The History of the Afternoon Tea in London
Dating back to 1865, English Afternoon Tea is credited to the Duchess of Bedford.
The legend says that the first lady to enjoy ‘afternoon tea’ was Anna Maria,
the 7th Duchess of Bedford who lived at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire and was
lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria.
The Duchess of Bedford is said to have experienced a ‘sinking feeling’ in the middle
of the afternoon one day and asked her footman to deliver all the tea making
equipment with some bread and butter to her private room. She found this new
meal so satisfying and enjoyable that she soon started inviting her special friends
to join her for ‘afternoon tea’. Even when she went to stay with her aristocratic
friends in their manor houses, she took her own kettle and tea making items with
her so that she could continue her afternoon parties when she was away from
home. The simple platefuls of bread and butter that first accompanied afternoon
tea developed into much more elaborate selections of sandwiches, scones, muffins,
cakes, biscuits, gateaux and fruit desserts.
Dating back to 1865, English Afternoon Tea is credited to the Duchess of Bedford.
The legend says that the first lady to enjoy ‘afternoon tea’ was Anna Maria,
the 7th Duchess of Bedford who lived at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire and was
lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria.
The Duchess of Bedford is said to have experienced a ‘sinking feeling’ in the middle
of the afternoon one day and asked her footman to deliver all the tea making
equipment with some bread and butter to her private room. She found this new
meal so satisfying and enjoyable that she soon started inviting her special friends
to join her for ‘afternoon tea’. Even when she went to stay with her aristocratic
friends in their manor houses, she took her own kettle and tea making items with
her so that she could continue her afternoon parties when she was away from
home. The simple platefuls of bread and butter that first accompanied afternoon
tea developed into much more elaborate selections of sandwiches, scones, muffins,
cakes, biscuits, gateaux and fruit desserts.
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Afternoon Tea options in no particular order:
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