I Did Not Know The Proper Term Is "Afternoon Tea" And It's Different Than "High Tea."

So for years, I've occasionally mentioned that the British tradition of High Tea is pretty cool, even though I don't drink tea.  (Or coffee -- I've never liked the taste of either.  For hot drinks I limit myself to hot chocolate, as long as it is good.)

Well, I found out while at High Tea that we were actually participating in Afternoon Tea.  "High Tea" is what the working class called dinner/supper -- usually served at 5pm or so when shift work was over.  It features meat or fish, bread, tea, and maybe egg dishes and even vegetables.   

"Afternoon Tea" is the more celebrated of the teas by Americans.  EVERYONE should do it once when they go to England (Betty's Cafe/Tea House in Harrogate and York are classic tea rooms), and of course, there are plenty of places near you in London.

We went to The Beaumont, as I googled high tea near our address.  Of the ones I looked at, The Beaumont was farthest away at nearly a mile walk, but it looked like the classic description of a High Tea.  Except, and this escaped my notice while looking at their website, it's an Afternoon Tea.  

The Beaumont is in the heart of Mayfair, and it beats luxury and class, something the two older Bolger brothers (that's Rick and I) are allergic to.  But, I figured if you are going to do High Afternoon Tea right, let's do it at a place that might just kick us out because they know we won't belong.

Let's go with the proper phrase for the rest of this post -- Afternoon Tea.  At the art deco Beaumont, the Tea is held in the Gatsby Room (great! I thought).  The website says "The Gatsby Room is a symbol of timeless elegance, understated luxury and genuine British hospitality."  The website goes on to boast that it hosts their award-winning Afternoon Tea, so I immediately booked it!

(Editor: "Gatsby Room (great)" -- the sound you hear is F. Scott Fitzgerald rolling over in his grave.  Writer: I've misused many a literary phrase to get authors to roll over in their grave.  F. Scott is not the first, nor shall he be the last.)

Rick and Sandy demurred on the idea of Afternoon Tea, but little did they realize that I actually know what's best for them.  So I booked it anyhow.  At tea, I apologized, but they said they were looking forward to this after seeing a show about it recently, so they thought it would be cool to do.  So the hope that we would go through afternoon tea and they would grudgingly admit that it was pretty cool to do was snatched away from me like Lucy snatched the football away from Charlie Brown's foot.

Me at the Tea, briefly.

Maybe it would work

with a tee!

I'm kidding.  Mostly.  I'm glad they didn't feel they were there to humour my wishes.  (Carol is always pro-Afternoon Tea, even if she also thought it was High Tea!).

(Editor: You don't have to include the "u" in words just because the Brits do -- "humor" would do just fine.  Writer: I realise that, but I like to.)

Also from The Beaumont's website about their Afternoon Tea:

Indulge in an enticing selection of classic finger sandwiches, freshly-baked homemade scones and hand-crafted dainty cakes and pastries. Choose your own blend from our warming selection of JING Tea, or add a little more sparkle to the occasion with a glass of Champagne.

And we got all that.  Each of us got four finger sandwiches, including the classic cucumber sandwich, salmon sandwich, ham and cheese, and an egg sandwich.

(Editor: When you said "finger sandwich" I was picturing slices of fingers in-between in between slices of bread.  Writer: Jeffrey Dahmer did not put the menu together.)

Then there were two scones each with butter cream and different jam/honey options.

And four cakes and four sweets each.  And two choices of exotic teas.  I went with sparkling water and champagne (separate glasses, not mixed!).  The champagne was served in the wide mouth coupe glasses.  That's only the second time I've ever had champagne served in a coupe glass, and let me tell you, I know narrow glasses are the "proper" way to serve champagne, but the coupe glass is very cool.  Like the Grinch's heart, the sophistication part of my brain grew three times that day.

(Editor: I'm guessing it returned to normal size pretty quickly.  Writer: Oh, as soon as I stepped back on American soil.)

Part of our spread.  One type of each pastry

for each of us (there's another holder) with

the finger sandwiches underneath.  The

scones were on a separate serving plate.

We ended up skipping dinner because, with a 5:15 start, we were too full to eat anything more.  For the record, Carol's two teas were Darjeeling and a Rose Bud Infustion.  She loved them.  I don't remember what Sandy and Rick had, but they both liked it.