The Tea Journal
High tea is a substantial evening meal, traditionally eaten around six o'clock by British working families, with hot savoury dishes, bread and strong tea. It is not the elegant tiered stands most people picture. That is afternoon tea, and the two get confused constantly.
If you came here to book something with scones and finger sandwiches, you want afternoon tea. Almost everyone does. Here is the whole story, from a tea room that has been serving the real thing in St. Louis for years.
| Afternoon Tea | High Tea | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A light, elegant meal between lunch and dinner | A hearty evening meal, essentially supper |
| Time | Around 3 to 5 o'clock | Around 5 to 7 o'clock |
| Food | Scones, finger sandwiches, cakes and sweets on tiered stands | Meat, potatoes, pies, bread and butter, hot dishes |
| Table | A low table, with armchairs | A high dining table, with upright chairs |
| Who it was for | The leisured classes, historically | Working families after a shift |
| What Americans mean | This one | Almost never this one |
Because of the furniture, not the status.
High tea was eaten at a high dining table on ordinary upright chairs, the way you would eat any evening meal. Afternoon tea was taken sitting in low armchairs around a low table, plate balanced on the knee.
The name describes the height of the table. It has nothing to do with elegance, which is exactly why the American usage runs backwards: high tea sounds grander, so it gets attached to the fancier occasion.
Afternoon tea is a light meal served in the middle of the afternoon, built around a pot of loose-leaf tea and three courses served together on a tiered stand.
The story goes that Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, grew tired of the long gap between a light lunch and a fashionably late dinner, and began taking tea and a little food in her room around four o'clock. She started inviting friends. It became a social occasion, then an institution.
That is the thing with the tiered stands. That is what you book.
Three courses, traditionally eaten from the bottom of the stand upward:
Savouries. Finger sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Cucumber, egg and cress, smoked salmon, coronation chicken. Small enough to eat in two bites.
Scones. Served warm, with clotted cream and preserves. This is the course people remember.
Sweets. Cakes, pastries, tarts and biscuits.
And a pot of tea per person, refreshed throughout. The tea is not an accompaniment to the food. It is the point of the occasion, and the food is built to suit it. You can see how we build ours on our afternoon tea menu.
A cream tea is the simplest version: a pot of tea and scones with clotted cream and preserves. No sandwiches, no cake stand, no ceremony.
It is what you have when you want the ritual without a full meal, and in the West Country of England it is an institution in its own right. Our own scones come out of the same kitchen as our bakery, baked fresh each morning.
Clotted cream is a thick, faintly nutty cream made by gently heating unpasterized, full-cream milk and letting it cool slowly, until a rich crust forms and sets on the surface. That crust is the clotted cream.
It sits somewhere between whipped cream and butter, both in texture and in richness, and it is the correct thing to put on a scone. Whipped cream is a substitute. Butter is a different proposition entirely.
Devon puts cream first, then jam on top. Cornwall puts jam first, then cream. The argument has run for well over a century and shows no sign of resolving.
We serve both and take no official position.
A small, crustless sandwich cut into fingers, triangles or rounds, made on soft bread with a delicate filling. Two bites, no more.
The crusts come off for a practical reason as much as an elegant one: they make a small sandwich tough to eat neatly with one hand while holding a teacup in the other.
Elevenses is a short mid-morning break for tea and something small, taken around eleven o'clock. A biscuit, a scone, a slice of cake.
It is far more casual than afternoon tea and far more common in practice. Most British households observe elevenses without ever calling it that.
Traditionally between three and five o'clock, with four being the classic hour.
High tea, being an evening meal, is later, usually between five and seven.
In practice most tea rooms, including ours, serve afternoon tea across a wider window to suit how people actually book. We serve Wednesday through Sunday, from morning through late afternoon.
Plan on around one to one and a half hours.
Afternoon tea is deliberately unhurried. The food arrives together rather than in courses, so there is no waiting between plates, but the tea is enjoyed throughout and the point of the occasion is to linger. Guests are often surprised how quickly the time goes.
Whatever you feel good in.
There is no dress code at most modern tea rooms, ours included. Plenty of guests dress up because it is an occasion and it feels right. Plenty arrive from work or errands. Both are welcome, and nobody is checking.
If you have been invited to afternoon tea at someone's home rather than a tea room, err slightly smarter than you would for coffee. An invitation to tea in Britain carries more formality than let us grab a coffee does in America.
Most of what people worry about does not matter. A few things genuinely help:
Work upward through the stand. Savouries, then scones, then sweets. It follows the flavours from light to sweet.
Break your scone by hand. Cutting it with a knife is considered slightly brutal. Break it in half, then spread each half.
Do not raise your little finger. It is a caricature, not a custom, and it never was one.
Stir gently, back and forth. Circular stirring clinks the cup. Rest the spoon behind, not in, the cup.
Milk in after the tea, if you are pouring from a pot. The old custom of milk first came from protecting delicate porcelain from hot tea, and modern china does not need it.
None of this is enforced anywhere pleasant. It is offered in case you would like to know, and there is more in our FAQs.
Britain keeps the distinction: afternoon tea is the elegant one, high tea is supper.
America collapsed the two, and high tea now usually means the tiered stands. Hotels and tea rooms mostly go along with it rather than correct their guests.
South Africa serves a formal tea similar to English afternoon tea but calls it high tea, often buffet style at home rather than on stands.
France has its own tradition entirely, with the gouter in the afternoon and patisserie in place of scones.
If you want scones, finger sandwiches, cakes and a proper pot of tea, you want afternoon tea. That is what nearly everyone means and it is what nearly every tea room serves.
Ask for high tea and you will almost certainly still be given afternoon tea, because that is what the person taking your booking assumes you mean. No harm done. Now you know the difference, which puts you ahead of most of the room.
We are an authentically British tea room on Union Boulevard in St. Louis, near Forest Park, and we have been serving proper afternoon tea here for years.
Every service is seated and unhurried: a pot of premium loose-leaf tea, scones baked that morning with cream and preserves, savoury finger sandwiches, and a selection of sweets. We serve a Wee Tea for younger guests. Planning a celebration? We also host private events.
Reservations are recommended and often essential at weekends.
Afternoon tea is a light, elegant meal of scones, sandwiches and cakes served mid-afternoon on tiered stands. High tea is a hearty evening meal with hot savoury dishes, eaten around six. Americans usually say high tea when they mean afternoon tea.
Not quite. Tea time is a general term for any occasion involving tea. High tea specifically means the evening meal.
Low tea is another name for afternoon tea, from the low tables it was served at. The term is rarely used today.
At most tea rooms, yes. We welcome walk-ins but always recommend booking ahead as availability is limited, particularly at weekends.
It is more substantial than most people expect. Three courses with sandwiches, scones and sweets will comfortably replace lunch, though it is lighter than dinner.
Absolutely. Many tea rooms, ours included, serve a smaller version designed for younger guests.
Loose-leaf, brewed in a pot. Traditional British blends such as English Breakfast and Earl Grey are standard, though most tea rooms carry a wider range. We carry over 45+ loose leaf teas and many our are custom blends.
Traditionally yes, between three and five. In practice most tea rooms serve it across a wider window.