towards you
A traditional British tea time calls for loose leaf tea therefore a strainer will come in handy
When stirring your tea it is in a back and fourth motion using your spoon and not round and round as it makes an awful lot of noise and the sugar will not be able to dissolve as well

Loose leaf tea and strainer

Now that we got the basics out of the way let’s carry on…

- Have you seen these trays before?Well, There is a certain way to go about eating the goods on them. Firstly, you start with the savoury, which is traditionally placed at the bottom and consists of little sandwiches. Moving up by one you have the sweet and savoury side, where you will most probably find some warm British scones with some clotted cream and jam. Lastly, the third and last layer consists of the sweet treats, these could be patisseries such as tarts cheesecakes etc
- On the topic of scones, they are pronounced Scones not Scoooones, i doubt you were able to hear any difference but the British are very specific when it comes to this. Scones are warm sweet bread like baked goods. They are eaten with clotted cream and jam…. Does the chicken or the egg come first? … Does the milk or the cereal go in first? Well, here in Britain the question is…Clotted cream or jam first?
Important note: Scones are not eaten like burgers, but kind of like individual biscuits
- Finally, after having enjoyed a little tea time snack you must use your serviette to dab your mouth, never, ever wipe. You dab your mouth with the inside of the napkin so the visible part of the napkin stays clean.