Evolution Of Tea In The 1800's

Rose tea cups and silver platters sat across the drawing room with the portrait of Merricat’s mother looking down on them. Mrs. Clarke came over every Friday and sat with the Blackwoods for tea. Their afternoons were spent talking, and enjoying each other's company for it didn’t happen very often. Constance spent hours getting the house ready for Mrs. Clarke to come over. Spending time cooking and cleaning before a formal tea has been very common for almost two-thousand years. Afternoon or low tea increased in popularity during the early nineteenth century because of Anna the 7th Duchess of Bedford feeling low in the mid-afternoon. Constance and Merricat had a typical low tea every week as if they were in the 1800’s.
Traditionally afternoon tea was served in between a mid morning breakfast and a late dinner, while there was no lunch. Breakfast was served …show more content…
Clarke over one a week for tea. “Our mother had always served tea to her friends from a low table at one side of the fireplace, so that was where Constance always set her table.” (34) shows that the Blackwood girls would put on a low tea just like their mother did. This also shows, that they have more of the riches in the town than other people. Many times the workers of the hostess would spend a long time cleaning and preparing food for a the tea. “ Constance and I only used the room when Helen Clarke came for tea, but we kept it perfectly.” (33) describes that the girls cared what others thought about them, but that they had a respect for tea. They knew that it was a special occasion and that it wouldn’t happen forever. “ Constance had set the table as usual, with the lovely thin rose-colored cups our mother had always used, and two silver dishes, one with small sandwiches and one with very special rum cakes,”(34) Constance knew how her mother had set up for tea before, but doesn’t realize that the way she sets up tea and carries on tea is just like the traditional tea