British people. I need clarification

[Steaktartar]

So how many different types of ' tea times ' do you have? Is high tea the fancy one with sandwiches and cakes? And just 'tea'? Is that lunch? Also how often do you have high tea? Someone told me everyday or as often as possible? Surely you can't eat cake EVERYDAY?

This is the high tea menu of my youth...
www.birkhillin.co.uk/uploads/File/CG_Birkhill-Inn-HighTea-Jan-19_CL.pdf

Must include toast, Big pot of tea and cakes :)

@MovinOnUp - Fisher and Donaldson! That takes me back. What were those pineapple cakes called - ‘sair heids?’

Ooh I think they were.....Could fair go a coffee tower right about now :)

Americans often tell me they love tea but when I make them a cup they are surprised or shocked. They have no idea about milk going in a cup of 'black' tea. They think tea means herb tea. No milk.

More shockingly there have been reports of them putting some tea bags (probably herbal) and water in imported Brown Betty teapot - for gods sake and boiling it on the fucking stove/hotplate and then getting pissed off when the teapot cracks. I kid you not. (I actually read this in Amazon reviews where many claim the imported Brown Betty teapots are no good because they will crack when boiled on the stove)!

OP There is the tea you drink and then there are two other 'teas'. One that is the posh 'high' tea with dainty sandwiches and little cakes to be enjoyed in the afternoon and the other is what in the states we call dinner or supper. In England that is often called Tea Time or just Tea.

BTW Correct way to make tea; boil water, swish some in the teapot to warm it. Add tea leaves (1 tsp/cup) and 'one for the pot' then add boiling water and let seep for several minutes, under a tea cosy if possible. Put some milk in cups and add tea and maybe sugar.

Americans often tell me they love tea but when I make them a cup they are surprised or shocked. They have no idea about milk going in a cup of 'black' tea. They think tea means herb tea. No milk.

To be fair, this is the same everywhere apart from the UK in my experience.
Been to several different countries in Europe and they don't have a clue about a cup of tea.
They think a cup of tea is a clear glass mug and a herbal type tea bag. They then bring you some hot water to add to it.
Er, no that's not tea

Tea can be a food, a drink, both food and drink, and a time of day, all dependent upon unknown factors such as where you live/came from. I'd never have believed it could be so difficult to explain what "Tea" is, yet this thread is proof I was wrong.

Reminds me of the time I offered a group of people a bacon butty and brew at breakfast time. I thought everyone would know what I meant, I was wrong.

Here's a nice tea, not as expensive as some but still quite a treat. It looks pretty good.

www.buyagift.co.uk/days-out/the-view-from-the-shard-with-luxury-afternoon-tea-for-two-br-11843557.aspx?cm_mmc=google--Days+Out-shopping--Days+Out-_-&mkwid=saEsDiKm6_dc&pcrid=216801815922&pkw=&pmt=&DD=&pg=11843557&slid=&pgrid=47386271644&ptaid=pla-542097140312&SI=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-7Hh3d-64wIVh7HtCh3t8Q4UEAQYBSABEgJosvD_BwE

High tea is not just a Scottish thing. It's meat and salad and stuff, then tea and cake. It may well be agricultural, though
Where I grew up, (on a farm,) you couldn't go many miles south before you'decide have to start swimming.

If I weren't on my phone, I'd look for a link I've got to a Web page talking about all the Dorset words for meals, like nuncheon. I don't know what he called the meals, but certainly my father used to have a small snack and go and check on all the livestock, then come in for breakfast around 9am, having already done a couple of hours work. They weren't tea, though.

To be fair, this is the same everywhere apart from the UK in my experience. Been to several different countries in Europe and they don't have a clue about a cup of tea.They think a cup of tea is a clear glass mug and a herbal type tea bag. They then bring you some hot water to add to it.

Americans often tell me they love tea but when I make them a cup they are surprised or shocked. They have no idea about milk going in a cup of 'black' tea. They think tea means herb tea. No milk.

I mean...Britain didn't invent tea

If you go to Turkey or India, two countries with long histories of tea drinking through their various imperial histories, and make them what British people consider tea, they will be as horrified as you are with European or American styles.

Surely you can't eat cake EVERYDAY?

Sounds like a challenge to me.

I'm 8 months pregnant. Bloody watch me.

howdyalikemenow your summary is PERFECT. Spot on

Cup of tea - most British people drink often. I don't!

Tea- can be a meal before evening meal -which can be called dinner or supper regionally (dinner refers to midday lunch meal in some places). Children often are served their evening meal at tea time rather than a in the later evening meal although this term is somewhat dying out.

High tea. Referred as such as it was always eaten at high rather than low table. Involves sandwiches, cakes but also hot dishes and other more substantial fare. People dont have this really. Some hotels do offer a slight immitarion where a hot dish or two is added the the afternoon standard tea.

Afternoon tea. Sandwiches mini cake and pastries (which can range from drab and mundane to totally fabulous) comes with plain and fruit warm scones, strawberry jam and clotted cream and a tea menu.- have this as often as waistline and finance permits.

If in the uk post your approx location and people may have sugestions of places too try

High tea typically consists of a hot dish, followed by cakes and bread, butter and jam. Occasionally there will be cold cuts of meat, such as ham salad. The term was first used around 1825, and "high" tea is taken on a high (dining) table; by contrast, low tea, which was more of a light snack, was served on a low table – what would be called a coffee table in North America.

Allegedly this.

High tea is very much a thing in Scotland, usually in old-fashioned hotels catering to coach trips, or restaurants where pensioners go. It comprises fish and chips and, importantly, bread and butter. Sometimes lentil soup, and always a cup of tea.

Oh, and it’s served early- 5pm ish

{bold}perkingfaintly{bold end}
Coffee at breakfast and mid-morning, wine and water with lunch and dinner, both followed by more coffee.
No nonsense and Northern SIL makes frequent cups of tea, and is tutted about every time she leaves the room to do so!

Just to add to the confusion, here in New Zealand there is Morning Tea. It's informal but quite regimented. Around 11am people gather round in the kitchen to drink coffee or tea and chat for 15 minutes before getting back to work. It's a nice social mid morning break.

If it's a birthday or other significant event then cake will be taken or even mini pies. There is NO OTHER way Kiwis can eat cake as far as my experience goes other than at the specified 'morning tea'. 'Afternoon tea' is met with puzzlement.

In fact when I first got here colleagues would come up to my desk at the specified time as everyone was assembling in the kitchen and ask in wonder "HAVE YOU HAD YOUR MORNING TEA??!!"

I'd tell them I had a cup that morning and send them on their way not realising I had made a Kiwi faux-pas

High tea in my part of Scotland (Dundee) is a late afternoon/early evening feast that starts with pots of tea and rounds of buttered toast, followed by a substantial meal like steak pie and chips, followed by scones, tray bakes and cream cakes and more pots of tea. The buttered toast is a key part of a high tea around here- without it it’s just yer tea with tea!
tea is a cuppie as in ‘Fancy a cuppie?’
Tea is also your evening meal
Afternoon tea is a far daintier affair but someone in your party will probably moan about the lack of toast!

We are South England, lower middle class. When I grew up ‘tea’ was the meal children had in the evening before bed. Depending on the season it might be cold salad, ham, bread and butter or hot, fish fingers, peas, bread and butter. Whatever it was there was always lots of bread and butter to fill us up. The only drink we had was milk. Dinner was the meal my parents ate at about 7.30.

My aspirational mother was horrified when we went to school and started referring to our noonday meal as ‘dinner’.

‘Tea’ was also the hot drink my granny consumed throughout the day.

‘Afternoon Tea’ is an overpriced but delicious hotel treat that often includes too many cakes ☹️ and not enouch sandwiches ❤️ . It should always be accompanied by champagne 🍾. Prosecco or ‘fizz’ are unacceptable.

Hope this and previous posts have cleared things up for you OP.

High tea is one of the things I miss about Scotland. It's the perfect child meal - taken between 4-6 ish.

Proper main course (scampi in a basket/other basketed things/rarebits) with scones and cakes.

Then the adults would have supper 9ish once the children had gone to bed. So skipping something called 'dinner' altogether.

Was really common at weekends when I was a lass.

Tea is your evening meal. I’ve lived north and south and always called it tea. DH refers to evening meal as dinner but he’s from a country where tea isn’t a concept.
Afternoon tea is your sandwiches and cakes served on a cake stand thing.

@Curlyshabtree dinner is definitely evening meal in some parts of the Uk!

I moved to an area where they say tea instead of dinner and dinner for lunch and my kids are constantly confused at what time of day it is!

Firstly, the term is used regionally to mean evening meal, it can be any food, but as I said it's regional, I call it dinner personally but relatives from the north say tea. Secondly it's used for a fancy treat of cake/scones and tea, sometimes sandwiches, not an everyday occasion but popular when on holiday and for special occasions typically between 2&5 in the afternoon. Tea is also used to describe a lighter evening meal when you have eaten a larger lunch eg on Sundays if you have a roast at lunchtime - a sandwich or cheese on toast is normal in my house.

Enid Blyton's 'Six Cousins Again' (the sequel to Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm) is the book to read if you want to understand the difference between 'high tea' and 'afternoon tea'.

Essentially, afternoon tea happens at about 4 o'clock and is a light meal of small sandwiches and cake, to tide you over until dinner, which wouldn't be eaten till about 8 o'clock.

High tea is a substantial meal eaten about six, instead of dinner, and would include things like sausage rolls, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, ham and other cold meats; large slices of cake etc.

A more modern use of 'tea' would be if you have 'dinner' in the middle of the day (i.e. a substantial hot meal) you might have 'tea' in the evening - a lighter meal combining elements of 'high tea' and 'afternoon tea'.

To further confuse the issue, some people refer to the midday meal as 'dinner' and the evening meal as 'tea', irrespective of what the meals feature - often a regional variation, but consider the term 'school dinners' as a common example.