To answer some queries regarding tea, from this New Zealander's point of view - most, but not all, of my generation's ancestors came from Britain so we enjoy morning and afternoon tea (also known as smoko in the workplace). And supper, which is not tea or dinner.
Morning tea is usually mid morning, a cup of tea (or coffee these days) and perhaps a plain biscuit.
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| morning tea |
Afternoon tea is slightly fancier in that we might have cake as well as a biscuit with our cup of tea, served on a nice plate. Or maybe it will be a scone or something similar. My mother in law was very disapproving of someone taking a fancy biscuit or cake to eat if they hadn't first had a plain one! Good manners also dictated that you only had two biscuits. I'm not sure we stick to that any more. Afternoon tea is about halfway between lunch and the evening meal, sometimes as late as 4 o'clock.
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| afternoon tea |
Tea is also our main meal in the evening, usually followed by a cup of tea. Some people are now calling this dinner but when I was growing up dinner was a hot meal in the middle of the day and the evening meal that day would be a light one, still called tea. Followed by a cup of tea of course :)
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| tea, the evening meal |
Then later in the evening we have supper, another cup of tea and a biscuit before heading off to bed. As someone said, New Zealanders have 6 meals a day if you count all the 'teas'.
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| supper |
I hope all the different 'teas' haven't confused you, and I haven't even mentioned high tea or Devonshire tea yet. Maybe another day :)
And just for fun:
And just for fun:
Seen in a tea rooms when I was on holiday a year ago.
Have a good refreshing week.
Diana
Thank you for sharing this information, quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is English and his parents were very much tea drinkers and always accompanied their tea with some sort of food, biscuits, pastry, that type of food. My husband never aquired the taste for tea.
Blessings~
Thank you for sharing this information, quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is English and his parents were very much tea drinkers and always accompanied their tea with some sort of food, biscuits, pastry, that type of food. My husband never aquired the taste for tea.
Blessings~
I love your tea traditions! The Scotty dog biscuits caught my eye :) Everything looks delicious. My parents always called the evening meal supper, too. My Father came from a farming family and the big meal of the day was dinner in the middle of the day when the men would come in from the fields very hungry. Supper would be the 'light' meal, too. Interesting that these traditions have spanned continents and the years. My Father's family came from Scotland and England, so that might explain it! xo Karen
ReplyDeleteMy dad and his family were from London, so we always had tea as well as coffee growing up in New Orleans. But DH and I always have tea(me) coffee (him) and toast for breakfast around 8am, a light lunch at around 11:30 (elevensies?), teatime (tea and a biscuit) at 3 or 4, and then supper at 6. So perhaps the British schedule is in the blood?
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing here with us about the different "teas" and the times of day that they each occur. My paternal grandfather's family came from Wales and all of this interests me. I'd love to hear about High Tea and Devonshire Tea. I do know about Devonshire cream for my scones. ~wink~ Thank you again, Diana, for an interesting post.
ReplyDeleteI drink hot tea with breakfast and sometimes with lunch if its cold out. By 4 pm I need another cup and a nap. Sometimes tea after dinner. None of these cups are accompanied by biscuits/cookies. Last week I took some friends to a tea room where we had savory tea (scones, small sandwiches and tea) for our lunch. Lots of different traditions.
ReplyDeleteDianna ~ what a wonderful post about tea ~ and lovely photos too ~ Actually, eating 6 meals a day is supposed to be the healthy way to eat and all not heavy meals either ~ thanks,
ReplyDeleteWishing you a Happy Day ~ ^_^
I lived in Scotland for a number of years so know a bit about the tea. A great post explaining about tea with great photos. I think I'll go and have a 'cuppa.'
ReplyDeleteThose little Scottie biscuits are so cute. : )
Thank you for clarifying the teas. I've always been a bit confused about what tea was what. All your tea photos look scrumptuous! Off topic, I've been watching some Lord of the Rings lately and I always marvel at how absolutely beautiful New Zealand is!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I got all of that sorted out! We gather lemongrass from our back yard and use it to make tea for our middday meal. Coffee in the morning, as early as possible, but no other tea times for us!
ReplyDeleteI think I could live there and drink tea all day with you! When do you have time to work? LOL!! And baking those biscuits and scones and such? Sounds so delightful...I do enjoy tea time...morning or afternoon. Not at night, however, unless it is herbal! Gotta sleep sometime!
ReplyDeleteDiana, I think I need to move to your neighborhood. Lots of lovely tea and biscuits/scones/cakes. My kind of meals (3 of them).
ReplyDeleteDiana, I LOVE this information about "Tea". I love learning about other cultures. Thanks so much for sharing! By the way it all sounds very yummy to me, maybe I should move to New Zealand ! LOL
ReplyDeleteReminds me of my mother and father. They had a similar schedule, though morning tea was actually coffee.....always with one or two biscuits, no more
ReplyDeleteI loved joining them when I was home
Oh, wow, this is SO interesting! Thank you for sharing. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing NZ's interesting tea practices with us.
ReplyDeleteMy Scotch Irish and English ancestors taught us to say supper as well Diana. Dinner is the mid day meal. I like the though of six meals a day especially with biscuits and scones.:)
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of this tea: Duchess of Bedford blend. Having a cup just now. I love it. I ordered it online from a small business one state over that I discovered years ago at a Home and Garden show. www.larkintea.com I put my daughter on to them too as they like to brew a pot of tea for breakfast every morning.
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