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?

Think we had high tea when we were children (and parents would eat a proper dinner later on). Toasted sandwiches, celery, cake type of thing.

Afternoon tea is tea and cakes/scones. It might be fancy but could equally be a 'snack' mid pm. When we were older we used to come home from school and have a cup of tea and cake/scone but not fancy. Just to keep us going until dinner time (which was often not until 7pm).

*Tea is your evening meal

Catherine of Braganza, Portuguese wife of King Charles II and Queen of Great Britain from 1662 to 1685 is widely credited with the introduction and/or popularisation of tea-drinking. Previously, the staple drink throughout the day was 'small beer,' a weak brew of around 1% alcohol.

Tea is your evening meal it isn't in my house! I have always called it dinner (I'm in Scotland)

I bet the OP wish she'd never asked
As you can see it varies depending on what part of the UK you're from

So it seems that high tea, as in actual high tea, not people confusing it with afternoon tea really is a thing, in Scotland.

Having recently been there on holiday and never come across it, I now feel short changed.

But I wouldn't call afternoon tea a 'light' meal. It's bread, cakes, scone, cream, just about as heavy and calorie dense food that you can get. The average afternoon tea has got to easily be 1000+ calories, so far from a light snack to be fitted in between 2 actual meals.

I recently worked somewhere that advertised and served cream tea, and we sometimes got asked where the sandwiches were.

NO. That's afternoon tea, fools. Cream tea is scones and jam.

Tsk.

We don't have high tea in Scotland.

I'll never forget the embarrassment of inviting a new friend and her DC over for tea (invitation was for 3 pm) and not knowing how to get rid of them hours later, after having had said "tea" at 3:30. They didn't leave until well after 6. As they left, the younger child said "but I thought we were staying for tea, Mummy!" and that's when I realised there'd been a massive misunderstanding.

www.thespruceeats.com/high-tea-vs-afternoon-tea-765832

I love all the variations on here.

I've always had tea time as about 4ish after school where everyone has a cuppa and a biscuit or cake. The evening meal is later.

Has anyone mentioned Nursery Tea?

Yes we absolutely do have high tea in Scotland!

We drink tea first thing in the morning through the day whenever we sit down.

Tea time (in the south) is an early dinner/supper usually for kids in this house around 5/6pm

High tea - is fancy sandwiches & scones with tea to drink - we don't usually do this. If you did it would generally happen on a weekend afternoon. Or maybe if you're the Queen then everyday.

If you're from up north you call dinner/supper (your evening meal) tea.

Simple really 🤷🏻‍♀️

Oh and Northerners also call their "lunch" - "dinner".

Yes we absolutely do have high tea in Scotland!

Only in certain godforsaken parts. I approve of the cakes but who wants bloody toast with their dinner?

Lol! Toast is always good

Tony Parsons said in one of his books that his mum called lunch dinner, dinner tea, and tea 'a nice cup of tea'.

So is high tea what we call party tea in our house then?
We’re a family who call our evening meal tea, and I’m all for an afternoon tea once in a while, especially if there’s Prosecco involved.

Toast is a perfectly fine food. I'll give you that but it isn't cake is it? Why on earth would you want to fill up on toast after a dinner when you could just have cake with more cake to follow?

What does party tea mean to you, NC4Now. Does it involve toast?

An invitation for your child to “come for tea” means come after school and play and I will feed them their evening meal at a child-friendly even know meal time, probably pasta or pizza or fish fingers.

High tea was what you had when your aging relatives visited for the afternoon on a Sunday. Everyone sat round the table to eat

Ahhh, poor OP!

In my world (middle class, southern based family extraction)

• tea = cup of tea
• tea also = tea + cake or biscuits, mid afternoon
• cream tea = tea + scones and jam, mid afternoon
• afternoon tea = tea + dainty sweet and savoury items, mid afternoon (I have occasionally served and created at home, usually for American guests!)
• high tea = cross between supper and tea, eaten later (5-6pm) - reasonably substantial, must contain savoury and sweet but mostly cold/not much cooking involved (maybe soft boiled eggs/omlette?) - reasonably common in my childhood, and my mum will do occasionally if we've had a large family lunch. I think of this as similar to nursery tea (below)
• 'nursery tea' ie served to the children who couldn't stay up for the main evening meal - sweet and savoury, substantial (ideally served by the nanny/housekeeper ;-) My grandma (wealthy background) used to serve this for us as kids sometimes

For my husband (working class midlands)

• tea = cup of tea or evening meal

Ah, but I agree that 'come for tea' with children's play date = stay for supper
'Come for tea' with adult only guests = come for afternoon tea to me BUT obv I'd be self aware enough to clarify so they didn't turn up for supper/dinner (eve meal in my house)...