The five o'clock tea ceremony: we'll show you everything

2023. 02. 20.

Have a British Afternoon Tea

The English afternoon tea party is not only an interesting tradition, but also an exciting program. If you are organizing a gathering, it can be a very good idea to arrange it in the form of a five o'clock tea. It is a fun and creative program to imitate this custom, with all its little moments, to put ourselves in the shoes of British ladies and lords for an afternoon. 

What is the origin of the English tea party? Allegedly, the previous King Charles II. Károly's wife created this custom in the 17th century. Because he considered the time between two meals to be too long, he considered it necessary to introduce such a snack. We don't know what the queen's real motivation was, but it is certain that the tea party was a great opportunity to create a more informal form of meeting in a world of over-regulated forms of social contact than evening parties.

Today, however, can be an interesting topic for a nice get-together. Must-haves: Cucumber sandwich, milk tea, and porcelain tableware. 

What should be served and how during five o'clock tea? 

English tea is therefore a whole meal, and of course there are rules for everything. For example, what we serve and how. By the way, the delicacies must be served on a three-tiered tray, the order of which does not matter. We'll show you.

The tea

The tea is usually made from a selection of black tea grass. Earl Grey tea was named after the Prime Minister of the same name, whose first name was Charles, who liked to flavor tea grass with citrus and cardamom. According to legend, the only reason the British put milk in tea is to cool down the hot drink, sparing the delicate, easily cracked porcelain cups. In any case, we know that it is appropriate to put either milk or sugar in the tea, at least if we are in England. The drink should not be stirred for a long time, the teaspoon should be removed from the cup as soon as possible. 

It also important how long you steep your tea! To make the perfect tea, the water temperature should be between 96-98 degrees and the tea leaves should be steeped for 3-5 minutes to ensure that they are just right. To make the perfect English tea every time, our SAGE tea steamer is a great help.

Scones

The top plate of the already mentioned three-tiered tray goes to the scone, the English cake, the dough of which is similar to our scones, only sweet and eaten with jam. If you want to make it, this video will help you! To make scones, we definitely recommend our favorite professional food processor, which can be used to make a lot of things in addition to cookie dough.

Sandwiches

The most famous sandwich, II. Elizabeth's favorite is the simple British cucumber sandwich. What's the secret? The precision. The recipe must be followed perfectly. First, the crust of the traditional white sourdough bread is cut. Then we smear the slices with butter, right up to the edge of the slice, as their task is to protect the bread slices from moisture. Then the thinly cut raw cluster cucumbers are placed on the sandwich in several layers. Even a slicer like this can come in handy for this, because the thickness of the cucumber slices must be taken seriously. Then add some salt and lemon juice to the cucumber. Then we turn the other buttered bread over the sandwich. Finally, we cut the folded slices diagonally so that a triangular mini snack is placed on the table. 

Cookies 

These are usually shortbreads, mini English butter tea cakes. Their taste is divine, and they are also very common in Hungary. You can easily find divine recipes for these. With the already mentioned robot, you will be happy to make even the classic tea cake, especially if you also buy this cookie cutter!

Have a nice tea!